The Chik-Fil-A Thing

I wasn't going to post about it. Because frankly, I have never eaten there and never would, regardless of how they behaved. I'm vegetarian. Whatever crap they have on their menu that isn't isn't chicken, I can get at other places in the food court. And usually I'm in the food court on a Sunday, when they're closed. So basically I can say I'm boycotting Chik-Fil-A, but I'm not doing anything different than I ever did. Which is eating at Burger King or Taco Bell, maybe Dairy Queen, or the crepe place. (Burger King, you say? That's not vegetarian! Au contraire, they have a veggie burger. Their fries don't have beef IN THE FRIES THEMSELVES like McDonalds, plus there's all sorts of other unhealthy sugary fatty things to eat there. Mmm, drinks. Anyway, this isn't about Burger King.)

This is about Chik-Fil-A and Facebook.

Look, I don't care if you don't boycott Chik-Fil-A. That's your own political choice, or gastronomical choice. What I care about is when you think you have to tell your entire Facebook feed that gosh-darned-it you are going to eat at Chik-Fil-A and nobody can make you stop eating there and all of you boycotting it are WRONG and FREEDOM OF SPEECH and AMERICA! And apple pie. Does Chik-Fil-A serve apple pie?

Look.

* It's not about freedom of speech. The CEO can say whatever crappy thing he wants. But when the company? Gives money to anti-gay, hate-spreading organizations? Well, that might legally be 'freedom of speech' in that companies are people and giving money is speech, but it's not the freedom of speech you're probably thinking of. People aren't boycotting because of what he said. They're boycotting because of the money changing hands.

* Or, they're boycotting because Chik-Fil-A has crappy HR practices. Firing and not promoting women because they're also mothers? Doing the same based on sexual orientation? Yea, not cool. You know, like, legally not cool. Morally not cool.

When you eat at Chik-Fil-A regardless, you're saying you don't care. You know what? That's fine. Apathy is your right.

But when you tell Facebook about it, that's /offensive/. And by offensive I meant /that hurts people/. People you consider friends, family, acquaintances, colleagues, or at least FishWrangler buddies. You're saying they don't have the right to be hurt and angry and upset that Chik-Fil-A is actively hurting them and people like them. (Remember the women thing? Not just LGBT I'm talking about.) You're saying the CEO's right to freedom of speech trumps their right to their own feelings.

You have the freedom of speech to say what you want on Facebook (within Facebook's limits). You have the freedom to hurt people.

We have the freedom to block you and defriend you.

The Readercon Thing

I was going to post about Readercon first, but then the Chik-Fil-A (see previous rant) thing annoyed me more in the moment.

So, Readercon.

I used to live in Waltham and work in Burlington, and yet Readercon never crossed my radar as something worth considering going to. I don't know how or why I missed it. Maybe I never heard of it. Maybe it sounded boring. (Compared to anime cons? Yea.)

It wasn't until I'd moved north to New Hampshire, and gone away to California to attend Clarion, that it really entered my radar. Some of the instructors mentioned it. Some of my classmates mentioned it.

But, see, I made the mistake of going to a Wiscon first. I cannot sing the praises of Wiscon highly enough. Will do my best to never miss one.

Readercon was crap by comparison. Unfair comparison? Perhaps. But it's not exactly comparing apples to oranges. Just crappy apples to delicious apples. :) Without having a mediocre apple in between to temper my opinion.

I posted con reports. They're around here somewhere if you want to read them.

* Hotel wifi is EXPENSIVE. (For all numbers above $0 I think it's a ripoff, but I mean EXPENSIVE. And it was moreso the second time! The price kept going up!)

* Hotel location is crap. You can't walk to anywhere to eat. The hotel shuttle is unreliable. If you want food, you're stuck with the hotel food, ordering in, or knowing someone with a car going somewhere you can eat (vegetarian, though I have no other dietary restrictions).

* Repeat, hotel location is crap. I don't have a car. It's easier for me to get to a con in BOSTON than it is to get to a con ~20 minutes away from me. My options are 1) expensive or 2) ridiculously convoluted and time-consuming.

* Hotel layout is crap. There's a 'lounge', but it's not conducive to lots of small groups talking. Unless you're the type who likes hanging out in people's hotel rooms, or your own, you're going to be stuck in this crappy lounge or in the hotel bar. (Contrast to Wiscon which has a nice lounge, random chairs other places, lounges on other floors, and just lots of random spaces for conversations. And organized parties everyone's invited to.)

* Getting on programming. Good luck! You have to be a Big Name, or a Medium Name, and know the super secret password or something. Broad Universe didn't even get a reading this year. (I don't know the circumstances behind that. Which is part of the problem.)

* The programming itself. Some of it sounds cool, some of it sounds different, some of it sounds ultra-academic and niche and what and I'm-too-stupid-to-be-at-this-con.

I didn't go this year. I thought about it. I waffled. I wiffled. I booked a room, but did not buy a membership. I knew lots of cool people that were going. Clarion instructors, Outer Alliance people, Broad Universe people. I would have only gone to see them. And y'know what? I can see them at other cons.

Every year K reminds me I didn't enjoy myself the times I did go, so why was I even considering it this time? Because it's so close! It should be cheap and easy and fun! But it's.. none of the above.

So this crap they pulled with the harrasser? The admitted harrasser? The serial harrasser? The two year suspension? Yea, it's crap.

The only time I felt uncomfortable at a con was at Readercon. I know some geeks lack social skills. I honestly think if I wasn't socialized female, I wouldn't have as many social skills as I do. It was probably just that. It was maybe just that. But I was wary of him the next time I went to Readercon. I didn't want to have a conversation of any type with him.

And now to know if he'd gone beyond 'this guy makes me uncomfortable' and I'd reported it, I'd be lucky if anything happened? Yea.. y'know.. not so welcoming, Readercon. And you were already not so welcoming on other fronts.

I had a conversation on the bus home from one Readercon where I was complaining about the location and suggesting other hotels in the greater Boston area that might be better. That I'd be willing to pay more for a better location. And a couple of the people I was talking to said in effect, y'know, get involved, we need fresh blood, etc etc.

Yea, no, sorry. Been there, done that. I know the work involved. And to be constantly fighting an uphill battle against an entrenched concomm? No thank you. I'd sooner go off and start my own con. One a lot closer to the Wiscon model than the Readercon one.

One with well-considered policies we were ready to enforce.