Another Message for Mr Wright
Dear Mr Wright,
From what I read of those eight hundred plus comments, there were more than "one or two" that offered honest argument, and there were more than "one or two" posted by individuals whose feelings were "actually hurt." You may consider the former arguable, but to argue the latter is absurd. Are all but "one or two" of this multitude brazen liars? To delete those comments is your prerogative, of course, but you misrepresent what you delete in order to dismiss the dissent as negligible. And when you limit your apology to "one or two" among eight hundred, that would translate to a whole 0.25% chance for any individual who commented that you actually even mean your apology for them, a whole 0.25% chance that you have any respect for their arguments, any recognition that they were genuinely insulted. Take my word on it, Mr Wright -- or call me a liar if you wish -- with words like "homosex" and "abomination" you insulted a lot more than just "one or two."
Further, how are we to even see that apology as sincere when you shirk responsibility for any slight, when you a) characterise any offense as "a self-inflicted sort of wound," b) insist on the validity of your condemnation, and c) excuse even your "tone of contempt" with further insults that characterise us as "thin-skinned," laying blame on society for making us so? Given such features, this apology rather seems calculated to invite "scorn and contempt," to draw derisive rejections you can claim as evidence of unreason, furthering the representation of yourself as a pious victim of persecution by unthinking PC "orcs". Note that I say this with as neutral a tone as I can -- no disdain, simply an evaluation that your apology lacks any sense of honest repentance.
And you yourself are "factually wrong" because of this. It is simply untrue that when you say, "anyone reading my posts knows my sympathies rest with the gays." Anyone? I can tell you for a fact that your original post communicated nothing of the sort to me. I doubt very much that it communicated anything of the sort to most. I can tell you also for a fact that, for the reasons detailed above, this post is equally unsympathetic even if it is less explicitly contemptuous. You paint us as oversensitive naifs whose ire is disproportionate (a product of cosseting by society,) whose sexual orientation is entirely deserving of your judgement, and who essentially call "any hurt" down upon ourselves. To say that the offense taken is "self-inflicted" is rather to say that we are ourselves responsible for the degree of contempt that creates it, the degree of contempt you level at us in terms like "homosex" and "abomination." Other than your superficial insistence then, there is no indication whatsoever here that your sympathies rest with the gays, and there is every indication that you abhor us.
You should note, by the way, that where you say, "My enmity is for the political Left, whom I believe are exploiting the gays for purposes of their own. They will throw the gays under the bus when they have no more need of them," this makes it quite clear that your enmity is levelled at individuals you condemn rather than their actions. Which is to say you hate the sinner, not just the sin.
Let me be clear again that I say this not with "scorn and contempt," but as a straightforward appraisal of your apology as to how well it functions as an apology. And I post this here not to coerce you by censure into a less dubious gesture of contrition, but only because you (and your defenders) either understand little or care less about the very real reasons for the ferocity of the responses, and there is some small chance that if it is the former, perhaps this may go some way to making you reconsider your dismissive attitudes.
Yours sincerely
THE.... Sodomite Hal Duncan!!
Unofficial Spokesperson, The Elders of Sodom
From what I read of those eight hundred plus comments, there were more than "one or two" that offered honest argument, and there were more than "one or two" posted by individuals whose feelings were "actually hurt." You may consider the former arguable, but to argue the latter is absurd. Are all but "one or two" of this multitude brazen liars? To delete those comments is your prerogative, of course, but you misrepresent what you delete in order to dismiss the dissent as negligible. And when you limit your apology to "one or two" among eight hundred, that would translate to a whole 0.25% chance for any individual who commented that you actually even mean your apology for them, a whole 0.25% chance that you have any respect for their arguments, any recognition that they were genuinely insulted. Take my word on it, Mr Wright -- or call me a liar if you wish -- with words like "homosex" and "abomination" you insulted a lot more than just "one or two."
Further, how are we to even see that apology as sincere when you shirk responsibility for any slight, when you a) characterise any offense as "a self-inflicted sort of wound," b) insist on the validity of your condemnation, and c) excuse even your "tone of contempt" with further insults that characterise us as "thin-skinned," laying blame on society for making us so? Given such features, this apology rather seems calculated to invite "scorn and contempt," to draw derisive rejections you can claim as evidence of unreason, furthering the representation of yourself as a pious victim of persecution by unthinking PC "orcs". Note that I say this with as neutral a tone as I can -- no disdain, simply an evaluation that your apology lacks any sense of honest repentance.
And you yourself are "factually wrong" because of this. It is simply untrue that when you say, "anyone reading my posts knows my sympathies rest with the gays." Anyone? I can tell you for a fact that your original post communicated nothing of the sort to me. I doubt very much that it communicated anything of the sort to most. I can tell you also for a fact that, for the reasons detailed above, this post is equally unsympathetic even if it is less explicitly contemptuous. You paint us as oversensitive naifs whose ire is disproportionate (a product of cosseting by society,) whose sexual orientation is entirely deserving of your judgement, and who essentially call "any hurt" down upon ourselves. To say that the offense taken is "self-inflicted" is rather to say that we are ourselves responsible for the degree of contempt that creates it, the degree of contempt you level at us in terms like "homosex" and "abomination." Other than your superficial insistence then, there is no indication whatsoever here that your sympathies rest with the gays, and there is every indication that you abhor us.
You should note, by the way, that where you say, "My enmity is for the political Left, whom I believe are exploiting the gays for purposes of their own. They will throw the gays under the bus when they have no more need of them," this makes it quite clear that your enmity is levelled at individuals you condemn rather than their actions. Which is to say you hate the sinner, not just the sin.
Let me be clear again that I say this not with "scorn and contempt," but as a straightforward appraisal of your apology as to how well it functions as an apology. And I post this here not to coerce you by censure into a less dubious gesture of contrition, but only because you (and your defenders) either understand little or care less about the very real reasons for the ferocity of the responses, and there is some small chance that if it is the former, perhaps this may go some way to making you reconsider your dismissive attitudes.
Yours sincerely
THE.... Sodomite Hal Duncan!!
Unofficial Spokesperson, The Elders of Sodom
posted by Hal Duncan | 5:21 pm
3 Comments:
And Wright's response, on his LiveJournal:
"With no offense meant, it is not your judgment of my repentance that concerns me."
Never!
My favourite line was this : "You can have deviant as well as wholesome characters in stories, because you have to tell the story as honestly as you may." (from Wright's LJ)
Even the word wholesome send shivers of fear down my spine.
It's such a shame he has turned into such a reactionary loon. Although it was a mess that could have been edited down to two or even one volume, the Golden Transcendence was a amazing technobabble space opera that I enjoyed (when I could plough through his turgid prose)
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