The Science Fiction Culture War Of
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KREITER, MICHAEL P., Ph.D., May 2021 SOCIOLOGY "THERE WILL BE NO RECONCILIATION": THE SCIENCE FICTION CULTURE WAR OF WHITE SUPREMACIST PUPPIES (170 PP.) Dissertation Advisor: Tiffany Taylor By analyzing the discourse of Sad Puppies and Rabid Puppies, this research shows how an ideology of white supremacy is emerging from the contradictions inherent in colorblind racism. The Sad Puppies are a group of Science Fiction and Fantasy (SFF) fans and writers that formed in online spaces to actively challenge the recent trend in SFF genres of being more inclusive and increasing the diversity of writers and characters. They adhere to the abstract liberalism frame of colorblind racism that asserts that there is no systemic inequality, and that outcomes (like earning literary awards) are the result of individual effort and nothing more. To this end, they see efforts to increase diversity as antithetical to the abstract liberalism frame, as a form of unjust “affirmative action,” which hurts writers like white men precisely because they cannot claim to be “victims.” They employ a variety of discursive strategies to legitimize this political viewpoint, while simultaneously delegitimizing opposing viewpoints that they lump into one all- encompassing group they call “Social Justice Warriors” (SJWs). The success of writers like N. K. Jemisin, the first Black author to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel, can be used by colorblind frames to point to the legitimacy of the ostensibly meritocratic colorblind system. Yet, at the same time, colorblind ideology is simply a justification for the existing racial hierarchy, and Black success is a direct challenge to this hierarchy. The Rabid Puppies emerged shortly after the formation of the Sad Puppies, and they thrive in this contradiction. They shed the colorblind ideology in favor of explicitly white supremacist rhetoric. "THERE WILL BE NO RECONCILIATION": THE SCIENCE FICTION CULTURE WAR OF WHITE SUPREMACIST PUPPIES A dissertation submitted To Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Michael P. Kreiter May 2021 © Copyright All rights reserved Except for previously published materials Dissertation written by Michael P. Kreiter B.A., Boise State University, 2014 B.S., Boise State University, 2014 M.A., Kent State University, 2017 Ph.D., Kent State University, 2021 Approved by Tiffany Taylor , Chair, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Kamesha Spates , Members, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Katrina Bloch Kathryn Feltey Patricia Dunmire Landon Hancock Accepted by Richard Adams , Chair, Department of Sociology Mandy Munro-Stasiuk , Interim Dean, college of Arts and Science TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... viii LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................................. x I INTRODUCING THE SAD PUPPIES .............................................................................. 1 THE ILLS OF MESSAGE FICTION ................................................................................. 5 THE POPULAR CULTURE OF SFF ................................................................................ 6 THEORETICAL LENSES ................................................................................................. 7 STRUCTURATION ........................................................................................................... 7 (DE)LEGITIMATION AND KNOWLEDGE ................................................................... 9 COLORBLINDNESS ....................................................................................................... 16 FRAGILITY ..................................................................................................................... 19 RESEARCH QUESTIONS .............................................................................................. 23 OVERALL METHODS.................................................................................................... 24 Data Collection ..................................................................................................... 24 Positionality Statement ......................................................................................... 28 Limitations ............................................................................................................ 28 ANALYSIS AND CHAPTER OVERVIEW.................................................................... 29 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 32 II POP CULTURE AND OPPRESSION: THE COLORBLIND RACISM OF THE SAD PUPPIES ........................................................................................................................... 41 iv RACIALIZED SOCIETY AND IDEOLOGY ................................................................. 43 EMERGENCE OF COLORBLIND IDEOLOGY............................................................ 45 FRAMES OF COLORBLIND RACISM ......................................................................... 46 OPPRESSION-BLIND RHETORIC ................................................................................ 49 INTERSECTIONALITY .................................................................................................. 50 METHODS ....................................................................................................................... 51 RESULTS ......................................................................................................................... 52 Abstract liberalism ................................................................................................ 53 Minimization ......................................................................................................... 57 Culturalist Frame .................................................................................................. 61 Naturalization ........................................................................................................ 65 DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................... 69 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................. 73 REFRENCES .................................................................................................................... 76 III DELEGITIMIZING SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIORS THROUGH SAD PUPPY RHETORIC....................................................................................................................... 84 Cultural Knowledge and Ideology .................................................................................... 85 Legitimation ...................................................................................................................... 86 System of Meaning Making .............................................................................................. 88 “Knowledge” is Power ...................................................................................................... 89 Methods............................................................................................................................. 92 Critical Qualitative Content Analysis ................................................................... 92 Data Collection ..................................................................................................... 94 v Coding ................................................................................................................... 95 Analysis............................................................................................................................. 96 Us versus Them: SJWs as Oppressors of Sad Puppies ......................................... 97 The Rationality of Sad Puppies versus the Irrational SJWs ............................... 102 Civil Sad Puppies versus the Uncivil SJWs ........................................................ 105 Discussion ....................................................................................................................... 108 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 109 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 111 IV THE WHITE MAN VICTIMHOOD OF THE RABID PUPPIES: CONNECTING THE ONLINE CULTURE WARS TO ALT-RIGHT EXTREMISM IN SCI-FI FANDOM . 116 HATE GROUPS AND EXTREMIST IDEOLOGY ...................................................... 118 WHITE INJURY IDEOLOGY ....................................................................................... 120 THE CULTURE WAR ................................................................................................... 121 CULTURE WARS IN POPULAR CULTURE .............................................................. 123 METHODS ..................................................................................................................... 126 Defining