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On Acting Slowly
Oct. 22nd, 2010 01:25 pmI have some thoughts about why the Wiscon con committee was so slow to disinvite Elizabeth Moon. I didn't post earlier, because if they'd then continued to do nothing, having given them the benefit of the doubt would have been somewhat embarrassing. This isn't based on any direct knowledge of what's going on behind the scenes, or of the legal situation, just on my own social modeling. But I strongly suspect that, during the delay, the following things occurred:
-Research into past uninvitings (there's at least one) and what the social and legal consequences have been.
-Extensive discussion about what sort of precedent they would be setting, and what the social and legal consequences were likely to be.
-Checking in with a variety of pros to find out if they would boycott forever a con that treated its GOH that way, or if they would still cheerfully accept future Wiscon invitations under the assumption that they're not assholes and we're not idiots.
-Negotiation with Moon to try and minimize legal and social consequences. I suspect they tried to convince her to resign, which is the more usual action for public figures who get caught being bigoted, and that she eventually told them to go stick it.
All those things take a while. Mind you, I have no good excuse for the Troika's first attempt to keep her on--except that they may not have thought of uninviting as a real option, at the time. Without SF3's backing, any liability might have fallen squarely on the few individuals in the concom. I Am Not a Lawyer, obviously.
Short form: I wish they had disinvited her earlier, and I'm not sure they could have. And I respect a preference for finding out what's at the bottom of a cliff before jumping off--even if you know that eventually, regardless of the consequences, you'll have to jump.
(ETA: Some of my guesses are supported here: <http://community.livejournal.com/wiscon/287005.html>)
-Research into past uninvitings (there's at least one) and what the social and legal consequences have been.
-Extensive discussion about what sort of precedent they would be setting, and what the social and legal consequences were likely to be.
-Checking in with a variety of pros to find out if they would boycott forever a con that treated its GOH that way, or if they would still cheerfully accept future Wiscon invitations under the assumption that they're not assholes and we're not idiots.
-Negotiation with Moon to try and minimize legal and social consequences. I suspect they tried to convince her to resign, which is the more usual action for public figures who get caught being bigoted, and that she eventually told them to go stick it.
All those things take a while. Mind you, I have no good excuse for the Troika's first attempt to keep her on--except that they may not have thought of uninviting as a real option, at the time. Without SF3's backing, any liability might have fallen squarely on the few individuals in the concom. I Am Not a Lawyer, obviously.
Short form: I wish they had disinvited her earlier, and I'm not sure they could have. And I respect a preference for finding out what's at the bottom of a cliff before jumping off--even if you know that eventually, regardless of the consequences, you'll have to jump.
(ETA: Some of my guesses are supported here: <http://community.livejournal.com/wiscon/287005.html>)
