The Noisy Rogue

Some of you may be aware of the maelstrom of controversy that has engulfed the science fiction and fantasy publishing world over the sad puppies and rabid puppies campaigns over the Hugo awards. If you’re not, then it’s a something you may want to have a look at if you’re interested in the push-back in the culture wars against the SJW morlocks and Marxist hordes. An excellent place to get started is this round-up of posts by the author John C Wright:

Suggested Reading for Sad Puppy Backstory

The drama around Tor books, a subsidiary of Macmillan, is in response to statements made by Tor staff about their own readership. Irene Gallo, an associate publisher and creative editor at Tor books said this:

“… There are two extreme right-wing to neo-nazi groups, called the Sad Puppies and Rabid Puppies respectively, that are calling for the end of social justice in science fiction and fantasy. They are unrepentantly racist, misogynist, and homophobic. A noisy few but they’ve been able to gather some Gamergate folks around them and elect a slate of bad-to-reprehensible works on this year’s Hugo ballot…”

The readership did not take well to this libel and Tor were asked to deal with the matter. Their response has been nonexistent. I mean, it’s pretty weird that a company would label their own customers this way, but that is what they have done. And it seems that the powers at be at Tor are either struck dumb with indecision or are actively complicit in this drama. Having dismissed all those people emailing them in protest as ‘bots’, (which was interesting to me as I myself sent some emails and I’m pretty sure I’m not a robot, although at times I fear my wife has cause to disagree), Tor were given adequate time to issue a statement, any statement, to deal with the situation.

None came. So the boycott of Tor books has been called. I have 16 books published by Tor in my personal library. Not only will I no longer be purchasing books from Tor again, I intend to dump my books on the secondhand market at cheap prices. This is in response to this post from Moshe Feder at Tor books. It seems that he thinks any commercial issues will be averted by people buying a Tor book for a day.

Even John C Wright, one of Tor’s own published writers, is unable to express support for Tor in this situation. Make your own minds up, dear readers. But rest assured that the culture wars have not been lost. They were only originally winning in the first place because our side couldn’t be bothered turning up. Now it’s on.

I’m playing the Witcher 3. It is probably, without putting too fine a point on it, the best single player rpg I have ever played, and I’ve been playing them since about 1986. It is everything that Skyrim promised yet failed to deliver. But more than that, it has given the giant middle finger to the social justice warriors who crave conformism under the banner of ‘equality.’

There have been rumblings on reddit and twitter about the fact that there are no black characters in the Witcher 3. One poor writer at Forbes berates himself for having missed this terrible fact, which he missed obviously because of his white privilege. It seems to have escaped these people that the game is set in a feudal Slavic country, (the game designers are unabashedly Polish). I expect next that they will take to task a faithful recreation of a game set in Samurai Japan for not having enough Black warriors to play, or wymens for that matter.

The reaction from the game designers? A frosty silence while they point at their sales figures.

But for me the real revelation was during the opening zone of the game, (spoiler alert coming). In one of the quests, you the witcher are tasked with finding a hunter who lives alone at the edge of the woods. He has some information that you require. He is a sad and cautious man having been driven from the village due to him being a ‘freak’. You as the witcher suspect lycanthropy and offer to cure him. It turns out that he was found in the hay barn with the local lord’s son doing the naughty. The son killed himself, the lord fell into a depression and his lands collapsed and the villagers ran the hunter out of town.

And here we have the first realistic approach to homosexuality in a fantasy feudal setting in a game in a very long time. Because it makes sense in the context of the world. Anything else, such as the ridiculous gay marriage in Elder Scrolls Online, merely rubs your face in their activism. This was dealt with in a mature, respectful, and realistic manner. I could have jumped for joy. In fact, I must admit to a couple of real life fist pumps from behind my computer.

If a game was set in contemporary America, Northern Europe or Australia, and had the exact same turn of events then I would be upset. Because it would likewise not be realistic for the game world in which it was set. And it would not only cause me to scratch my head and wonder if as a player I had mistaken the setting in which I was playing, it would also yank me out of any immersion that I was enjoying.

Of course, the SJWs are crowing on this subject that anyone who approves of this scene in The Witcher 3 is a homophobe etc etc rinse and repeat. And that is because they are avoiders of truth. They have their agenda, they have hoisted their colours to its flag, and so by God they must continue with the charade notwithstanding any uncomfortable realities or logical arguments that happen across their path. Logical absurdities are fine of course.

So all praise The Witcher 3. The game designers have given us a great game and given the middle finger in no uncertain terms to the SJW brigade. And they’re making gobs of money. But then again, the SJWs hate capitilism too.