confused ramblings about the Swancon guest
I’m feeling very conflicted about Swancon’s International GoH.
I’m never sure how much I want to separate out an author’s professional life from their personal/political opinions. I have some sympathy for the view that we should judge a body of work on it’s own merits. I can understand that there may be members of the con com who are huge fans of this author’s books and are thrilled to have him as a guest. However, I’m also aware that people often distinguish between a good writer and a good Swancon guest.
A good GoH gets described as friendly, enthusiastic, happy to engage with both panels and fans, fun at room parties etc. In judging a guest we look at far more than their writing and so we can’t just ignore who they are as a person.
I’m not expecting to hate Brandon Sanderson. I don’t think he’ll be rude or unpleasant in any way, if fact I firmly believe he’ll be unfailingly respectful. But I just can’t get excited about a guest who believes my life is sinful and wrong.
I’m not suggesting that a con com should never invite a guest who’s expressed homophobic opinions. If we ruled out everyone who’s ever been homophobic, racist, sexist etc. there’d be nobody left to invite - I get that we’re all flawed. I also get that there are degrees of offense and that Brandon Sanderson is not Fred Phelps. This is not intended as a criticism of the committee’s choice, it’s just my personal reaction.
In some ways I’m really annoyed with myself for letting this bother me. He’s an idiot on this particular topic but we’re all idiots about something and people still manage to like us. Part of me wants to shrug it off, go to his GoH speech and see if he has anything interesting to say. Another part of me wants to throw a hissy fit and boycott all his panels. I’m curious to see which way I’ll jump.
Or maybe I’ll just turn this whole dilemma into a gynaecon panel ☺.
I’m never sure how much I want to separate out an author’s professional life from their personal/political opinions. I have some sympathy for the view that we should judge a body of work on it’s own merits. I can understand that there may be members of the con com who are huge fans of this author’s books and are thrilled to have him as a guest. However, I’m also aware that people often distinguish between a good writer and a good Swancon guest.
A good GoH gets described as friendly, enthusiastic, happy to engage with both panels and fans, fun at room parties etc. In judging a guest we look at far more than their writing and so we can’t just ignore who they are as a person.
I’m not expecting to hate Brandon Sanderson. I don’t think he’ll be rude or unpleasant in any way, if fact I firmly believe he’ll be unfailingly respectful. But I just can’t get excited about a guest who believes my life is sinful and wrong.
I’m not suggesting that a con com should never invite a guest who’s expressed homophobic opinions. If we ruled out everyone who’s ever been homophobic, racist, sexist etc. there’d be nobody left to invite - I get that we’re all flawed. I also get that there are degrees of offense and that Brandon Sanderson is not Fred Phelps. This is not intended as a criticism of the committee’s choice, it’s just my personal reaction.
In some ways I’m really annoyed with myself for letting this bother me. He’s an idiot on this particular topic but we’re all idiots about something and people still manage to like us. Part of me wants to shrug it off, go to his GoH speech and see if he has anything interesting to say. Another part of me wants to throw a hissy fit and boycott all his panels. I’m curious to see which way I’ll jump.
Or maybe I’ll just turn this whole dilemma into a gynaecon panel ☺.