Hugo Awards Meltdown A Case Study In Cultural Guerrilla Warfare

People who want to make real, meaningful change for society can no longer do so through mainstream institutions or practices, which are hopelessly compromised. The barbarians are inside the gates and have commandeered the towers and battlements constructed by their betters, leaving guerrilla and "asymmetric" strategies as the only real method of resistance.

A good example of this was provided recently by Theodore Beale (a.k.a. Vox Day), who threw a monkey wrench into the Hugo Awards that are designed to recognize excellent works of science fiction. Vox is often referred to as "the most hated man in science fiction," mainly because he has declared war on the leftist social justice warriors (SJWs) who have infiltrated and corrupted that genre. The SJWs have fallen into the habit of awarding Hugos not on the basis of literary merit, but rather politics, demographics, or simple favoritism. Enduring works of science fiction by the likes of Asimov, Heinlein, and Bradbury have given way to subliterate space porn. After witnessing trashy romances and politically-correct screeds get nominated year after year, and after having been illegally purged from the Science Fiction Writers Association for committing thoughtcrime, Vox did something about it. He launched his "Rabid Puppies" campaign to encourage anyone and everyone to become a member of the World Science Fiction Convention (WorldCon) and vote for his own recommended slate of novelists. Vox's effort mirrored those of other authors who supported the parallel "Sad Puppies" campaign, which likewise sought to prevent the SJWs from handpicking the Hugo winners.

It worked and has caused some measure of consternation. I find this uplifting even though I'm not much of a science fiction fan. Science fiction often strikes me as banal escapism for people with low self-esteem, but the ideal of great science fiction -- which hews closely to scientific principles and applies them in new and imaginative ways -- is worth preserving from the grubby hands of the barbarians who already have torn down so many idols in their wake.

The lesson here is that those of us who adhere to principles and ideals must sometimes hold our noses and adopt less-than-ideal methods to protect them. This is because the enemy has no principles whatsoever and is fighting with the gloves off. So should we. Principles and ideals are the currency between civilized people, not between the civilized and savages.