4 ms·

I had no idea what this was about, so I went looking for some backstory. https://www.pcgamer.com/doom-co-creator-john-carmack-is-headlining-a-toxic-and-proud-s

I had no idea what this was about, so I went looking for some backstory. https://www.pcgamer.com/doom-co-creator-john-carmack-is-headlining-a-toxic-and-proud-sci-fi-convention-that-rails-against-woke-propaganda/ https://www.pcgamer.com/doom-co-creator-john-carmack-is-head... Attending a convention is a pretty unremarkable thing most of the time, but BasedCon isn't like most. Its website claims the convention "isn't about pushing any particular ideology," while at the same time listing examples of "based beliefs" that the organizers subscribe to: Men cannot give birth Guns don’t kill people; people kill people A fetus is a human being Socialism has failed everywhere it’s been tried Discriminating against white people is racism

Keyframe 3y ago
I wonder what they consider socialism? Socialism forms as in Nordic countries, Germany, Canada, France, or (some of) unions in USA or full Cuba and Soviet Union?
- taurawah 3y ago
  currently living in a small town with a lot of folks with similar 'based' opinions. Anything they don't like is socialism, full stop.
manuelabeledo 3y ago
I love this bit from their website: [Cons] were places where people of all colors and creeds could get together to talk and learn about science fiction and fantasy books, games, movies, and TV shows. Then, starting a few years ago, things changed. Cons became increasingly dominated by a small clique of authoritarian jerks who made them into venues for pushing social justice dogma and, in the name of “inclusiveness,” So cons went from being inclusive to... more inclusive?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- HDThoreaun 3y ago
  I think it's fair for the alt-righters that put this convention together to say they were excluded. Probably fair to exclude them too, but imo making their own con in reaction to being excluded seems like a reasonable decision. the rage bait stuff is lame though.
  - SketchySeaBeast 3y ago
    Were they actually excluded, or did they feel excluded because they didn't like the new philosophy? I'm not sure if they were actual rules actually excluding them.
    - philipkglass 3y ago
      There weren't actual rules excluding them. Compare the "about" page for the more mainstream Worldcon with the one for BasedCon: https://www.worldcon.org/about-worldcon/ https://www.worldcon.org/about-worldcon/ https://www.basedcon.com/?page_id=85 https://www.basedcon.com/?page_id=85 BasedCon's "about" has hot takes on guns, socialism, abortion, etc. Worldcon's "about" doesn't say anything about those topics at all. Here's the Registration FAQ for next year's Worldcon in Glasgow: https://glasgow2024.org/get-involved/registration-faq/ https://glasgow2024.org/get-involved/registration-faq/ There are no hot-button American political topics mentioned either way there. The last time I was at a science fiction convention there was a wide variety of political views among attendees, just as there have been among Hugo-winning SF authors. BasedCon seems unusual not in what sort of views it permits but in what it explicitly rejects.
    - manuelabeledo 3y ago
      I would think that they excluded themselves because of what they perceived as too much inclusion, which is ironic in a weird way.
peterfirefly 3y ago
What an unpleasant article! We can quibble about the finer points of the first three but definitely not about the last two.
captainmuon 3y ago
I don't know why they are afraid of just coming out and saying they are a conservative or right-wing convention.
- kentm 3y ago
  A lot of them have trouble admitting that their cultural stances are increasingly unpopular and what they view as "common sense" is not and is actually reflective of their politics. Plenty of right-wingers like to talk about being moderate and not wanting to "make things political" while making political statements. Its a bit mind-blowing that someone can name an event "BasedCon" and try to claim that its trying not to be political with a straight face.
mellosouls 3y ago
(OP) Thanks for that, the BasedCon "philosophy" page is here fwiw https://www.basedcon.com/?page_id=85 https://www.basedcon.com/?page_id=85 It sounds - as Carmack says - "intentionally provocative" and not a constructive way of countering what the organisers might object to in other conferences.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
ly3xqhl8g9 3y ago
[flagged]
- krapp 3y ago
  >"Based beliefs"? But they are so clichéd, so mainstream even. That's what's so funny about the modern generation of redpilled alt-right iconoclasts. They're literally just regurgitating beliefs that were banal in their grandparents' time. You're not radical if everything you believe was already being lampooned by All in the Family back in the 1970s.
- hablog 3y ago
  [flagged]
thefz 3y ago
> Discriminating against white people is racism Yeah, not like we haven't learned anything from the Yugoslavia war. But that's too far away from the place this nonsense is playing.

