Ooh, swift work by the mods.
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There is no reason to name awards for known assholes. And there is even less reason to defend them because of whatever they might have done for something you like, especially if they probably did wayyy more to hinder that thing. People who defend racists and fascists, like, just…what??
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I hereby give you the “Adolf Hitler Award for Commenting.”
You’re fine with that, I’m sure.
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Not really, because so many of them didn’t pass the litmus tests of their times.
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How many excellent writers were frozen out to please an open fascist? How many solid writers were driven out because his prominence helped foster a climate where only white dudes were given a chance? And how good do I have to be in my chosen field to make sure all other considerations are thrown out to continue praising me? Because here’s the thing, any good work he did is already done, no matter what the award is called, but the chilling effects created by naming one of the most prominent awards in the field after him persists. The proposal is to change the name of the award, not to scour any of his contributions out of history. Asimov will still have been published no matter what we call the award, but maybe we make it a little easier for someone from one of the groups he loathed to get their manuscript read in the future.
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The superficial excuse for Campbell’s outrageous editorials was that he was taking up contrarian viewpoints for argument’s sake to provoke controversy and debate. (Because that sells magazines.)
But looking back, it’s a lot like “just asking questions”.
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Arguments of the form “The U.S. is really more responsible for Nazism than Germany” are obviously bullshit and will make people wonder about your motives 
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He wasn’t Devil’s Advocating. The only way that would hold water is if he ever claimed to be, or if he made any arguments that made anyone believe he wasn’t sincerely and deeply racist.
Aside from that, in the weird scenario that someone is putting out racist screeds that person doesn’t sincerely believe, when they know they’re being received as if they are sincere, and that they’ll hurt vulnerable people in real life, well, that’s still super-racist.
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Yep. The Jobs-emulating manager I had at Apple was the reason I quit after six weeks with no prospect in sight. If emotional abuse of your employees is your management tool, I won’t work for you.
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He wasn’t that much of a genius. That’s part of what we’re arguing about.
People would be willing to hold their noses about his many awful qualities and remember him for something else if what he created was really that great.
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I don’t know why people are even mad.
It’s just not in John W Campbell’s nature to have a prize named after him.
You can tell this most scientifically by the fact that he doesn’t have a prize named after him.
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And a far-right shitstain.
Oath of Fealty is stunningly racist and classist.
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OTOH, “much Nazi ideology was directly inspired by US examples, 1930’s America contained a strong pro-Nazi faction, and the post-war USA was very keen on rehabilitating Nazi officials for use as a weapon against the Soviet Union” is historical fact.
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Germany was an innocent victim of Nazism but America has agency and made bad choices
This is really what you want to argue about today?
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Not what I said; the “OTOH” was in that sentence for a reason.
Nazi Germany bears primary responsibility for Nazi Germany. Nevertheless, the USA was far from blameless in the rise of global fascism, or in the post-war persistence of fascist ideology.
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Making excuses for the disingenuous arguments of the present-day German-speaking far right in Central Europe is a curious use of your energy and time
