PC Awards

Several years ago, the the Sad Puppies drama burst upon the scene.  Lots of folks had very strong opinions on what happened, but it did appear to raise an issue of whether or not awards were being given out based on content or on political correctness.  It's hard to find a non-biased article on Sad Puppies, so that's something you'll just have to research for yourself.

All that said, I've found some merit in the contention from the puppies.  Yes, there have been people previously excluded from writer awards, and it hindered their growth in the industry.  That's a horrible episode from the past, and it's gladly behind us.  However, that doesn't mean you rectify past injustice with present injustice.  That leads to tribal divisions, which only serve to polarize the industry.

Readers want good stories, not PC nonsense shoved down their throats.  If you want to write that stuff, go ahead and test it in the market.  Who knows - maybe there's a wider audience out there than I understand.  However, to exclude that which has garnered reader interest because it doesn't contain the correct shibboleths simply shows elitism.  It reminds me of the Oscar's of today - awards are given out to films nobody went to see because they were for arteests instead of normal people.  The average moviegoer laughs at the Oscar's today, and the average reader laughs at many of the awards in our industry.  These are atrsy-fartsy books that no one reads but that many people claim to so they can gain PC credibility.   It's puerile and makes authors laughing stocks in normal society.

A few awards have apparently cropped up recently to try and correct for the stupidity that has infected most "mainstream" awards, but how long till the uber-woke infiltrate those organizations too?  That's where the frustration and challenge lie - the PC won't leave folks alone, but rather expect them to pay fealty to the PC gods.  In other words, they tell us to go find our own space after invading ours, and when we create that new space, they invade that too and ask why we're excluding them.  It's exhausting to keep fighting them, but it's the only way since they won't leave us alone.