Mercedes Lackey Ejected From Nebula Conference For Using Racial Slur

[Ixal]

Regardless of the original incident, I find this response to be very troubling. Has this been verified?

No idea how to verify it, this is his twitter

The Gryphon King, Larry Dixon (@LarryDixonTGK)

It appears I won't be on the Collaborations panel at the #Nebulas because I awoke to find myself banned from the conference for something I didn't say, on a panel I wasn't on. I'm not that hard to reach, am I? @sfwa isn't issuing any official statements about that.

nitter.net

 

[doctorbadwolf]

it was the go-to word when stronger slurs would have been considered a breach of etiquette or to give bigots plausible deniability on their hate.

Absolutely. I’ve had older folks get uncomfortable when I used “Black”, while younger folks assume that as the correct term, and many don’t like “POC” unless referring to someone in a context that doesn’t specify race, especially referring to contexts shared by different POC. And then there’s BIPOC, which I’m just old enough to now be struggling to remember that term exists much less use it…

this seems like the kind of mishandled overreaction that can do real harm to the cause of social justice (the rightwing media loves stuff like this),

IMO this reaction is misguided. The anti-inclusive media will crap on the rest of us all day with about the same intensity no matter what. I’m not convinced they’ve ever changed anyones mind from valuing inclusivity to not.

At worst they embolden people already on their side, and they’ll do that regardless of whether we occasionally misstep or not.

 

[Deset Gled]

No idea how to verify it, this is his twitter

The Gryphon King, Larry Dixon (@LarryDixonTGK)

It appears I won't be on the Collaborations panel at the #Nebulas because I awoke to find myself banned from the conference for something I didn't say, on a panel I wasn't on. I'm not that hard to reach, am I? @sfwa isn't issuing any official statements about that.

nitter.net

Thanks. This is obviously one sided, but sounds pretty bad for SFWA. I was wondering if maybe SFWA had commented on it, or he had more details or discussion.

 

[Myrdin Potter]

SFWA is a private organization and they have published policies with pretty harsh action laid out. Their general philosophy and their leadership is well known. This type of reaction is not really a surprise.

The smart thing to do is not join their organization and not participate in their events, not to complain that the scorpion stung the frog while crossing the river.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

At this point, I have to wonder about Lackey‘s silence. If her claimed neurodivergence is the cause or significant contributing factor to this kerfuffle, the longer she waits to say something to that effect, the less believable it becomes.

 

[Guest 7034872]

At this point, I have to wonder about Lackey‘s silence. If her claimed neurodivergence is the cause or significant contributing factor to this kerfuffle, the longer she waits to say something to that effect, the less believable it becomes.

Maybe, but I don't want to underestimate the extent to which perhaps she feels bullied and mistreated herself and so just wants to walk away from the whole experience.

The online "moralizing bullies" really are bullies and take their delight not in decency, but in destruction. Lackey might simply be terrified of saying anything at this point. I mean, in a similar circumstance I probably would be.

 

[Ondath]

At this point, I have to wonder about Lackey‘s silence. If her claimed neurodivergence is the cause or significant contributing factor to this kerfuffle, the longer she waits to say something to that effect, the less believable it becomes.

Well this is a really weird line to take. If we're okay with the panelist expressing her discontent over the word used later after having processed everything (with which I'm absolutely fine), then we can allow her some time as well. Especially since according to her husband, "She is horrified by this. She is shivering, crying uncontrollably." And given how any statement on her side might be taken in bad faith, I can't blame her for not saying anything yet for the moment. Arguing that her neurodivergence becomes less believable the more she stays silent is absolute nonsense.

 

[billd91]

At this point, I have to wonder about Lackey‘s silence. If her claimed neurodivergence is the cause or significant contributing factor to this kerfuffle, the longer she waits to say something to that effect, the less believable it becomes.

You might want to check out Larry Dixon's twitter stream, then. He indicates that's she's been pretty hysterical about the whole episode. And lots of the twitterverse is very much piling on. It's ugly.

 

[Guest 7034872]

Arguing that her neurodivergence becomes less believable the more she stays silent is absolute nonsense.

I will agree with everything except this part.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

At this point, I have to wonder about Lackey‘s silence. If her claimed neurodivergence is the cause or significant contributing factor to this kerfuffle, the longer she waits to say something to that effect, the less believable it becomes.

If you want to be a decent person, you should care about how you treat other people. What else is important in life? It’s right and fit that we discuss how we can treat each other better. Our chat can’t be limited to not punching your little sister or not eating your roommate’s leftover Pad Thai. Most of the time we treat other people kindly or cruelly by talking — talking to them or about them. If we want to be better people, we should think about how we talk to and about other people — including when we’re mad at them. It’s easy to be nice to someone when you’re happy with them. It’s harder to be kind when dealing with our enemies, strangers, and the least of us. So it’s legitimate to examine how we respond to speech that makes us mad. We should have a thoughtful conversation about whether modern American culture encourages us to react excessively and even cruelly to speech we don’t like, how that impacts people, and what we should do about it. ...


Ken White. I recommend the whole thing. It's a nuanced essay that I suggest people read- and it gets at the issue that I think is often forgotten. That of proportionality.

I am not sure it is appropriate to say that a person who may be overwhelmed and neurodivergent has some duty to you to speak out ... is proper.

It's like the old saw about the problems with people checking for drugs-

Q- Why'd you pull him over?
A- He looked too nervous.

Q- Why'd you pull the other guy over then?
A- He looked too calm.

This type of public shaming, especially in these circumstances, can be incredibly difficult. I can't imagine going to an event where you are going to be honored for a lifetime of work and have this happen. I don't know how I would react- maybe I would be screaming and outraged. Maybe I would want to hide away and lick my wounds. But I hope I wouldn't be judging how someone else should react to something which, quite frankly, is pretty devastating.