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Lessons from an SJW Mob (or, Horror in Romancelandia)
Isolate the target. That’s the first rule of mobbing. But who knew it would result in so many targets?
My sister and I are writers. She’s romance, I’m mystery. We’re both members of Romance Writers of America (RWA). So, when a fairly big-name romance writer, Courtney Milan, was censured by RWA for cyberbullying, we got curious about what was going on. We got even more curious when Milan’s gang turned on the RWA board and got most to resign, ruined the reputation of the gay man who became president, and seems on the verge of taking down the 9,000+ member organization.
Curiosity killed the cat, they say.
(And you can skip down to the learnings at the bottom, if you want to bypass the whole, sordid story.)
Our tale beings with an editor named Sue Grimshaw, who once worked as a romance buyer for Borders Books. During the time she worked there, Borders had the awful policy of segregating black romance writers into the African American section of books, which severely limited their market reach. Because of this segregation, a separate buyer bought romances from African American authors (i.e., Grimshaw never had a chance to discriminate against African American authors, even if she’d wanted to). There’s no public evidence I could find that Sue Grimshaw had any influence over the policy. But it was there and she was there, so clearly, she’s a racist (says the mob).
Borders is gone, and Sue went on with her life. Recently, she got a job with a small press, Marie Force Publishing, and the mob descended, baying for her firing. Marie Force complied.
Sue also was working with another small press owned by Suzan Tisdale. The mob, led by Courtney Milan, descended on Tisdale via Twitter, demanding Grimshaw’s firing. They pointed to tweets Grimshaw had liked “proving” her racism. These were tweets by people like Charlie Kirk, and of a picture of Trump posing with ICE border guards, and (the horror), she actually liked some Bible passages. Courtney assured Tisdale there were hundreds more just like them, but Grimshaw had deleted them. Tisdale looked at the “evidence,” and said they were just political tweets, proving nothing more than that Grimshaw was a conservative. She refused to fire Grimshaw.
Big mistake. Tisdale was declared racist. After all, her new company hadn’t published any authors of color. Nevermind it was a start-up and hadn’t published any authors at all. Those are facts and the mob relies on emotion. So, the mob turned to look at who else was working for or associating with Tisdale. (Tisdale claims several authors she’d lined up for her new company have since fled.)
Enter Kathryn Lynn Davis, one of Tisdale’s other editors and a romance writer herself. One of Courtney’s acolytes dug up a paragraph from a historical romance by Davis set in the 19th century, where the half-Chinese heroine was portrayed as “submissive” and Chinese culture as “patriarchal.” Worse – she was blue-eyed.
Racist!!!
Davis claimed the paragraph was taken out of context, and over the course of the novel, the heroine becomes more independent, but no matter. She’s a racist. Deplatformed. Davis claims she lost a three-book deal due to the online smears.
Davis and Tisdale filed ethics complaints with RWA, where they were also members, along with Milan. Since the ethics board was run by Courtney Milan, she was asked to step down and a new board that wasn’t filled with her friends appointed. She was censured.
Here things get tricky because it isn’t clear proper procedure was followed. Milan may well be innocent per RWA’s policies, rules, and regs. But Romancelandia went nuts. Milan successfully spun the affair as Asian-American author criticizes racist book and is then censured by racist RWA. Most of the board resigned, claiming they’d been unaware of anything. If true, that definitely means something was wrong with procedures, though the remaining board members claimed they’d all voted not just on accepting the ethics committee report, but also on the censure.
Anyway.
Per the by-laws, Damon Suede suddenly became the president. And here’s where we see an example of why intersectionality fails. He went from being a gay ally to just another white male oppressor in the blink of an eye. The mob descended. He was called a liar. A fraud. Possibly criminal. Definitely racist (duh).
The RWA private message boards fired up, the SJW squad bringing out all sorts of examples of RWA’s racism. And … I have to say they had some good points. There is real evidence that some racist stuff’s gone down there, which I won’t bore you with. Just look up #RitasSoWhite if you want more.
Another author, Cherry Adair, stuck her head out and said these women weren’t racist. She’s now been declared a “known racist” on blogs and social media and has had to take down all her social media sites. I think she’s big enough to weather the storm, but … it’s horrible.
