Compare and Contrast.

Two days ago, three American friends traveling on a train in France saw a murderous man with an AK chasing a man down the aisle. They tackled him and beat him unconscious. Airman First Class Spencer Stone proceeded to treat the wounds of a fourth man, despite the fact that his own thumb was partially cut away from his hand.

Last night, grown people decided that it was an awesome idea to announce to the world that some of the best writers and professionals of the science fiction field deserved no Hugo Award, rather than “risk” wrongpeople winning. This corresponded exactly to the “scorched earth” strategy of the Rabid Puppies and Sad Puppies group, who had said from the beginning that any No Award result would prove their point about the politicization of the Awards by a small group of bloc voters. And indeed, now it can be seen that some people feel happy and righteous when they tell the world that science fiction is all crap, just like the proverbial nasty English teacher would have said. (I feel sorry for all those fans in the Hugo Awards audience who were trapped among idiots, and then admonished for booing such a beclowning disgrace. The disregard shown by presenters for the feelings of really long-time colleagues was particularly disgraceful. There are ways to act like adults in an uncomfortable situation, and there are ways to make it worse; they chose the latter.)

So here is the contrast. This week, two different groups left their mark on history and displayed their character.

Three men responded to danger by doing the right thing.

26% of Worldcon voters responded to a manifesto by embarrassing the whole field, and thereby proving the manifesto right.