(Via Facebook) It’s like a sore tooth, sorry. I can’t help but poke at it, especially since I haven’t had lunch yet. Also, this excuse about why Worldcon was in the People’s Republic of China is just… fascinating. Also, kind of bigoted? I mean, geez, English is a required subject in their schools.
While Sanford welcomed the participation of new Chinese fans, other people were alarmed that many of the Chinese votes for Chengdu were written in the same handwriting and posted from the same mailing address. The chair of the convention that year, Mary Robinette Kowal, says some members of the awards committee wanted to mark those votes as invalid. “But if you’re filling out a ballot in English and you don’t speak English, you hand it to a friend who does,” she says. “And the translation we’d put in could be read as ‘where are you from,’ not ‘what is your address.’”
(Screenshot added in case that text gets stealth-changed. I mean, it’s Esquire.)
So let me see if I’ve got this straight, we are being told that people who don’t have a good enough grasp of the English language to fill out a simple form have done enough reading in English to have formed intelligent opinions concerning relatively complex stories written in that language. Is that what they expect us to believe? 😋
Yes.
You’ve got it exactly right.
But they’ll call you a RAAAAAACIST for noticing.
Just smile and whisper “Sad Puppies” at them.
Mew
The puppies are no nor have ever been sad.
But it’s good that they are.
/S