John Carmack headlines 'toxic and proud' sci-fi con that rails against 'woke'

https://www.pcgamer.com/doom-co-creator-john-carmack-is-headlining-a-toxic-and-proud-sci-fi-convention-that-rails-against-woke-propaganda/

by djkivi • 3 years ago

12 20 3 years ago

pcgamer.com

ericzawo• 3 years ago

The people rallying against wokeness are becoming more annoying than woke itself, which seems to have a goalpost moving definition every fortnight these days.

vbilopav• 3 years ago

John Carmac is a legend

arp242• 3 years ago

- "I want everyone at this conference play by these rules."

- "I don't like those rules, so I won't be coming and I'll start my own conference."

- "Okay, good luck!"

Doesn't need to be hard. Everyone wins. This is a non-controversy because 20 people on Twitter are "angry" (what else is new).

beezlewax• 3 years ago

What an absolute fool. At the same time, I wish America could do things without almost always shoe-horning politics in there.

fwlr• 3 years ago

(Note this article is from the middle of May, almost a month ago. It has already had its “outrage cycle”, so to speak.)

In his response to this article, Carmack identifies the original reason he found himself in these circles - “I like hard science fiction stories with a bit of competent libertarian vibe. I have since Heinlein”. I also like those kinds of stories, and likewise I happen to be friends with some of the authors of those stories. I’m speaking from personal experience when I say at least some of these authors are hardline, extremist, radical libertarians.

That is the most important piece of context I can give you for making sense of why someone might be attending and endorsing a convention which lists a bunch of right-wing beliefs like “men cannot give birth” and “a fetus is a human being” on their about page[1]. I asked someone who’s planning to attend about that list; they said (paraphrasing): “I happen to be 2/5, but the point is that I accept anyone from 0/5 to 5/5, so that list doesn’t bother me. There is a type of person who only accepts people who are 0/5. The list is supposed to bother that type of person, so that they don’t attend”. (Note that this is just an attendee, not a speaker or the organizer; I don’t know for sure this is the rationale, but it strikes me as likely.)

1: Because that is a surprising and confusing thing. It is totally legitimate to be surprised and confused that someone is endorsing an event that endorses those beliefs, and to consequently feel hurt and seek explanation!

josephcsible• 3 years ago

“I happen to be 2/5, but the point is that I accept anyone from 0/5 to 5/5, so that list doesn’t bother me. There is a type of person who only accepts people who are 0/5. The list is supposed to bother that type of person, so that they don’t attend”.

I feel like the solution to the Paradox of Tolerance might be in there somewhere.

elcritch3• 3 years ago

According to this poll only 22% of democrats or 27% of liberals believed the statement "some men can give birth". It seems absurd to me to call "men cannot give birth" a right wing belief.

I can see why someone like Carmack who's into hard sci-fi would like a venue where they're not just playing semantics and word games.

elcritch3• 3 years ago

oops, https://twitter.com/IAPolls2022/status/1567562677513338880?r...

jfengel4• 3 years ago

It sounds as if they are playing semantics and word games. They don't have to take a position on the question one way or another, but instead they've made it a defining characteristic of their meeting.

They happen to be playing the side of the game "I refuse to acknowledge that things can possibly be different than I grew up thinking they were." Which seems to me like a weird position for a sci-fi conference to take, but it's not up to me to judge.

I do, however, take issue with the notion that they're not involving themselves, which they are very clearly doing.

wrp• 3 years ago

I like hard SF and don't like politics mixed in (even Heinlein can annoy me), so this isn't something I would follow, but I think the case is philosophically interesting. A substantial portion of serious SF devotees think that "good" SF should be transgressive. Well, if the SF community itself allows one perspective on things to be enforced over the community, isn't it adhering to the transgressive mandate to poke against it?

John Carmack headlines 'toxic and proud' sci-fi con that rails against 'woke'

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