Commentary

China holds Australian journalist on unsubsantiated charges

This entry was posted in Commentary News and tagged China science fiction on by

Enter China at your own risk.

The Chinese government is holding Cheng Lei, a Chinese-born Australian journalist, on charges of “illegally supplying state secrets overseas.” According to the BBC report, China is subjecting her to a “closed-door trial” and the specific nature of her offenses is unknown. The Australian ambassador has said, “This is deeply concerning, unsatisfactory and regrettable. We can have no confidence in the validity of the process which is conducted in secret.”

To be sure, China isn’t the only country that ignores basic principles of justice when it raises the “state secrets” excuse. The United States’ treatment of Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange has been abominable. But in China, it’s much more the norm. If its government especially dislikes someone who comes to the Chengdu Worldcon in 2023, it may be a long time before they come back.

The cries that boycotting the Chengdu Worldcon is “racist” are getting thinner. Pretty much everyone who thinks about the matter realizes how dishonest it is to accuse supporters of the Uyghurs, Falun Gong, and Hong Kong residents of racism.

An article by Sarah Mughal Rana on the Chengdu convention raises some good points.
(more…)

New York Times: Imagine books without their authors

This entry was posted in Commentary Writing and tagged writing on by

“All you want is production without men who’re able to produce, isn’t it?”

In Atlas Shrugged, Henry Rearden asks this of a gang of politicians and bureaucrats trying to foist an insane scheme on him. Some people say Rand created a caricature. But recently, the New York Times made the erasure of creators explicit with an ad presenting “imagining Harry Potter without its creator” in a positive light. Perhaps the Times people think books are created by a “Fiat Librum” spell requiring no work. (“Fiat Librum” is probably bad Latin. Wizarding Word magic is built on bad Latin.) It’s magical thinking.

The suggestion is reminiscent of Barack Obama’s “You didn’t built that.” Denying credit to creators relieves the beneficiaries of any sense that they owe them anything, even acknowledgement.
(more…)

SFWA makes the right decision 1

This entry was posted in Commentary Writing and tagged fandom Russia science fiction Ukraine on by

Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) has declined to cut off ties with the Russian speculative fiction community. This has prompted an outraged post by Borys Sydiuk, a Ukrainian fan. SFWA’s position, as quoted in the post, is:

The SFWA Board of Directors met this last week to discuss and carefully review your missive. SFWA’s mission is to support, advocate for, and educate creators in the science fiction and fantasy genres across the world. We do this regardless of the actions of their governments. Because our mission is tied to our incorporation and status as a charitable organization, we cannot participate or support any kind of boycott.

(more…)

Sergey Lukianenko and the Chengdu Worldcon

This entry was posted in Commentary News and tagged China fandom Russia science fiction Ukraine on by

One of the guests at the 2023 Chengdu World Science Fiction Convention, Sergey Lukianenko, has attracted negative attention for his public support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He is echoing the Putin line, smearing Ukrainians as “Nazis.” There have been calls to rescind his invitation.

From what I can tell, Lukianenko is a despicable person. His activity goes far beyond Cixin Liu’s excuses for China’s treatment of the Uyghurs. Cixin was just answering a question; Lukianenko is actively praising Putin’s brutal actions.

However, I don’t like the idea of withdrawing speakers’ invitations when their views are unpopular. I’d rather view his presence on the guest list as a symptom, a concrete example of what holding a Worldcon in China means. At a convention in any semi-free country, it would be great fun to have him speak before an audience and face merciless question after question about the invasion of Ukraine. I absolutely wouldn’t want him shouted down; that’s a confession of fear that people will hear what the speaker has to say. But having him face a fannish inquisition in the Q&A — I relish the thought.
(more…)

Words banned from Wordle

This entry was posted in Commentary and tagged censorship vocabulary on by

When Wordle moved to the New York Times’ website, I stopped playing it. I’m glad the creator got a big chunk of money, but having it under the auspices of a media company which has fallen so far from its best days took something away from it. An article I came across said that the Times made a few changes, including removing some unpleasant words from its vocabulary. The article mentioned “slave” and “lynch.” It’s not a huge deal, but it smacks of the notion that you can make bad things go away by erasing their names.

Wondering what other words the Times might have excluded, I made a list of others to try. By the Wordle rules, they all have to be five letters. My criterion was not just that the words refer to bad things, but that their mention can make you cringe. This is very subjective, of course. I confirmed that “slave” and “lynch” weren’t recognized, and neither was “COVID.” But it recognized “bigot,” “hates,” “kills,” “raped,” “stabs,” and “thief.”
(more…)

Emerson College: Criticizing China’s totalitarian regime is “hate”

This entry was posted in Commentary News and tagged China science fiction on by

This is a writing blog, not a blog on the China Worldcon, but I’ve been getting a bump in readership from the Worldcon articles, I’ve been talking about intimidation of China critics with vague claims of “racism,” and I just came upon a new outrage. Emerson College is apparently in the pocket of the Chinese government. It derecognized a chapter of Turning Point USA, a student organization. The organization had distributed stickers with the text “China kinda … sus.” That’s gamer slang for “suspicious.”

