The New Scarlet Letter

A regressive propagandist is trying to tag Matthew Bracken with the "R-word." [Read]

We had this conversation here almost four years ago. Why this is being resurrected now is interesting, and I suppose we can expect to see that brush used to tar those of us who have enjoyed and endorsed Matt's work.

It's a curious double standard. For instance, in a prior award-nominated work of disaster fiction (one the "liberal press" deemed "wildly entertaining" and "a work in the grand tradition") the subject of cannibalism practiced by some of the characters did not result in such accusations. Gee, I wonder why.

Anyway, prepare yourself for some opportunistic feigned indignation and name-calling. As I told Matt when he called the pending article to my attention:

Looks to me like you're handling it just fine--the guy has an obvious agenda to tear you down in front of his progressive echo chamber--and I doubt it will sell any books--so your only incentive to play is to get your words in, which his fanboys will ignore. But if you do decide to do a Q&A, the one thing I would make loud and clear is that it would be cowardly and racist to avoid the issues you raise--kind of like when Hollywood changed Tom Clancy's Arab terrorists to neo-Nazis in "The Sum of All Fears"--political correctness is a form of tyranny, and is racist on its face--you won't play that game. If he thinks it is improbable for people of any race to devolve into unspeakably brutal practices when their daily survival is at stake, it's up to him to substantiate that loopy conclusion--and urban areas will be the ones where high demand competition for resources will quickly separate the sheep from the wolves--and a gang predator hierarchy already exists there, so guess who's going to dominate, and guess how important a role moral constraints will play in their conduct?

I'll say this much more: I've been communicating with Matthew Bracken for years, and in all that time he has never uttered a remotely racist sentiment--not a name, not an observation, not a joke...and I do not maintain relationships with anyone who does.  Everybody I know and like treats others based on what their actions as individuals merit.

It's not people like us trying to disarm and further restrict the rights of the minority community, or using that as an excuse to disarm everyone else.  It's the ones pointing their fingers.