The RWA board backed down and un-censured Milan, pending legal review. But that wasn’t enough. It’s never enough.
My sister reviewed the evidence, pondered, and in a late-night fit of insanity, asked on the message board if there was any other evidence of Target Zero, Sue Grimshaw’s, racism.
So my sister’s a racist now. You don’t ask the mob questions (and there was nothing more). The SJWs referred her to writings on “white fragility” because, clearly, my sister needed to correct her thinking.
Digging the hole deeper, my sister replied that she was familiar with Critical Race Theory and thought White Fragility was the Kobayashi Maru of theories – there’s no way to win and no way out. If you don’t agree with white fragility, it’s proof of your fragility and racism, but if you agree with white fragility, you’re a racist, because under CRT, all white people are racist and will forever be racist – their only hope is to become slightly less racist if they have the emotional stamina to undertake the work.
The effect was akin to telling a bunch of jihadis that she didn’t believe in Allah. Now she’s not just racist, she’s racist “trash.”
Although this was a private board, it’s already gone out on Twitter that her books are not to be purchased, because … racist. So far, it’s only been a couple of posts, and we’re keeping our fingers crossed it stays that way. We’ve developed a game plan if it gets bigger, but hope we don’t have to use it, because you just can’t win. But it’s astonishing how quickly this has spiraled outward.
In the end, my sister was really writing her posts for the people in RWA who still believe facts have value but were too scared to speak out. And a few have started. But things aren’t looking good.
Learnings:
- There are two types of SJW mobsters. The first is easily identifiable, behaving like mindless cult members. They can only insult you and parrot the catchphrases, “gaslighting, white privilege, white fragility,” etc., etc., ad nauseam. The second type appears reasonable. They’re “genuinely curious” about your point of view. Don’t be fooled. They only want you to talk more so they can leap on your dog whistles – or get the cultist-types to do it for them.
- Facts and logic makes no impression on SJW mobsters (monsters?). They only respond with rhetoric, insults, and pre-set talking points, and those points all basically boil down to you being a racist.
- If you do insist on arguing, keep your arguments short and to one point. SJW mobsters will ignore any facts you may have gathered and target what they imagine is happening in your racist little head based on a close reading of your text. You can’t convince them, but you may be able to convince some silent onlookers. It’s the rare bird who will publicly help you out, but it may do some good down the road.
Especially if we stand with Candace Owen.
@OmegaPaladin:
Between my sister and I, it’s quite a list. Is it okay if I just give you the series titles? My sister writes contemporary romance under the name Allyson Charles. Her two romance series are: “Forever Friends” and “Pineville.”
I write mystery under the name Kirsten Weiss, am also on Amazon and have got a few paperbacks in the brick-and-mortar stores as well. My cozy mystery series are: “At Wits’ End,” “Pie Town,” and “The Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum.” (There’s a horrible and repeated typo in the first book in the Paranormal Museum series which I can’t get the publisher to change. So, apologies to anyone who catches it and winces).
And thank you!
As an addendum, Kathryn Lynn Davis was interviewed by The Guardian today and clarified she didn’t actually lose the contract – discussion of a future contract has been delayed by the controversy. Here’s the link: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/04/kathryn-lynn-romance-novelist-interview-racism-complaint?
If I had to guess about the history, Borders was probably pressured by the race-baiters into having an African American section — and when they complied, this gets used as proof of racism.
Bore us with it. The so-called evidence of racism is probably nonsense.
KWeiss, you hit the nail on the head with the Kobayashi Maru analogy. As far as I can tell, this is the entire point of the SJW strategy.
You cannot respond with reason. You can only realize that these people are hysterical, irrational, and malicious. They need to be defeated.
This, by the way, is why we elected Donald Trump. We know all about his flaws, but we need a wrecking ball against this entire Wokeist madness. His super-power is that he makes them reveal who they really are.
I heard somebody recently say that the only way to deal with such cretins was to ignore them. Everybody has the attention span of a gnat these days so it’s your best chance of getting it to blow over and be forgotten. If you defend yourself, you make it “a thing” and give it oxygen. Is there some reason you can think of that that’s not good advice?
For most situations and most people, that might be the best response. But I think it’s great that we have some who mock and ridicule, who engage and push back. We have to keep the crazies in the public eye, because most people do think they’re crazy. They’re just afraid to say it.
