Mercedes Lackey Ejected From Nebula Conference For Using Racial Slur

[Myrdin Potter]

I suspect if Ms. Lackey’s apology is publicly accepted by the person who first took umbrage, that will give the SFWA enough cover to de-escalate.

They cannot de-escalate. The conference is over and the panels she was removed from are done and gone. Her husband was also kicked off and those are done and gone. The public statement saying what she said was a slur with zero context has already been done.

 

[AnotherGuy]

In the US the word harm seems to become more and more a synonym for slight discomfort.

If that is indeed the case, they should really rethink the spell level for Harm.

 

[Janx]

Now what’s needed is the followup “In regards to an incident that has been revealed to be a perfect storm of unfortunate events leading to profound misunderstandings…” message from the SFWA.

I would bet money that ain't gonna happen until Lackey sues the crap out of them.

It seems from earlier posts that Lackey has Wordlexia, what I call word slip-ups. Verbal Dyspraxia it was really called. Happens to me to.

Somebody was offended. We got that. It's a word best avoided, even if it wasn't used derisively.

Were they hurt by it? Did the level of racism in the world increase because Lackey said it? Did more people become extremist? Did they feel like Lackey was trying to make them cry?

Was Lackey hurt by this?

Seriously, nobody talks about that. I bet she cried. She was embarrassed. Shamed. Her husband got hit by it, too. What' he'd do wrong?

Her entire weekend was ruined and likely it seemed her reputation.

And she's not even one of those actual racist trolls like the ones jacking the voting against NK Jemisin.

Wow. Circular firing squad works again.

I smell a defamation lawsuit. If the person who was offended thought they had a case, they had jack taco compared to what was done to Lackey.

"She used a word not directed at me that though it had a past racist context was not used in a hateful speech" doesn't hold as much water to the actual harm done to the Lackeys by the response.

All somebody had to do was speak to her. Offended party to con staff. Con staff to her. Lackey wouldn have posted the same apology.

Here's the extra harm. The racism level in the world did not increase because of what Lackey said. The hurt the offended party felt is much smaller than the racism increase that will happen because of the response of "what happened to Lackey" being used to radicalize more people.

Again, congrats to that person. Their response to being offended will increase the level of racism they are likely to encounter.

Good plan.

 

[AnotherGuy]

Again, congrats to that person. Their response to being offended will increase the level of racism they are likely to encounter.

Your post was fantastic. Finally someone eloquently articulated the bigger picture which often is never considered.
This exact things happens a lot with other communities too.

 

[payn]

I would bet money that ain't gonna happen until Lackey sues the crap out of them.

It seems from earlier posts that Lackey has Wordlexia, what I call word slip-ups. Verbal Dyspraxia it was really called. Happens to me to.

Somebody was offended. We got that. It's a word best avoided, even if it wasn't used derisively.

Were they hurt by it? Did the level of racism in the world increase because Lackey said it? Did more people become extremist? Did they feel like Lackey was trying to make them cry?

Was Lackey hurt by this?

Seriously, nobody talks about that. I bet she cried. She was embarrassed. Shamed. Her husband got hit by it, too. What' he'd do wrong?

Her entire weekend was ruined and likely it seemed her reputation.

And she's not even one of those actual racist trolls like the ones jacking the voting against NK Jemisin.

Wow. Circular firing squad works again.

I smell a defamation lawsuit. If the person who was offended thought they had a case, they had jack taco compared to what was done to Lackey.

"She used a word not directed at me that though it had a past racist context was not used in a hateful speech" doesn't hold as much water to the actual harm done to the Lackeys by the response.

All somebody had to do was speak to her. Offended party to con staff. Con staff to her. Lackey wouldn have posted the same apology.

Here's the extra harm. The racism level in the world did not increase because of what Lackey said. The hurt the offended party felt is much smaller than the racism increase that will happen because of the response of "what happened to Lackey" being used to radicalize more people.

