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[bryant]

Baen Books publishing repugnant Patriot Movement novels.

Dixie Chicks mouthing off about the President of the United States.

Appropriate reactions. Compare and contrast. I have my own thoughts but I’m curious. This is the first time I can recall making one of these “tell me what you think” posts, so disappoint me at your peril.

Comments

[rmd.livejournal.com]

i think comparing them is apples and oranges, since the dixie chicks aren't singing songs that are anti bush as far as i know. their product is not the chit-chat during their sets, but the actual songs. whereas baen's product is the books that they publish. so it's sort of the difference between a newspaper's news story (the product) and an appearance on a talking head show (or maybe ET!) by a reporter or member of the editorial staff (opinion on the part of the folks who create the product).

that said, has baen made any statements about their spiffy new book? god knows there are enough dystopian novels about tolitarian futures and (post-)revolutions (ranging from "fifth column" to "night of power" to "alongside night" to "handmaid's tale"), both crappily written and well written. is the book any good, political wonking aside?

also, there's a matter of the intended audience -- there's an expectation that country musicians are going to be unthinkingly supportive of a conservative administration. on the other hand, there's a notable subculture of pro-patriot sorts of folks in sf fandom (that "man, it'll be so cool after the apocalypse, because then we can all be like mad max and i'll finally be cool!" sort of thing). so in one case you're going against expected "community standards" and in the other, you're not, really.

i'm not sure what you're looking for as far as "appropriate reactions". i'm probably not going to buy the baen book. if i were a big bush supporter, i might not buy new dixie chicks records as a protest. but in either case i wouldn't go burn my books/cd's.

if baen has gone off the deep end, i'll just treat them like i treated dave sim when he went off the deep end and the entertainment value dropped too far -- stop buying the stuff and go support people who give me better entertainment for my dollar.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

I guess i can't be arsed to care about a publisher, notorious for awful book covers, that decides to try to make money with a nutbar's novel, or about a carefully crafted pop-country group going against their fanbase's political grain. At least Baen has some interesting ideas regarding publishing stuff online...

[merlinofchaos]

Enh. I can't get excited about this.

1) A crappy novel is a crappy novel. And given the foundation that novel is built on, it's recognizable as a crappy novel. It goes in the same pile as Upton Sinclair's fiction -- it's the other pole, but built on a similarly implausible foundation.

2) Baen *should* publish across a wide range of spectra. Perhaps not publishing the novel could be seen as a leftist bias.

3) Celebrities, more and more, and realizing that they have the privilege of spreading their political beliefs. I'm glad to see them do it.

I can't agree with ostracizing Baen over publishing this than I can about ostracizing the Dixie Chicks for criticizing the President.

[gwenix.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, I can't get too excited over this, so I'll just leave a disappointing, "so what?"

Ok, I'll elaborate. I don't know enough about the Baen Books publishing to say anything authoritatively there, but they have the right to publish whatever they want. Even if it is expressing their own opinion. Do I have to buy a product I don't want to buy as a result? No.

For the opposite side, do I have to like the Dixie Chicks because I happen to agree with the sentiment (if I don't really care for the statement itself) of an off-hand remark they made? No.

I wish people, especially those who claim to love the concept of free speech, would stop taking these sorts of things so seriously. So I'll return to the incredibly lame response, "So what?" :)

[janne.livejournal.com]

Freedom of speech is a good thing. If nobody published repugnant books or spoke against the government, *then* I'd be worried =)