[Alsos]

(02-02-2019 11:19 AM)Cobra Wrote:  

This ban doesn't seem to have anything to do with underlying content but rather rights to that content.

Which is why it was reinstated...

I don't care for Vox Day. He seems to have a great following in the right and you wonder what kind of man this guy is. So you dig in.

Then you realize, he's a science fiction and fantasy writer that designed video games that happens to be a political commentator hiding behind his computer probably in the basement.

He is "prolific" in the space, which isn't necessarily the same thing as accomplished. If he can go against conservative heavy weights like Tucker Carlson, Dinesh D'Souza or even Ben Shapiro, in a debate I could at least have respect for him.

He craps on civic nationalism without acknowledging any if its benefits and ignoring anything below surface level.

While I don't condone banning of anything anywhere for content, I say fuck this guy because he's just a nerd behind a computer.

In Vox Day's defense, he's not a nerd living in the basement (mom's or otherwise), he's actually an expat living somewhere in Italy. Nor is he a loser, beta, soyboy, incel or whatever insult is currently in fashion for use with the familiar "basement-dweller" dismissal - he has what looks like a happy, attractive wife and a couple of normal kids.

Also, he claims to have offered on a number of occasions to debate Ben Shapiro, and did so several times on his blog. Shapiro predictably ignores him, because why wouldn't he? He's a household name, and Day's just some blogger guy everyone says is a racist, woman-hating monster. What's in it for Shapiro? But the point is, he has routinely offered to debate assorted public intellectuals. (Now, what really transpires in the background is anyone's guess - in absence of other evidence, we have to take Vox at his word that he's offering and they're turning him down.)

Since we're on the topic, compare how the two men treat their families in public fora. Day's wife got brought into the public sphere by detractors claiming she didn't exist, and built her own online presence and following after that happened. He'll occasionally mention her by her nom de plume, and show pictures of the two of them together whenever this bizarre suggestion comes up. Day mentions his kids obliquely on occasion, but never shows pictures or gives their names so as to keep them private individuals.

Scalzi's wife is not a public figure on her own as far as I can tell, but Scalzi often posts cringe-inducing and nauseatingly uxorious flattery of her, and does so by name and using her image. In doing so, he pulls a private individual into the public eye. He also posts cringe-inducing and nauseating flattery of his daughter, who has been posting on Twitter under her own name at least since she was 16. She interacts with her father and her father's fans on that forum, and he interacts with and draws attention to her. Which makes her more of a public figure than his wife, and as much of a public figure as Day's wife.

So, while I acknowledge DoBA's point about mocking Scalzi's wife being out of bounds (she's been dragged into the arena by her husband, as I see it, and I had no place ridiculing her), I don't really have a lot of sympathy with Scalzi himself. If he didn't want his family to be subjected to public comment, it was his obligation to keep them private as Day has done with his kids. No, that wouldn't have altogether prevented the snide comments and such, but it would have provided his more malicious detractors with little to work with, and would have sent the message to the less extreme ones that the family was off-limits. Which means we wouldn't be having this discussion. (ETA: I don't think his daughter being a public person makes her fair game in any way - just pointing out the difference in how they treat their kids online.)

As for the book issue, I'm not sure where to come down on that. I think you can make a strong argument that since Vox claimed his book was a parody of Scalzi's, it justifies some similarity in appearance of the covers - up to a point. But had I been specifying the cover art, I'd have made it a bit more obviously distinct from the original, both to avoid this problem and to visually reinforce the parody. And also to set it off from the original - set up a table at B&N with both side-by-side, and most customers are not going to realize they're two different books. Whatever sales of the parody book that wins through confusion (or deception, if you like) will be offset by sales lost to not seeing the parody book at all.

But then there's the issue of whether it's even a parody. Having read "Corrosion" and selected passages from "Collapsing Empire", they're apples and oranges. Nothing in common apart from the Foundation-derived theme of the gradual and inexorable collapse of a galactic civilization. Unlike, say, Bored of the Rings, there don't appear to be any other points of correspondence between the characters, setting, plot, or scenes between the books. To me, it's not accurate to call it a parody, it's a freestanding book that Vox appears to have hijacked the hype over Scalzi's book release to promote, with just enough underlying thematic similarity to allow him to claim the "parody" was in fact doing a better job in a couple of weeks with Scalzi's concept than Scalzi himself managed in over a year of work. (Which from what I've seen is the absolute truth - "Corrosion" is well-done and probably the best new SF book I've read in ten years, while the excerpts I've read from "Collapsing Empire" were so stupid and twee they bruised my brain-lobes.)

[Malone]

(02-02-2019 12:41 PM)scorpion Wrote:  

I really don't understand the purpose behind these John Scalzi parody books. Presumably you'd actually have to read the parodied Scalzi book beforehand to appreciate most of the humor contained in the parody version. So by creating this type of parody you're actually just increasing demand for Scalzi's books. Not to mention the sheer effort and time commitment required to produce all that text. I mean, really, who cares? I can't imagine these parodies are even selling more than a few hundred copies. Who actually wants to read one? I can't imagine a bigger waste of time.

My understanding was it's not exactly a parody, more like "That book written so it doesn't suck."

However, I haven't actually read it.

[Buddydowrongright2]

100% guarantee Corroding Empire wasn't given that cover for satirical reasons, but Amazon marketing ones. Same reason the titles are almost identical. For as much of an cuntbooger as he is, Scalzi is popular and his books sell. Also I thought Vox lived in Finland but I'm not an expert on the dude by any means. I've never purchased a book from Castalia House.

[Alsos]

(02-02-2019 12:59 PM)Buddydowrongright2 Wrote:  

100% guarantee Corroding Empire wasn't given that cover for satirical reasons, but Amazon marketing ones. Same reason the titles are almost identical. For as much of an cuntbooger as he is, Scalzi is popular and his books sell. Also I thought Vox lived in Finland but I'm not an expert on the dude by any means. I've never purchased a book from Castalia House.

You should give them a look. Whatever you may think of Vox, I think he's got a pretty decent nose for choosing SF and general fiction books (with the exception of his cringey lit-boner for John C. Wright). Don't read fantasy, so can't judge there, but you won't find any Hugo Award winners at Castalia (heh).

[rotekz]

(02-02-2019 11:58 AM)Cobra Wrote:  

However, that still doesn't change the other fact, which is that he's an unaccomplished basement dwelling nerd beyond publishing things and unwilling or unable to go beyond this much.

He's one of a very few high-achieving polymaths:
Division one sprinter/soccer player at college, still playing competitive soccer aged 50.
Full contact MMA fighter in his twenties.
90's video game designer with platinum selling titles Rebel Moon & Rebel Moon Rising
Billboard Top 40 artist with rave outfit Psykosonik
Video game music featured on Mortal Kombat
3D game hardware proponent, trademarked '3D Blaster', later sold to Creative Labs
Nationally syndicated columnist at WorldNetDaily alongside Ann Coulter and Pat Buchanan.
Author of numerous fantasy, religious and sci-fi novels.
Non-Fiction author covering political philosophy, economics and religion.
Editor and head of publisher Castalia House
Comics writer and publisher with his own crowd-funded Arkhaven and Dark Legion comics
Lead designer of the InfoGalactic conservative alternative to Wikipedia
Creator of the Voxiversity series of right wing educational videos
Has a hot wife and trad family.

He might be a bit out of shape now but in his youth he was pretty badass.

[Leonard D Neubache]

That fire sword is +2 at best.

What a loser.

[CynicalContrarian]

Now, now Leonard.
That Australian 'tall-poppy syndrome' is never a good look.