Just got to thinking about this after those threads on The Expanse and Military Sci-Fi (which admittedly is probably the sub-genre least affected by this trend).
I know the case can be made for the existence of some conservative authors or sometimes conservative themes, of course they exist, but are they “swimming upstream” so-to-speak? Going against the flow of “the mainstream” of Sci-Fi?
I’m not looking for a list of conservative authors by the way, I want to hear if the people here think that Sci-Fi as a genre may or may not have an inherent bias towards the new, the previously unseen, and thus “progressive” ideas and ideologies. Not even necessarily to castigate Sci-Fi, merely to attempt to understand what’s happening.
The “Sad Puppies” folks probably have some insights on this subject but I don’t know much about them beyond their existence and their claim that the Sci-Fi book awards system has been subverted by leftist/progressive ideologues:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sad_Puppies
Sad Puppies activists accused the Hugo Awards "of giving awards on the basis of political correctness and favoring authors and artists who aren't straight, white and male".
I do see the ideas of sci-if and “progressivism” as connected, but I’m not sure if that’s an inherent aspect of the genre, or if that is perhaps a cultural relic. I lean towards the idea that it is likely largely cultural (i.e. well respected sci-fi authors of old put “culturally progressive” themes in their books about Scientific “progress”, and that has carried on to this day) but I’m interested in where everyone else falls on the subject.
I remember when the sad puppies thing started and there was pushback from real sci/fi fans because low selling books were getting awards because they were written by females or lgbt and then we saw the familiar “we need more females in sci-fi”. I will say it was the first time I heard the “it’s always been progressive” argument. Granted a lot of authors are liberal for their day. There is also the truth that sci-fi tends to appeal to more guys so it was bound to get attacked
The nature of sci-fi is to speculate on the future. I feel if all these authors they claim to be woke or progressive were alive today, they would be attacked by the very same people. Look what happened to George RR Martin
I think it’s important to remember that “woke” is a product of its time, which changes and adapts as society ”progresses” (said with a sneer, lol) - what was woke in the 30’s, the 60’s, the 90’s, and today has shifted.
Star Trek for example, how often do lefties circlejerk over mUh FiRsT iNtErRaCiAl KiSs? Yet the same series had all the honeys wearing short skirts. It only took until TNG for them to directly lambast that reality with their weird ass unisex dress outfits, and putting Picard in a skirt (though that never stopped them from framing entire scenes around Troi’s assets, strangely enough).
So while yes, I think you’re totally right, if they got these “progressive” icons like Mary Shelly or whoever reanimated from the grave, it wouldn’t take long at all for them to be canceled, they were still progressive / “woke” for their time
Agreed. I’ve seen young Star Trek “fans” getting upset over Uhura not being offended about Lincoln calling her a charming negress.
Also I’d say writers from the past had more life experience to influence them, and despite their views they were still able to write a story. Not sure if you are familiar with N.K. Jemison but she is a left wing black woman who has won like three straight nebulas and when she won the first one she went on a rant about ……. Wait for it….. racism. The lady grew up in the 80s and 90s so I don’t believe she has experienced the racism she describes. Plus all of her books are about oppressed aliens. That is someone who doesn’t know crap about Sci-fi but keeps getting awards. But they just give awards now based on identity politics. I remember one year Orson Scott card outsold the winners by a lot and wasn’t even nominated