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Cranks & SFWA
Mar. 13th, 2013 11:00 amI live in a townhouse, and the association which runs the place has an annual election of board members. Usually, these are Soviet-style affairs - one candidate per open seat. This isn't a conspiracy, rather, it's a reflection of the fact that finding people to fill the slots is hard. Being on the board of a homeowners association is a lot of work for no pay, little thanks and a lot of grief from people.
A few years ago, we had a contested election. At the time, I was confused as to why. Our association had solid finances, was keeping up on maintenance, and things were generally running smoothly. There seemed no reason to change leadership. Then I heard the opposing candidate's "platforms." One guy seemed to want the board to "work with" people who couldn't pay assessments. Another guy wanted separate swimming hours at the pool for boys and girls. The third guy (I think) wanted the association to ban pit bulls. (They already had a rule about aggressive dogs, so I didn't see the point.)
At any rate, after much hoopla, the insurgent platform lost the election. Badly. I mean like, they got 20% of the vote. After the results were announced at the annual meeting, the insurgents held a rump meeting and announced that they would be "keeping their eyes on the board." This idea may have survived until they got to the parking lot, but it didn't live to the next board meeting - I was one of only three non-board-members in attendance. (I was looking for some cheap entertainment which didn't happen.)
I am reminded of this story when I see that Theodore Beale AKA Vox Day is running for SFWA president. Again, SFWA seems to be in good shape, financially and otherwise, and there appears no reason to change leadership, other than Scalzi wants to quit. The one legitimate issue on Beale's platform, self-published authors, is on everybody else's too. So why is Beale running?
I suspect the people who ran for the board of my townhouse didn't really want to run the association. This is why they were nowhere to be found after their loss. No, they were cranks, seeking to impose their crankitude on whomever they could. Ditto, I suspect, Beale. He seems to be making a career at being a crank on the Internet. But that career requires getting people to pay attention to him first. So, stunts like running for President of SFWA. He's by no means the only such crank - see![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jimhines latest frolic with The Write Agenda for another exhibit.
Alas, the world is full of cranks, and not all of them content themselves with sitting at the corner of the bar.
A few years ago, we had a contested election. At the time, I was confused as to why. Our association had solid finances, was keeping up on maintenance, and things were generally running smoothly. There seemed no reason to change leadership. Then I heard the opposing candidate's "platforms." One guy seemed to want the board to "work with" people who couldn't pay assessments. Another guy wanted separate swimming hours at the pool for boys and girls. The third guy (I think) wanted the association to ban pit bulls. (They already had a rule about aggressive dogs, so I didn't see the point.)
At any rate, after much hoopla, the insurgent platform lost the election. Badly. I mean like, they got 20% of the vote. After the results were announced at the annual meeting, the insurgents held a rump meeting and announced that they would be "keeping their eyes on the board." This idea may have survived until they got to the parking lot, but it didn't live to the next board meeting - I was one of only three non-board-members in attendance. (I was looking for some cheap entertainment which didn't happen.)
I am reminded of this story when I see that Theodore Beale AKA Vox Day is running for SFWA president. Again, SFWA seems to be in good shape, financially and otherwise, and there appears no reason to change leadership, other than Scalzi wants to quit. The one legitimate issue on Beale's platform, self-published authors, is on everybody else's too. So why is Beale running?
I suspect the people who ran for the board of my townhouse didn't really want to run the association. This is why they were nowhere to be found after their loss. No, they were cranks, seeking to impose their crankitude on whomever they could. Ditto, I suspect, Beale. He seems to be making a career at being a crank on the Internet. But that career requires getting people to pay attention to him first. So, stunts like running for President of SFWA. He's by no means the only such crank - see
jimhines latest frolic with The Write Agenda for another exhibit.Alas, the world is full of cranks, and not all of them content themselves with sitting at the corner of the bar.
