As Greg Van Eekhout commented on Tobias Buckell’s blog, this issue has clarified for me what writers to follow and what to ignore.

I think the Helix writers who did not protest against William Sanders’ racist comments and subsequent unprofessional behavior fall under 3 categories: Those who put personal gain and/or friendship above principles, those who are as racist as Sanders, and those who are cowards. I am disappointed to see that there are some quite big names that seem to fall in one of these categories.

I am linking to transcriptase on my blog at http://ahmedakhan.livejournal.com.

Congrats again, on your stand.

http://tinyurl.com/6lr33q

(People might be interested to know that both William Sanders and a few of his supporters have responded to these posts in much more temperate terms than usual, meaning that if you do want to find out if there’s any sensible reasoning behind what went on, this isn’t a bad place to do it.)

Liz

I thought you might be interested in the two posts I made on my newsgroup at http://www.sff.net.

http://tinyurl.com/624rsj (discussing the letter)

and

http://tinyurl.com/6edmr4 (discussing William Sanders response)

Liz

PS: Very nifty archive name!

It’s uncomfortable to realize that a friend has said or done something less than laudable; it’s easier to find a way to rationalize that than to confront it directly. Perhaps the person has positive qualities that others don’t see. That doesn’t excuse their behavior, but can explain why other people stick up for them.

This is one reason why divisive issues *are* divisive: they cut through relationship lines, making us uncomfortable with ourselves and each other. Each of us must decide where to draw the line, what we will and won’t tolerate. Some people are more alarmed by the occasionally moblike ferocity of the blogosphere; I know I thought twice before getting involved in this, and made sure to read Sanders’ original words rather than just other people’s commentary.

In the end, I think the teamwork and tolerance involved in creating this project outweighs the divisive context from which it arose.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth Barrette

Everything I’ve read on the site so far has been fairly represented and doesn’t stoop to the level of Mr. Sanders which I applaud. It’s hard not to respond in kind to this sort of hatefulness.

Keep up the good work and I look forward to enjoying the many stories that are available here.

Best wishes,
Lyn C. A. Gardner

It taks courage to stand up for something you believe in and against something that could potentially hurt your career. I have to wonder about people that defend him over the re-printing letter and miss the point about what he said *in* the letter. Way to go through life with blinders, folks.

It hurts to see the silence surrounding this issue, how some people are still willing to turn a blind eye to something potentially damaging to the entire community. Having a bigot as a friend is one thing, everyone has someone in their inner circle who makes statements they may not agree with. Having that friend make statements (that end up becoming public, regardless of how), act like a spoiled child by throwing tantrums and exacting demand while you stand by, shake your head, and say, that’s just our Bill” shouldn’t be condoned. If that’s not the friend you know, then maybe you don’t know your friend.

I’ll be linking this and letting people know. Good luck!