Nothing New Under the Sun

[kevin_standlee]

I'd noticed this in passing, but thanks to Cheryl for pointing me a second time about Jed Hartman's posting about Arguments About Science Fiction. He's right, too, including the fact that it's likely none of those things was particularly new or fresh back then, either. If you bring up with me one of these topics with an air of it being something nobody has ever thought of before (which means you never thought of it before), expect me to roll my eyes a bit before responding.

For that matter, complaints like this one that all of these points have been being argued about forever are themselves not particularly new, either.

Comments

[yourbob.livejournal.com]

I know they were all old arguments in the early 1970s in my first contacts with fandom and reading magazines.

[crookedfeet.livejournal.com]

Hi Kevin-you might want to take a look at Smart Bitches,Trashy books-they're having a debate over the RITA awards,and in the comments,there's a fairly lively discussion about the Hugos with several posts from a regular worldcon goer and author Christine Merrill.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Hm, I wasn't going to say anything -- everyone there seemed to be handling it as well as could be expected -- but I did end up posting a minor correction to the nomination/voting process.

I'm somewhat amused by the person who says that because she and her family could cast four ballots for anyone they wish, even if they haven't read any of their works, that the entire Hugo Awards system is fundamentally flawed. By that standard, democracy itself is broken.

[crookedfeet.livejournal.com]

Sorry-didn't realize you'd seen it. That person writes paranormal romances and is -bitter-about how she's treated by this genre(I've met her). I just thought you'd find some of the discussion interesting.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I wasn't being clear. I hadn't seen the discussion until you pointed it out. I meant that once I'd read it, I wasn't going to say anything until close to the end when I stumbled onto a technical error. You're right that I do find the discussion interesting, and thank you for referring me to it.

I had not shown up in my standing Google search for "Hugo Award," so I hadn't noticed it before.

[julesjones]

You showed up just as I was about to ping you to come and lecture the assembled multitudes. It was getting a bit weird by then...