The children of the killing fields

ConDFW is being held in Dallas this weekend. Apparently this will be the last one. The first was held in 2001, and in 2003 it was the first s-f convention I ever attended. I had received a news release about the con at the newspaper where I worked at the time. I asked for, and received, a press pass, and attended out of sense of curiosity. I didn’t even know these conventions existed. Four months later my first s-f story was published by Revolution Science Fiction. It’s still archived on-line: http://www.revolutionsf.com/article.php?id=1867.html

Revolution S-F Editor Jayme Lynn Blaschke wrote “New writer Lou Antonelli isn't really a new writer at all. A longtime newspaper editor and reporter with multiple awards from Texas Press Association in editorial, column, and feature writing, Antonelli has recently turned his hand to science fiction with impressive results, as evidenced by the following story.”

Two years later my story “A Rocket for the Republic” was published in Asimov’s Science Fiction. It was the last story Gardner Dozois bought before he retired as editor there.

Back then literary science fiction was judged by its own quality, and you weren’t subjected to any political litmus test beforehand. You could still break into the field even if you believed in God, your country and/or yourself. Since then, thanks to the efforts of people like John Scalzi and Nora Jemisin, you’re first investigated as to political correctness. Thanks to the all-encompassing leftist totalitarian political ideology that dominates the genre now, you simply can’t be a quality writer if you’re not politically correct.

The people who dominate the field now are the children of those who collaborated with the Soviet Union so we’d lose the Vietnam War – the folks who brought you killing fields of Cambodia, and the boat people of Vietnam. I suppose one couldn’t have expected their offspring to be very humane, traditional or compassionate – much less conservative.

There was a time when, at the worst, liberals looked at conservatives and reactionaries with bemusement, but still had a “live and let live” attitude. But since American political liberalism was subverted during the Vietnam Era by totalitarian regimes in Russia and China, the attitude has been “live and let die.” Traditionalists and conservatives have responded by lashing out in fear. It’s unnerving when you realize those who disagree with you politically and socially see a gulag as your rightful home.

Literary science fiction has gone from being progressive, entertaining and visionary to being left-wing bullshit propaganda in a futuristic setting. No wonder people are leaving it in droves – and no wonder conventions are dying off, with some now little more than communist political rallies.
It’s sad to see ConDFW close down, but there’s not much to be celebrated there anymore. It’s demise is part of the greater cultural war that divides our nation.