Keyframe 3y ago

I wonder what they consider socialism? Socialism forms as in Nordic countries, Germany, Canada, France, or (some of) unions in USA or full Cuba and Soviet Union?

taurawah 3y ago
currently living in a small town with a lot of folks with similar 'based' opinions. Anything they don't like is socialism, full stop.

manuelabeledo 3y ago

I love this bit from their website: [Cons] were places where people of all colors and creeds could get together to talk and learn about science fiction and fantasy books, games, movies, and TV shows. Then, starting a few years ago, things changed. Cons became increasingly dominated by a small clique of authoritarian jerks who made them into venues for pushing social justice dogma and, in the name of “inclusiveness,” So cons went from being inclusive to... more inclusive?

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
HDThoreaun 3y ago
I think it's fair for the alt-righters that put this convention together to say they were excluded. Probably fair to exclude them too, but imo making their own con in reaction to being excluded seems like a reasonable decision. the rage bait stuff is lame though.
- SketchySeaBeast 3y ago
  Were they actually excluded, or did they feel excluded because they didn't like the new philosophy? I'm not sure if they were actual rules actually excluding them.
  - philipkglass 3y ago
    There weren't actual rules excluding them. Compare the "about" page for the more mainstream Worldcon with the one for BasedCon: https://www.worldcon.org/about-worldcon/ https://www.worldcon.org/about-worldcon/ https://www.basedcon.com/?page_id=85 https://www.basedcon.com/?page_id=85 BasedCon's "about" has hot takes on guns, socialism, abortion, etc. Worldcon's "about" doesn't say anything about those topics at all. Here's the Registration FAQ for next year's Worldcon in Glasgow: https://glasgow2024.org/get-involved/registration-faq/ https://glasgow2024.org/get-involved/registration-faq/ There are no hot-button American political topics mentioned either way there. The last time I was at a science fiction convention there was a wide variety of political views among attendees, just as there have been among Hugo-winning SF authors. BasedCon seems unusual not in what sort of views it permits but in what it explicitly rejects.
  - manuelabeledo 3y ago
    I would think that they excluded themselves because of what they perceived as too much inclusion, which is ironic in a weird way.

peterfirefly 3y ago

What an unpleasant article! We can quibble about the finer points of the first three but definitely not about the last two.

captainmuon 3y ago

I don't know why they are afraid of just coming out and saying they are a conservative or right-wing convention.

kentm 3y ago
A lot of them have trouble admitting that their cultural stances are increasingly unpopular and what they view as "common sense" is not and is actually reflective of their politics. Plenty of right-wingers like to talk about being moderate and not wanting to "make things political" while making political statements. Its a bit mind-blowing that someone can name an event "BasedCon" and try to claim that its trying not to be political with a straight face.

mellosouls 3y ago

(OP) Thanks for that, the BasedCon "philosophy" page is here fwiw https://www.basedcon.com/?page_id=85 https://www.basedcon.com/?page_id=85 It sounds - as Carmack says - "intentionally provocative" and not a constructive way of countering what the organisers might object to in other conferences.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

ly3xqhl8g9 3y ago

[flagged]

krapp 3y ago
>"Based beliefs"? But they are so clichéd, so mainstream even. That's what's so funny about the modern generation of redpilled alt-right iconoclasts. They're literally just regurgitating beliefs that were banal in their grandparents' time. You're not radical if everything you believe was already being lampooned by All in the Family back in the 1970s.
hablog 3y ago
[flagged]

thefz 3y ago

> Discriminating against white people is racism Yeah, not like we haven't learned anything from the Yugoslavia war. But that's too far away from the place this nonsense is playing.