Mercedes Lackey Ejected From Nebula Conference For Using Racial Slur

[Ondath]

I will agree with everything except this part.

Arguing that someone's disability may not be a valid excuse unless they immediately give an explanation seems unnecessarily harsh to me. It basically demands that the disability be performed in an "acceptable" way and that otherwise they're "faking it" or "using it as an excuse", and that's nonsense.

That said, I feel like I'm getting unnecessarily invested in the discussion and I don't want to offend anyone. I think I'll unwatch this thread and remove myself since there isn't much we can do by discussing this topic anyway.

 

[Guest 7034872]

^^ I'm 100% with Snarf and greatly admire White's essay.

I guess the saddest thing to me in all of this is that the person who felt hurt by Lackey's comment didn't take her concerns to Lackey herself in private first. Whenever I have my first (or second) quarrel with someone's choice of words, I greatly prefer to go to them one-on-one, express my complaints, but also listen closely and at length to their side of the whole thing, and then make whatever judgments only after walking through that whole process.

And Twitter ain't never gonna help any of us do that.

 

[MGibster]

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.

I think part of the problem is that we want answers now. I think Lackey's much better off giving some serious consideration into what she wants to say before issuing a statement.

 

[Cadence]

I guess the saddest thing to me in all of this is that the person who felt hurt by Lackey's comment didn't take her concerns to Lackey herself in private first. Whenever I have my first (or second) quarrel with someone's choice of words, I greatly prefer to go to them one-on-one, express my complaints, but also listen closely and at length to their side of the whole thing, and then make whatever judgments only after walking through that whole process.

Power and prestige differences are a thing. I can totally see the moderator not doing it. Presumably someone on the board could have though.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Power and prestige differences are a thing. I can totally see the moderator not doing it. Presumably someone on the board could have though.

That's the flip side of this; I don't blame the person who felt uncomfortable but didn't raise the issue immediately, either. Sometimes things take a while to process. Sometimes it's difficult to speak up in the moment, especially when there is a differential (real or perceived) in power. My read of her initial tweet is that it came from a place that, even if I don't 100% agree with it, was certainly thoughtful and considered and did not attempt to "name and shame" or otherwise turn this into a big thing.

I do blame the SFWA for the handling of this - everything from the initial handling to the tone-deaf press release that practically demanded to be misread.

....and I blame twitter. Because, c'mon. Twitter.

 

[SehanineMoonbow]

I don't come on these forums much anymore, but I learned about this yesterday and wanted to just express my thoughts.

I've been reading Lackey's Valdemar Chronicles, and it saddens me to learn of this. I don't think she meant any harm but what she said; I think it was a slip of the tongue, or ignorance (not knowing it was an offensive term). This doesn't diminish the fact that someone was hurt by it, but either discussing it with her privately, or correcting her gently, would have been a better approach than taking to Twitter. Because...it's Twitter. Post something on Twitter, and 1)you don't get the full context, and 2) it's a surefire way to get people riled up and spiteful. This was handled poorly on all sides.

I hope Lackey is given the chance to learn, and isn't condemned to the fire for this (assuming she didn't mean anything malicious by it). I've always given her kudos for being brave enough to write queer characters in the '80s and 90s, so I hope her comment was a misunderstanding, rather than intended racism.

 

[Hussar]

^^ I'm 100% with Snarf and greatly admire White's essay.

I guess the saddest thing to me in all of this is that the person who felt hurt by Lackey's comment didn't take her concerns to Lackey herself in private first. Whenever I have my first (or second) quarrel with someone's choice of words, I greatly prefer to go to them one-on-one, express my complaints, but also listen closely and at length to their side of the whole thing, and then make whatever judgments only after walking through that whole process.

And Twitter ain't never gonna help any of us do that.

And here we have the winner.

There was absolutely no reason to take this into the public realm as a first reaction. This was a relatively minor problem that could have been resolved in 30 seconds had the person on the panel simply taken the tiniest moment to react appropriately. We HAVE these sorts of policies in place in organizations like this specifically to deal with problems like this. I am 100% sure that the SFWA has harassment and whatnot policies publicly stated and freely available to all members. The person on the panel chose to ignore all of that to take to Twitter. Now, apparently, what she wrote on twitter wasn't all that inflammatory or accusatory either, but, still, if you have an issue at a conference, TALK TO THE CONFERENCE MANAGERS FIRST.

What's the point of having policies in place if people will just ignore them. The whole reason this became a huge issue is because the policies were ignored. If you (general you) have an issue like this, you take it to the proper channels first. Then, climb the chain if necessary. Posting it on Twitter should be your last resort, not your first reaction.

All this does is fuel the folks who claim that they are being bullied by the Twitter mob and that we're being repressed. It just flies straight up my nose when people cannot be bothered to actually follow the clearly laid out procedures that they AGREED TO before attending a panel. It's inconceivable that the SWFA wouldn't have these procedures in place and that they wouldn't have made them clearly available to everyone on the way in the door.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Here is the statement by Mercedes Lackey regarding the event~

​

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Well this is a really weird line to take.

This isn’t a weird line: this is celebrity “branding” defense 101. You get out in front of the scandal- whatever it is- ASAP, because you only have a small golden window of opportunity to do so before things start looking…artificial. Less than genuine.

I’m not saying she doesn’t deserve time to compose herself and consider her response. She absolutely does.

And the thing is, despite not being a Hollywood A-lister, we’re still not talking a “Regular Jane“ here. She’s a successful writer with an agent and asoociations with at least one publisher. Even if she is unaware of how to do this, there are those around her who know or should know how.

Especially if this is the result of a known issue she has with spoken language.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

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.

I don’t do Twitter, Facebook or any social media beyond 3-4 message boards and an image hosting site. In part because of the toxicity of their environments.