About that… some truly memorable genre books, films and TV shows deal with precisely this theme: DR.JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, FORBIDDEN PLANET and even THE INCREDIBLE HULK.

Hence, people who are into genre fiction should’ve have learned to face up to the “Monsters Of The Id” issue long ago, simply as a part of their cultural upbringing…

… and though many probably did, some never have.

Djiril: I think your comment has relevance. Certainly I see more people slip up and reveal their privilege (gender, racial, whatever) online, due to the both the instant communication and the anonymity allowed on the Internet. Obviously the latter doesn’t apply to Ellison, but he’s still making quite the ass of himself. As A.R. points out, he gets to see the instant response - which, since it’s largely unfavorable, just pisses him off even more.

Bellatrys: The community-wide criticism - both of Ellison and the treatment of women in SF in general - have been very encouraging, even despite the vocal naysayers. I agree with you about how fans tend to protect people they admire - also, in a wider sense, I’d say we see the same behavior when people personally know the perpetrator. “He’s such a nice boy, he would never rape/assault that girl,” or, “I know my friend, and he’s not an evil racist,” or, “I’m sure she didn’t mean it like that,” etc. We all hate to see the monstrous in the people we know and love.

As far as the Entitled Aristo mentality, what bugs me even more than someone going “I’m the Great Benefactor, bow down you ungrateful maggots!” is *other* people going “So-and-so’s the Great Benefactor, he gets a free pass on anything ever!” Which I literally heard a lot of - even from female fans - in the wake of this. It’s like they haven’t actually internalized the notion of “created equal” no matter how much lip service they pay to it - or how much they complain about people giving the Emperor’s New Clothes treatment to movie stars, athletes, and politicians. It’s just *different* when it comes to some star in our own culture, see…

This is fascinating for me because I see people do it on message boards all the time. They start out saying something that turns everyone against them, and then instead of either humbling themselves or ignoring their critics, they stay to argue, they get madder and madder, and either the things they say make less and less sense, or they start repeating themselves.

Anyway, I hope I haven’t gone too far off topic
-Djiril

But back to harlan some men oppress other men by proxy. All men lose a little respect when these jerks are not brought to heel. What Harlan did was sexual harrassment sliding into mild sexual assault. Ideally he should have been whacked in the balls right there and then, but the moment is occupied with shock and disbelief so instead I will have to settle with saying:
“this is not good enough!”

Expressing your frustration is fine, though I appreciate your apology. The part of your comment that raised a warning flag in my mind was your analogy to slavery. Why was it necessary to include a comparison to racism? This incident, however problematic, can only pale beside the history of slavery, and drawing a direct comparison appears to minimize the latter. This article is a helpful primer on why we shouldn’t compare oppressions.

Thanks

I have no tolerance for this crap. If somone less popular and acclaimed pulled this they would be rebuked. If an unpopular person tried this they would be removed and beaten to an inch of their lives. This sliding scale of who you are determines the seriousness of your crime is insane.

His apology reminds me of what you might here from a former slave holder after the civil war giving for his behaviour with a former slave girl. This is harsh but I think the analogy may fit in a reduced modern form.