Again, congrats to that person. Their response to being offended will increase the level of racism they are likely to encounter.

Good plan.

There is some awful precedent you are trying to set up here. This sounds like you have to have measurable example of offense before you even dare raise the issue or people will sue the hell out of you. Also, they will blame you for causing the thing you are offended by in the first place. What role do we know the offended person took in all this? Did they simply raise an objection and the SFWA took it from there? If thats the case, its on SWFA not the person for reporting the objection.

 

[Mallus]

Samuel R. Delany's should be the last word on this. Because there's no one better with words in all of science fiction & fantasy than Chip (plus he has relevant lived experience and all...).

 

[Mannahnin]

All somebody had to do was speak to her. Offended party to con staff. Con staff to her. Lackey wouldn have posted the same apology.

Here's the extra harm. The racism level in the world did not increase because of what Lackey said. The hurt the offended party felt is much smaller than the racism increase that will happen because of the response of "what happened to Lackey" being used to radicalize more people.

Again, congrats to that person. Their response to being offended will increase the level of racism they are likely to encounter.

This stinks of blaming the victim. Lackey made a mistake, and one which was inadvertently hurtful. The offended party on the panel was restrained and reasonable in their response. SFWA went overboard and appears to have exacerbated the harm of the incident past what it should have been.

Conventions are in a bit of a no-win situation with incidents of author/guest misbehavior. For decades authors who misbehaved were shielded from consequence (like Asimov's notorious treatment of women, among other famous examples) and convention organizers covered for them. Now they are attempting to make clear that the old patterns are being broken, and occasionally going overboard, as seems to be the case here.

No disagreement that Twitter is toxic. But this argument is equally so.

Samuel R. Delany's should be the last word on this. Because there's no one better with words in all of science fiction & fantasy than Chip (plus he has relevant lived experience and all...).

Eh. I think his viewpoint is important, but he's not the only person affected. Far from it.

 

[Cadence]

Conventions are in a bit of a no-win situation with incidents of author/guest misbehavior. For decades authors who misbehaved were shielded from consequence (like Asimov's notorious treatment of women, among other famous examples) and convention organizers covered for them. Now they are attempting to make clear that the old patterns are being broken, and occasionally going overboard, as seems to be the case here.

Their harassment policy seem to have more levels and guidance built in than the moderation one. I hope they will be making a more detailed moderation one now - it feels like it would help a lot in the future. Policies - Nebula Awards Conference Online

 

[Janx]

This stinks of blaming the victim. Lackey made a mistake, and one which was inadvertently hurtful. The offended party on the panel was restrained and reasonable in their response. SFWA went overboard and appears to have exacerbated the harm of the incident past what it should have been.

Conventions are in a bit of a no-win situation with incidents of author/guest misbehavior. For decades authors who misbehaved were shielded from consequence (like Asimov's notorious treatment of women, among other famous examples) and convention organizers covered for them. Now they are attempting to make clear that the old patterns are being broken, and occasionally going overboard, as seems to be the case here.

No argument that Twitter is toxic. But this argument is equally so.


Eh. I think his viewpoint is important, but he's not the only person affected. Far from it.

You're right, it does. Sorry. I'm not naming the offended party. They have cause to be offended, regardless of whether we can find another person like them who disagrees with them.

The real offender is SFWA. It was their event. If they had an Asimov on their hands, that's one thing. Or a racist. They didn't. They had a little old lady who has a record of verbal tongue tying who was saying something nice, with a bad choice of words.

 

[Janx]

Samuel R. Delany's should be the last word on this. Because there's no one better with words in all of science fiction & fantasy than Chip (plus he has relevant lived experience and all...).

I disagree. While it should hold weight that the guy she was talking about did not find offense with her choice of words, it's common to find someone within a demographic who disagrees with the rest on whether something is offensive.

I don't know how to measure offensiveness. I just try to be wary if somebody's found a guy who says it's OK.