Remember Gamergate? That fucking nonsense about “ethics in game journalism” and all that which prefigured the rise of the alt-right? And how it began because gamers couldn’t cope with the gaming industry having people who weren’t straight white cis men in it, and as a result it became a major right-wing culture war® flashpoint that spilled over into the broader sf/fantasy community that can’t cope with innovations like women, gays, black people, TEH TRANZEZ etc, in media like Doctor Who or the Disney-era Star Wars films and shows? Well, you’ll be interested to learn that said community has clearly taken a long hard look at itself since then, saw what they did and how what they did made them look like a bunch of hateful regressive cunts that no one with any common decency would want to be connected with, and lessons have been learned as a result. Just… not good ones:
Id Software co-founder and former Oculus VR CTO John Carmack is facing criticism for his recent announcement that he will be attending BasedCon, a sci-fi and fantasy convention for fans who are “tired of woke propaganda.” […]
Attending a convention is a pretty unremarkable thing most of the time, but BasedCon isn’t like most. Its website claims the convention “isn’t about pushing any particular ideology,” while at the same time listing examples of “based beliefs” that the organizers subscribe to:
Men cannot give birth
Guns don’t kill people; people kill people
A fetus is a human being
Socialism has failed everywhere it’s been tried
Discriminating against white people is racism […]
Carmack is known for having something of a libertarian bent—he recently defended the idea of self-made billionaires, for instance—and has never seemed particularly concerned about his public image. And he gets a lot of slack, because he’s a little weird and he made Doom and Quake. But headlining an event like this is a step too far for a lot of his followers on social media. […]
One Twitter user pointed out that BasedCon does not disclose its location. The event will be held in an unnamed hotel in Grand Rapids, Michigan, but “for security reasons” does not share specifics with anyone who isn’t registered to attend. I think that’s a very revealing detail about the real nature of BasedCon: If you’re not willing to tell people where your event is being held, maybe it’s worth examining why.
I mean, they may be technically telling the truth about not pushing any ideology, but they’re self-evidently pushing against a particular one, and in real terms that’s much the same thing. As for Carmack, he’s responded:
It is unfortunate that Rob has made BasedCon so intentionally provocative. I told him as much after the event last year – I felt a little uncomfortable. There is a demographic that welcomes the in-your-face posturing, but it drives away sympathetic people that would otherwise be happy to talk about craft, stories, and technology.
Even when someone gives you a clear signal, it is a mistake to extrapolate it to an entire constellation of beliefs and behaviors, and then to assume they are contagious by association. That shortchanges a lot of people.
I’m not a culture warrior, and I don’t want to strike blows against anyone. I don’t follow activists on either side, including Rob, because I tend to think that all the negativity and resentment is detrimental to both the author and target.
John. Mate. Don’t fucking come it. You admitted you were there at the last one, so you knew exactly what it was about when you accepted the invitation to speak, you weren’t uncomfortable enough with the demographic to turn down the opportunity… and no, maybe you can’t extrapolate a whole belief system even from one “clear signal”, but in real terms you look at these cunts and you find that when they have one awful belief they usually have a lot more (at least five in this particular instance). You may not have been a culture warrior, but you fucking are one now…
