Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Blog Awards, No Prize

Well, fuckery is afoot. Seems the best of intentions lead to rectal discomfort. And when describing pains of the ass, the name SUZANNE springs to mind. Over at the Canadian Blog Awards a request was made for a category to recognize the best in feminist blogging. Now that seems fair enough, given the number of potential nominees, but it just won't do. Instant acrimony takes hold with demands for anti-feminism and masculanism categories and things devolve from there. As of the closing of the comments, after much waffling and sock tasting, and pending a decision from the co-Operators of the awards, suzie has her victory as Northern BC Dipper states:

“...Best Feminist Blog” cannot be done, as it is unacceptable to some."

Here's what I think, it doesn't matter one iota whether or not a contentious slag like suzie likes or can accept the category. She wouldn't be in the category and her only purpose in objecting is to be a prick. Hell, that aggregation would make it easier for her to decide who to flick snot at. There are lots of Canadian writers whose identities are strongly tied to their feminist ideals and they deserve to be recognized by their peers. I think Saskboy and BCDipper had the best of intentions and I think they are more surprised than anybody to see their good intentions go up in stink. Sadly, they allowed themselves to be buffaloed by suzie and a couple of bellicose tweezer heads.

I don't consider myself a feminist. I tend to think of myself as an egalitarian (I know, I know) but I would self identify as pro-feminist. There are certain areas of feminist thought that I don't agree with and I am a middle aged white male but for the most part I think that feminism has been a vital aspect of change for the better in our society. And while it ain't my place to make demands, I'd like to stand by my friends. Strike the canadiancynic nomination(s) from the ballot please. If suzie has veto power, then the awards have failed, they mean less than nothing.

Update:

Having followed the various threads concerning this issue and the responses to it, I can't get over how the feminists are being demonized as drama queens and hopped up trouble makers. Yet somehow, lying scum like runner are posting volumes of negative swill over in the awards sham threads and not being called up on the carpet for their spite and spittle. So the awards can get stuffed. I left this in the threads over yonder:

runner opines:

"The request to have a feminist category was not offered in a nice manner. "

here is the very first mention of the issue from berlynn:

"I have a concern. There’s no Best Feminist Blog."

runner, no need to lie.

runner, you aren't a feminist, as you state. but there are a population of feminist bloggers on the canadian scene. it doesn't matter if you read them, like them, agree with them or what not. they exist and they are a unique element of the blogging populace. the invective here started with suzie all-caps. the "drama" that is a result is in response to the vituperative tone of suzie and yourself and a few others. however unfortunate the outcome, the blame lies with suzie all-caps and the waffling ops.

sometimes, for every inaction there is a just and angry reaction. the ops of the awards gave suzie all-caps a tacit veto. there is unlikely to be a compromise solution to a compromised situation. cc has already stated his disinterest in the awards for his own reasons, as a co-blogger at canadiancynic i can't see hanging with this charade. so with apologies to those that nominated us, please pull us off the ballot.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

"I tend to think of myself as an egalitarian..."

So you're objectively pro-eagle, then?

Red Tory said...

I see dr. roy's worthless piece of shit blog has been nominated.

Ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha!

What a shame there isn't a "Dumbest Blogger" category.

JJ said...

Thanks for adding your voice to this so eloquently. (Especially "fuckery is afoot", LOL).

The operators were clearly blindsided and thrown right off balance by the sudden rush of negative response (even though it was all from the same 6 people) to the proposal of a best feminist blog category. That would have been the time to take a leadership position and say something like... oh, I don't know... STFU? Unfortunately, they caved and the rest is history.

I feel sorry for the ops in that they're new to this and trying not to screw it up. That of course makes them ripe for being played by those that are wont to do such things, which is exactly what happened.