In my last post, I mentioned how important it is for those playing the SJW game to make sure their every utterance is in line with whatever the intellectual flavor of the month is, because power and position seems to be gained by being the first to point an accusing finger at any deviation. I suggested that this was why Gerrold wrote his “You’re either for us or you’re agin’ us! And Silence = agin’ us!” screed. It doesn’t matter how much support you’ve given the cause in the past, or how many intersectionality checkboxes you can mark off, you have to maintain appearances because one slip and the pack turns on you.
Everybody knows this, although some like to pretend it isn’t true, but one need only look at the recent Unpersoning of Greg Hullender to see the proof. Greg is well known for his book reviews and especially for the mountains of irreproducable statistics he gleaned from his exclusive access to “impossible to anonymize” Hugo nomination ballots that proved both that the Puppies were an insignificant number, and how essential it was to change the voting system to get rid of them. (Something like Climate Science there — you have to take it on faith because you’re not allowed to check the data). Reading some of the referrers linking back here, I also learned he is gay and had a long history in LGBT activism.
You would think with credentials like that, and all the water he carried for the cause, he would be safe, a scion of the Left, but no, he made the mistake of not conforming to the whims of the Pronoun Police, and in one sentence, an offhand reference to how misused pronouns pulled him out of the story, he was doomed. Apologies were demanded, reviews were edited or deleted, and he was retconned out of existence on that site.
Who knows? Maybe he can redeem himself in the eyes of the SJWs by coming back and swearing on a stack of Ancillary Nouns that he was wrong and now believes utterly in the transient nature of Gender being immutable, and that pronouns can be whatever we want them to be. But he will always be damaged goods to the movement.
So let this be a lesson to all you aspiring Social Justice Warriors out there. It is not your place to lead. Throw away any illusions that your opinions will influence the future of the movement. Those opinions are a threat. You will be drummed out for having them. Just follow the opinions the thought-leaders set out for you, absolutely, in lock step, every single one of them, even if they make no sense to you (You’re not allowed to think that! Stop analyzing these things for yourself!). Never miss a chance to add your voice to the latest Two Minute Hate, because missing it is a sin. And know that even if you’re perfect, someone can and will use the contradictions to rat you out. So have fun playing that game.
As for Greg. I feel that in his heart he approached his positions with thought and rationality. I disagree with them, but I can at least respect that. And alas, that is what doomed him. But who knows, maybe he’s gained some freedom as a result. I hope he grabs it and comes back stronger, and independent.
Shoplifting in the Marketplace of Ideas 
As for Greg. I feel that in his heart he approached his positions with thought and rationality. I disagree with them, but I can at least respect that. And alas, that is what doomed him. But who knows, maybe he’s gained some freedom as a result. I hope he grabs it and comes back stronger, and independent.
Exactly this. And further, he’s been consistently civil even in disagreement, and even though we disagree, he doesn’t seem to hold that against us, in my encounters with him at least. He was at least willing to discuss in the marketplace of ideas. Which is, contrary to what the SJZealots think, is what we want.
Beautifully said. The phenomenon is part of the larger concept of tribalism, which I’ve studied for years and need to write more about. One of the fundamental principles of tribalism is that heretics are punished. This is the primary reason for what some call “virtue signaling,” which has nothing to do with virtue. When you engage in virtue signaling, you’re signalling to your co-tribalists that you’re a loyal member of the tribe. If you don’t signal it enough, your more rabid co-tribalists may begin to think your loyalty to the tribe is weak, or that you’re sliding down a slippery slope toward heresy. That’s when blood starts to billow. They’re not snowflakes. They’re piranhas.
Tribes are hierarchies, and at the bottom of the hierarchy are the tribal footsoldiers who have very little to make their lives meaningful except for rabid devotion to the tribe. This makes them trend toward the extremes of tribal belief, and if tribal leaders lose control of their footsoldiers, it can go very badly for the tribe. Lunatic elements on the progressive fringes of the Democratic party are doing tremendous damage to the Democrats’ prospects right now. One of my moderate Democratic friends admitted to me privately this past summer that his party is destroying itself by pandering to its extreme fringe groups like Antifa and excusing their violence.
Conventional SFF fandom is imploding in part because independents who want no part of SJW tribal warfare are going elsewhere (like DragonCon) or just going home. I’ve been predicting for two decades that fandom as we know it came of age in the 70s, with the Boomers, and will die once we run out of a critical mass of Boomers who are healthy enough to bring any enthusiasm to the con scene. So there’s no way that this sort of idiocy will end well. Eating your own is a self-limiting process.