The Sad Puppies really do need to thank some people who are not of their number. I’ve been watching this fiasco as someone who is in sympathy with the SP movement without being one myself. The truth for the rank and file SP members is basically that they were informed that they could vote on the Hugos and actually get books they liked on the ballot. From the point of view of the rank and file Puppies this was information on how-to and some recommendations they could follow, but were not required to. Most of the rank and file used some of the suggestions and substituted others as they saw fit. Admittedly this did cause those who did not have enough recommendations in their own reading to use the list as a source for filling out the rest of the nominations. After all, they knew a bit about Brad Torgerson and Larry Correia and could rely on them to suggest good books. Which they could then read in the voter packet and vote upon.
This is not to get into the various claims of machinations by The Mystically Powerful Larry Correia who can magically be both Portuguese and transform into a white KKK member by the simple expedient of not kowtowing to the superior beings of TrueFandom. Nor into the Machiavellian nature of Brad Torgersen who could take a few recommendations and turn it into a reign of terror destroying all vestiges of honor among the Truefen and pillaging, burning, and killing all of them. Nor does it speak to the ultimate Satan Vox Day, whose evil knows no bounds causing innocent puppies to become rabid just by having his shadow pass over them. This is simply a bit of things from the point of view of the puppies.
For those with a deficiency of intelligence the description of the three men generally acknowledged as leading the Puppy movements was what is known as tongue-in-cheek. I thought I should mention that simply because the people who I will be thanking in the rest of this post would believe that description. A sad comment on their grasp of reality.
We’ll start with the trio from Tor. Teresa Nielsen-Hayden, who is sometimes known as The Toad of Tor, may not actually belong to Tor. There are reports that she was fired. Whether she is still associated with them contractually or not, there is no doubt her husband is, and that she claims a connection. Making Light, her blogspace, has attacked the Puppy movement continually. Even accusing the Puppies of getting advance notice of nomination results for the Hugos. This was several days after she and her husband were bemoaning the sweep of the nominations by the Pups, making one wonder who had advance knowledge (as this happened before the big reveal of the nominations, and none other than the committee ought to have known who was on the list). She and her husband Patrick Hayden-Nielsen therefore were instrumental in the attacks that began the groundswell of Puppy support. Therefore the first set of thanks goes to them. The puppies owe them a debt of gratitude.
The third Tor Turd is Moshe Federer, whom for some reason my autocorrect wants to call Mushie. Moshe has for a long time benefitted from the cabal that was using Tor employees to game the Hugo system. His rantings on Facebook and in other places have driven many into the Puppy camp. He considers himself a mensch and a maven. His total disconnect with reality is a great recruiting tool for the Puppy camp. They should thank him.
Brianna Wu also deserves the acclaim of the Puppies. She single handedly brought the Hugo situation to the attention of Gamergate. Gamergate, though a much more recent group than the Pups has a much more massive membership. The members of Gamergate who have noticed and allied with the Pups are strictly her doing. Had she not railed about a connection they would never have noticed.
Now we will look at Betsy Wollheim. I have only noticed her recently. She is one of those whose publishing house, started by her father, is losing readership. I think her command of the English language may be the reason. She started a diatribe about those who were wasting the time of George R.R. Martin, distracting an important writer from his real work of writing. GRRM was having a dialog in blog with Larry Correia and Brad Torgersen. She then attacked the followers of those GRRM were writing to. After being called on this she claimed not to be attacking the Sad Puppies but only Vox Day’s group the Rabid Puppies, even claiming that since she had not specifically said Sad Puppies she didn’t mean Sad Puppies. Even though the conversations GRRM was having were with the Sad Puppies. This dishonesty or lack of understanding of the English language (in an editor/publisher no less) helped drive new supporters to the Puppies.
I think I’ll just name the rest of the culprits, err people to thank because the list goes on and on and most of these people are absolutely unimportant other than the fact that their combined ravings have been instrumental in driving Puppy membership upward.
David “I did not steal flatcats” Gerrold
John “What’s in it for me” Scalzi
N.K. “I’ll make you out to be a racist to hide my own racism” Jemisin
Arthur “Too perverted for his own side” Chu
Tempest “I really am black and a victim” Bradford (edit)
A special mention to Mike Glyer, his attempt to be reasonable for a leftist has made him a less effective Puppy recruiter, but the unchecked comments on his blog more than made up for it.
You see,what these scathingly brilliant leaders of the Insulata failed to realize was the basic nature of the Puppies. The Pups are overwhelmingly independent and contrarian in nature. The only real way to drive them in a direction is an attempt to drive them in another. Larry and Brad said “We are going this way, care to join us?” and a few did. The Masters Of The Insulata said “You are forbidden to go that way” and caused a swarm.
Loncon bragged about 3K votes. The morons fine folks above have tripled the vote this year, I do not think it was by galvanizing their base. If it were, why hadn’t they done it before?
Also, should you be interested in joining the Hugo Awards voting, you can find out more information here, and you will be eligible to help choose the locale for the 2017 WorldCon. Don’t be shy, get involved!