One of them, certainly, but there are others (he’s still alive BTW).
As for famous 20th century knitters go, I’m particularly fond of this snapshot of the then First Lady of the United States, and the wife of Ricochet’s own Silent Cal. Apparently, they’d go off on vacations together; he’d go fishing, and she’d sit in their cabin and knit. Sounds like the perfect holiday to me:
OMG that makes perfect sense. It seems the modern black movement is about identity, hence we must have black student dorms, a black Miss America, and now, a black section in book stores. Once they self-segregate (or force others to do so), they complain about how Ameica is not “inclusive” . . .
There may be more famous people who also knit, but he’s the one who was famous for doing knitting and needlecraft. TV news segments, bestselling books, et cetera.
I think a watershed moment will be when normal Americans (by which I mean those not obsessed with politics and culture and current events) begin to grasp that there is a tension within the anti-racism movement, between those who think the best way for racism to end is for racism to be talked about incessantly and ferreted out in every corner, and those of us who think the best way for racism to end is to stop paying attention to race.
These are two mutually incompatible approaches to solving the same problem. I think only one will work, and it isn’t the one the progressives are flogging right now.
Since not paying attention to race is, in fact, racism, it’s a no-win situation.
They aren’t trying to solve the problem. At least the loudest ones aren’t. That isn’t their objective. So “what works” is irrelevant.
Ret, there’s a sense in which I agree with you. I think — because I’m a charitable old sap — that many of the race-obsessed really do think that calling attention to every imagined pseudo-racist slight is how you achieve justice, which is their proxy for ending racism. I think they’re woefully wrong, but I think a lot of them are sincere. (Not the hustlers, of course, the Sharptons and their ilk, the big-name hate-pimps who manage to stay on the public stage when they belong on the public gallows.)
But I don’t think you can persuade normal people to adopt a position by demonizing all the apparently sincere people on the other side. Better to describe the campus crazies as “probably well-intentioned, but wrong about their approach and ultimately part of the problem and not the solution.” Otherwise, people who know seemingly nice people who have fallen for the racism-everywhere nonsense (and that’s probably most of us) will have a hard time hearing the message.
I think there is some use for both approaches.
I’m sure you’re right. It’s great that we have a lot of voices. We need them all. (Except @stad. We obviously don’t need Stad.)
I think it depends on how much of your income and work is online. JK Rowling is richer than the Queen and can afford to stand above it all. But that said, I’ve been researching past mob attacks, and I’ve never seen a truly successful counter to them. From a spiritual perspective, ignoring the mob makes lots of sense. I just don’t know the answer from a business perspective. But apologizing and explaining most definitely does not seem to work, based on my research.
Correct. “Be bloody, brave, and bold.”
How about attacking them and questioning their motives?
It does not. All it does, if you’re really in one of these mob situations, is ratchet up the demands that you do more to show that you really mean it. But it’s never enough, and you can never truly switch teams, or be allowed off the hook.
When you have a small business that’s largely dependent on the Internet, and you’ve engaged on “friendly” social networking sites where you’ve been unwary enough to drop a political opinion now and then (or to Tweet your thoughts on current events), you’re a prime target for the outrage mob. And “ignoring” them doesn’t really help as you watch your business die. Trying to pacify them doesn’t work either, for the reason given above. There is no amount of apology, remorse, or promise to do better that will satisfy the maw of those out to destroy anyone who doesn’t conform. I have never seen, or heard such ugliness as that coming from the mouths of a bunch of knitting ladies (of both sexes) over the past nine or ten months. It’s just foul.
The only thing that works is to organize to counter the madness. But that takes time, and conservatives seem ill-prepared, probably because they believed that the social networking sites they were already on, and which many used as a platform for their businesses, were run by people who actually were interested in providing a neutral business platform, or in spirited and varied discussion of different viewpoints. They are not.
Counter-organization is taking place in the knitting community. As is the word-of-mouth support of businesses like Tuskenknits, whose proprietor, Maria Tusken, was one of the most brutally targeted over the past year. But because conservatives are not wired to publish lists of “businesses we hate,” or “people we won’t buy from,” and because, in general, we’d prefer that people get along, it’s a slow process.
