Thread by @scalzi

1. So, one of my favorite Hot Takes on Scalzi is the one that goes "I *used* to like Scalzi, but then he went and got all SJW-y" as if this were a new and surprising (and, for me, opportunistic) turn after years of, I don't know, modest silent neutrality. So, here's the thing...

2. I have literally been online for a quarter of a century -- my first USENET post was in '94, and my blog has been up since 1998. I have been spouting off my opinions ALL THAT TIME. I have an electron trail longer than some of these dudes have been ALIVE.

3. And before THAT, I was spouting opinions in print! I was a nationally syndicated newspaper opinion columnist for several years. I have a paper trail that goes along with the electron trail, dating back to '91 (or '87, if you want to count my college paper, which, why not?).

4. In all that time, my politics have been -- surprise! -- pretty much in same area they are now. A few things I've moved left on, a few things I have moved right on (no, really), but by and large I've been (for the US) mostly-leftish in a petit bourgeois sort of way.

5. And this is checkable because -- again -- I have a wide and vast trail of my opinions and verbiage going back literal decades. Try it for yourself! It's all there, somewhere, if you want to bother. Incompleteness will not be a problem for any future biographers of mine.

6. So, when some dude complains that I somehow "went all SJW-y," the question I'd ask them is: since when? Because I pretty much guarantee you whatever date they pull out of their ass, I can show I was saying largely what I'm saying now well before then. None of this is new.

7. What IS different, perhaps, is that -- don't laugh -- I have slightly more humility now, in that I'm willing to accept I don't know everything, I'm willing to accept that sometimes I show my ass, and I'm willing to at least try to make amends when I do my ass-showing.

8. But otherwise, yeah, this is me, and this has pretty much always been me, as long as I've been writing in public. If you think I've "gone SJW" it's because YOU weren't paying attention before. Which is fine! You don't have to know my life story. But the issue is you, not me.

9. The thing is, after 25 years online and three decades writing publicly, I'm not going to stop having opinions in public. If this fact bothers you, mute/block me on social media and don't buy my work. It's fine, and I don't need or want your patronage. Read other folks!

10. Just don't pretend that who I am is something new, or manufactured for sales or cookies. This is me. My track record is long and clear. I've been this way for a long time, and will probably be for a while yet. It's not a surprise, or at least shouldn't be. Welcome to me.

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