Well said (I love ‘Insulata’ as a description…) 🙂
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Well it seems to fit
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I SAW when Gamergate started wondering wth BriWu was talking about when she started complaining about Sad Puppies. They wondered why they were being blamed for something they weren’t even aware of existing.
“Since we’re being accused anyway…’ was the response of some.
Wu just can’t let it drop too. Have a hilarious twitter screenshot
https://twitter.com/GamerGateTweets/status/605478334739279872
I wonder if the latest Randi Harper vs Anne Rice stuff will result in more Puppy recruits.
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This is why the Puppies owe them thanks. Such masters of hoisting themselves upon their own petards must be celebrated. The pathetic thing is that the masters of the Insulata are never going to understand that they are destroying themselves
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Yeah. My reaction was “Oh this will be HILARIOUS. BriWu done it now.” And it was.
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So many of the Insulata are funny if looked at without emotion clouding your view
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I completely misread that as ’emoticon’
( ゚ヮ゚)
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It’s kind of interesting, because it shows just how large the gamergate community is, that even though I’d seen some prominent figures in GG (Daddy Warpig and Liz F) supporting and promoting the puppies some, not to mention the fact that despite everyone saying they’d never heard of him until the Pakman interview Vox HAS been a vocal GG supporter since almost the beginning, it really wasn’t until Wu started flapping her mouth about the Hugos that it got on everyone’s radar.
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Which is why she deserves a Puppy thank you
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Harper v. Rice? Didn’t know anything about it. If I get time I’ll check it out.
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Excellent piece, Sanford
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Thank you
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Totally agree. I discovered the whole SP3 controversy being completely neutral about the whole affair. I think that those who disagree with the premise of the SP position may have a legitimate gripe. However, the reactions of the TruFans, including multiple instances of people admitting outright what the SP crowd was accusing them of, has convinced me the SP campaign was correct in its premise and right in its measured reaction. The libel and hatred spewed at them, and the fact their opposition were consistently dishonest in identifying the SP position (the false narrative), proved the SP were right very effectively.
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BTW, it’s Tempest Bradford, not Bledsoe.
Great piece, otherwise.
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Thank you, Both I and my editor missed that. Corrected now. Where Bledsoe came from I haven’t a clue
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Tempestt Bledsoe was Vanessa on the Cosby Show. It’s an easy slip to make.
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And here I thought it had something to do with a character named Homer Bledsoe off of one of the old CBS rural comedies. Thank you for setting me straight on that. Your reasoning is more likely
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[…] dear First Reader is at his curmudgeonly best today over at the Otherwhere Gazette. He felt the need to thank some people in the annual hugohaha since it spun up into a hurricane […]
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[…] “The Puppies need to thank these recruiters” […]
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I’m pretty sure there’s going to be an SP4. I don’t think that anyone that possesses the level of delusion you see on most anti-puppies will quit and talk things over reasonably with just the level of opposition they have now. I’m pretty sure we’re going to have hoist the banners, let fly the wild geese, and raise our halberds.
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since Kate Paulk has already been selected to helm SP4 I’d say it was a given
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Cry Havoc and let fly the Puppies of Nomination and Voting?
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OK Sanford – that was *fun*, and it make me actually giggle. Gold star and all that!
As for my take on SP/anti-SP’s?
Since *most* of the authors I follow closely* are either directly SP’s, or are associated-by-guilt (looking at you, John Ringo! ), my interest in SP has mostly been in the rather wonderful “popcorn opportunities” presented by folks like the PNH/TNH, their syncophants, Moshe & his, and otherwise, the whole anti-puppy crowd can ALL simply FOAD.
Harsh? Sure.
But, OTOH, when you’re dealing with lying liars who lie, harsh seems pretty equitable to me.
*As in ‘when they release anything, I just go ahead & buy their stuff without any further ado, because they have never let me down’…
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fun perhaps, accurate assessment? certainly
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Hateful, inaccurate and can’t spell.
You must be a Puppy.
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Please tell me more? Now besides Mike Glyer telling you I can’t spell you need ask him what inaccuracies I have in my post? Please expand and expound, there is still time for you personally to recruit a few voters before the deadline.
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Imprecise, so far off target that you hit a neighboring continent, and can’t argue.
You must be a Chorf. . .
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Reblogged this on The Worlds of Tarien Cole and commented:
Reblogged for Truth. The Evil League of Evil is well aware that supervillians, axiomatically and by the inviolable laws of tropes (specifically the Starscream and Chronic Backstabbing Disorder), cannot remain in alliances, even of convenience, for long. But thanks to the glorious work of the (a)Social (in)Justice Mob, our schemes continue apace. 😉
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A new Tor Turd (that kind of has a ring to it) has emerged. I assume by now you’ve all seen the FB post by one Irene Gallo? For those who haven’t:
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I have seen, the question remains, have the owners of Tor seen?
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[…] “Oh, for the love of frack, no one wants pulp” follow up wasn’t. The same way my friend Sanford’s post over at Otherwhere Gazette, exploding their nonsense wasn’t. The same way my post pointing out that I felt they were […]
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