Emerson president William Gilligan, who seems like a typical academic tinpot dictator, has smeared the Turning Point chapter with a claim of “anti-China hate.” “Hate” is a wonderfully flexible word; in this case, it means criticism of an authoritarian state. If Gilligan is consistent (which I don’t expect he is), then he ought to regard kneeling during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” as “anti-America hate.” Or maybe he just likes concentration camps.
(more…)

The China Olympics as a preview of the Chengdu Worldcon

This entry was posted in Commentary and tagged China science fiction on by

As I’m writing this, the disaster of the Winter Olympics in China is unfolding. Nancy Pelosi has warned American athletes, “Do not risk incurring the anger of the Chinese government because they are ruthless.” In effect, she told them to shut up for their own safety. (I wish she’d thought to say that before they got on their flights.) The Chinese government has warned of “grave consequences” for criticizing its human rights abuses. Yang Shu, the deputy director of the event’s International Relations Department, has warned that “any behavior or speeches that are against the Olympic spirit, especially against Chinese laws and regulations, are also subject to certain punishment.”

Athletes in COVID quarantine have reported miserable conditions. Valeria Vasnetsova posted on Instagram, “I want all this to end. I cry every day.” NPR reports, “Her account has since gone private.” Athletes are, on the FBI’s advice, using burner phones to avoid having their every conversation identified by the thought police.

What does this suggest about the World Science Fiction Convention scheduled for 2023 in Chengdu? There are differences, but they could make it even worse for the Worldcon.
(more…)

Chinese writers get it from both sides

This entry was posted in Censorship Commentary and tagged censorship China on by

Chinese writers have to reckon not only with their own government but with the US government. This post deals with events from 2020, but they relate to the issues of the upcoming Chengdu Worldcon and its guest of honor.

In 2020, Netflix announced plans for a series based on Cixin Liu’s The Three-Body Problem and its sequels. As far as I can tell (my Netflix subscription is currently inactive), it’s still in the works. Earlier, five U.S. senators pressured Netflix to drop it. Their reason was some remarks which the author had made in a New Yorker interview. When asked about the Chinese government’s treatment of the Uyghurs, he said, “If anything, the government is helping their economy and trying to lift them out of poverty. If you were to loosen up the country a bit, the consequences would be terrifying.”Cover, The Three-Body Problem

The notion of “lifting people out of poverty” by putting them into brutal concentration camps is, of course, outrageous. We have to consider Cixin’s position, though. If he had spoken against the Chinese government’s treatment of the Uyghurs, his writing career would have promptly ended, and he might have suffered worse consequences. The Chinese government’s recent threats against anyone who criticizes it at the Olympics have reminded us of that. Also, he’s doubtless been fed steady misinformation by the censored Chinese media.
(more…)

The silence on the Chengdu Worldcon 2

This entry was posted in Censorship Commentary and tagged China conventions science fiction on by

The lack of pushback against the 2023 Worldcon in Chengdu is disturbing. Boycotting the 2022 China Olympics is one of the few things Democrats and Republicans agree on. It should be obvious that a science fiction con, which is supposed to be about open discussion and speculation, can’t function under a government that monitors and censors ideas as pervasively as China does. Fans should find it repugnant to give any support to a government that persecutes minorities and violates human rights on a massive scale. Yet we’ve seen hardly any protests.

I’ve been looking for videos addressing these points to add to my YouTube playlist for boycotting Chengdu. So far I haven’t found any from fannish sources. If you know of any that are good enough to add to the list, please let me know in a comment.
(more…)

China buys 2023 Worldcon 1

This entry was posted in Commentary News and tagged conventions science fiction on by

The 2023 World Science Fiction Convention will be in China, a country notorious for suppressing dissent, persecuting minorities, restricting communication, and monitoring its citizens. Worldcon sites are selected among bidders by members of an earlier Worldcon, as just happened at Discon. It appears that the selection was the result of a large number of votes sent in from China from people who purchased supporting memberships. In other words, China bought the Worldcon.

Science fiction is the realm of speculation, exploration of ideas, and examination of alternatives. The idea of a Worldcon in such a repressive nation is absurd. Hopefully few fans in free countries will have any interest in this charade, and they’ll sit it out.
(more…)