(Just checked Ravelry, with whom I have not done any “business” since this past Spring. The “political” thread is incredible. It’s been six months since any and all “supportive” discussion of DJT and/or anyone in his administration was summarily banned. And there is still a thread mustering dozens and sometimes hundreds of comments a day of venomous bile about everything about him. Disgusting, sometimes foul-mouthed, unhinged drivel, with no-one to counter any of it. They wanted an echo chamber. And that’s what they have. And they are as happy as pigs in [expletive]. Because that is what they are. Or at least, how they behave.
Who is living rent-free inside whose head, I always ask myself in situations like this. Who is really in charge of this conversation?)
PS: Word from Ravelry WRT Iranian-Americans is that we should be very worried about reprisals against them from demented fellow citizens.
The progressives don’t want solutions, hence all the talk talk talk. The left makes a living (or gets elected) based on finding, creating, or talking up problems. Their solutions are always “Put us in charge and give the money to fix it.” Well, we did that with “The War on Poverty” and the poor are still around . . .
It does make me wonder when they cross the line from being “well-intentioned” to “deliberate malice” because of their wrongful approaches.
I finally put my big-girl pants on and yesterday tried that on the RWA “professional” forum. I re-posted their hate-filled quotes and screenshots and asked short, pointed questions about mob rule. They tried to get me kicked off the board, and when that failed, this morning a hostile writer told me if I didn’t shut the *&^% up, they would mob the four women on the “do-not-read-because-racist” list. Not mob me. Them.
So I think that technique was effective, because they sure couldn’t stand it. But I’ve been effectively checked.
I’ve shut up.
“If you don’t come quietly, we’ll kill those random people over there.” How romantic!
These are some very scary people. Did anyone support you?
I’ve been thinking about this thread some more in the context of a column by Peggy Noonan I read a few years ago which was talking about the MeToo movement. In it she said something to the effect that women had finally figured out the formula to successfully bring some of the worse perpetrators to justice-it doesn’t just take one woman coming forward, but dozens of women-to catch a Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein or a Matt Lauer.
I also remember reading a column on Ricochet a few years ago when I first joined, I think it was by @susanquinn but I’m not sure, which asked the question how we counter the left. At the time, I was still operating under the delusion that the left were just like the liberals of yore and that it was just our jobs to be conservatives while we waited for the pendulum to swing back. But, dare I say it, I am now woke. It took a long time for me to realize the left for what it was, because I believe that everyone has a role to play in a functioning society. Yes, even progressives as long as there aren’t too many of them. But after all that has gone on-and this post illustrates quite well- I finally realized what many of you knew already: the strain of leftism that has invaded our public life must be defeated and discredited.
So now I think it isn’t enough for us to ridicule them here or in funny political memes, as entertaining as it is. As @kweiss showed in comment #52, it isn’t enough for one person to stand up, it has to be many and some backing is needed. Students have prevailed on campus when they’ve had backing of legal organizations for example. I don’t know what the formula is for an effective counter strategy to this mob mentality other than leaving the organizations as I did with Ravelry, but I think it’s time that we started to figure one out.
I wish that Ricky Gervais was a dedicated knitter, as he could certainly unravel the hate filled bigotry of the Ravelery crowd.
One of the other authors on “the list” reached out to me privately, but I think some very sensible people are just keeping their heads down. And I don’t blame them at all.
Have you been able to detect any changes in the mob since then, for better or worse ?
@GossamerCat: I’ve been thinking about this a lot (too much – I’ve had to walk away from the RWA boards before I become as nutty as the SJWs). And you’re right. It’s not enough for one person to stand up. But it takes one person to start, so in spite of all the stress and threats, I’m (mostly) glad my sister Allyson did speak up.
Allyson had a Facebook chat with a very nice lefty-liberal romance writer today, and the other writer, who’s been keeping her head down, said, “You know, I just don’t like the way race is being weaponized.” Maybe I’m reading too much into that, but maybe there’s a silent majority out there, watching the madness, and starting to see what’s really going on?
Last time I looked, which was two days ago, they seemed more riled up (I’ve had to ban myself from the forum, because it was making me a little nuts). It’s a feeding frenzy in Romancelandia. But the new president, Damon Suede, just resigned, which is what they wanted. I’d like to think this will calm things down, but I doubt it will.