Why I Think Norman Spinrad is COOL
12. Mar, 2010 
3 Comments
Why align myself with Norman amidst all of the abuse, hate, villification, hubris or whatever you want to call the recent spate of overly loud umbrage?
Because the guy just does not give a good goddamned flying fuck at a rolling donut what someone else is going to think about what he says, that’s why.
If he did, we would never have gotten novels – (key, critical, seminal, outrageous, prescient and entertaining) – like Bug Jack Barron, The Iron Dream and The Men In The Jungle.
I’ve seen and understand why many are going ape shit over his review in Asimov’s – but has it not occurred to anyone that the man is intelligent, articulate, far-thinking, professional and crafty and that he might just be playing a slightly longer game than simply admitting ignorance of a swath of the genre in a fairly decently distributed and somewhat respected magazine?
You know what – I’m gonna give Norm the benefit of the doubt for right now and see what develops down the line and btw – that “benefit” comes from a guy that Norm made a half-hearted attempt to cuckold at an area convention multiple years back.
PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO MY FEED
The problem with people who “[do] not give a good goddamned flying fuck at a rolling donut what someone else is going to think about what he says” is that they become incapable of knowing when they’ve jumped the shark. Or even, for that matter, perceiving the existence of the shark in the first place. See Heinlein, or for that matter, Ellison.
Just because somebody wrote some awesome books four decades ago doesn’t prevent them from being boneheaded NOW.
Colin,
maybe I chose the wrong time/wrong issue, but rather than being up in arms about another perceived case of “FAIL”, I’ve simply gotten sick of the whole finger-pointing, public bashing, pontification for a cause bs from the past year.
The same kind of accusatory crap that permeates most of the rest of my life outside of fandom is creeping in to fandom (or rather, has always been there and is now finding public acceptance).
I’m sympathetic to “causes” – even if my genetic heritage condemns me (without trial) to the bad guys camp. I do as much as I can – I ask questions, I do research, I give the benefit of the doubt (as in this case pending more information), I assume that folks are essentially good and decent, I assume that they don’t intend to hurt of ‘fail’ and I understand that change (where justified and necessary) often just takes time.
What I also understand is this: screaming and yelling at the other side just makes them get up from the table. If you want dialogue, you need to have DIAlogue.
And you need to do so in a manner that doesn’t make a sizable minority of the audience shut their ears because they’re just sick and tired of the whole thing.