Comments on: In Which Harlan Ellison Has Things To Say

By: somebody42

somebody42 — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:54:35 +0000

OK. So maybe the reference to Harlan’s junk was uncalled for ;)

By: Foxessa

Foxessa — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 02:00:22 +0000

Where in the histories of the Civil Rights and Voting Acts Movements here in the U.S. does HE come up as a hero, outside of his own archives and self-constructed mythologies?

Even with teh googles, HE doesn’t come up in these matters except in his own words. Nor in the not as easily accesible for so many access- for-fee databases that I consult daily on these matters does one find HE named as a hero, sung or unsung, in these matters.

However, there are many unsung names of poc who do come up in these databases and in, even print histories of these movements.

However did they have managed these movements without HE all over the place? It is a mystery. Probably forever.

Yes, teh snark, it is here.

But HE? Naw, except in his own mythology-fandom from many years ago.

By: PixelFish

PixelFish — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 22:01:15 +0000

Oh, man, just came from a writing retreat where a Harlan story was shared (something very similar where somebody related the gist of an event and Harlan thought the original person was maligning him when it was exactly the opposite) and then I come back and read this.

I think CKD put it best. He may have done some great writing, but he’s being a jerk now, and that’s the point. Too bad he had to take a footnote and turn it into Harlangeddon.

By: otherdeb

otherdeb — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 21:29:00 +0000

Mostly he gets slack because people know to ignore him and because it’s usually like banging your head against a wall to try to change his mind on anything. I was surprised when he apologized to Tempest, even though it was the right thing to do. I was not surprised that she accepted because I know how classy she is, and that she has so many other things better deserving of her energy.

By: Livia Llewellyn

Livia Llewellyn — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 21:23:57 +0000

Unfortunately, he also gets a lot of slack for bad behavior because he’s a white male, and many (not all, but many) white males still harbor the delusion that they are at the top of the evolutionary chain: and they act accordingly. “Accordingly” being, they band together in increasingly vicious acts of racist and sexist behavior. This makes me sad, not only as a white woman who has to shoulder much of the burden of their behavior (because I’m one of the bitches who has the power to give birth to creatures like this), but because this makes me believe more and more that the human race will never advance to the stars or achieve much of anything until ALL white people are simple, utterly, gone.

By: Lynn

Lynn — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 21:22:54 +0000

Yup, try googling “connie willis harlan ellison”

It happened in 2006, onstage while she was the guest of honor at the Hugos.

Given that, merely being called senile in a post about sexism was getting off pretty light.

By: Steve H

Steve H — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 16:24:10 +0000

Reading this whole thing reminds me of why I don’t bother to read Harlan’s stories any more. He’s an excellent bad example and an object lesson to anyone who fails to teach their five year old brat how to behave in public. Sure, he’s got genius, but how does he use it?

As an aside on the Connie Willis thing, I still profoundly wish she’d grabbed him by the balls and twisted, hard. “Oh, I thought groping was OK?”

By: Scott Wods

Scott Wods — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 14:50:54 +0000

I was directed her from a friendly LiveJournal and find this all very fascinating, especially as a black fan of Ellison thirty years running.

That said, I really just wanted to say that I love all of the cool blacks-in-SF icons here. I’d forgotten some of these! Please let me keep my blerd (black nerd) card.

By: tanyad

tanyad — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 14:23:05 +0000

I … I was stunned at this when I saw it posted elsewhere. I’ve never been a big fan of Ellison, but should I run across him at a con, I’ll be hard pressed to keep my fist from connecting with his pie hole.

Excellent response to a pitiful old troll who needs to fade into obscurity and stop begging for attention.

By: Velma

Velma — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 12:07:25 +0000

On any of the RaceFail-related bingo cards, is there a square for “I marched in Selma/signed a petition/supported a POC, and NOW THE REST OF YOU OWE ME FOREVER”? With perhaps a free square if it’s actually, “My parents/kinfolk/neighbor did it, so I get to coast”?

Sheesh.