Podcast: Jeannette Ng Was Right, John W. Campbell Was a Fascist

In my latest podcast (MP3), I read my new Locus column, "Jeannette Ng Was Right: John W. Campbell Was a Fascist,"which revisits Jeannette Ng's Campbell Awards speech from this summer's World Science Fiction convention.

As far as I know, I'm the only person to have won both awards named for Campbell, which, I think, gives me license to speak on the subject. I think that Ng was absolutely right about Campbell and his legacy, and I think that understanding that the good that people do doesn't erase the harms they cause (and vice-versa) is critical to navigating a world of flawed people.

Heres the thing: neither one of those facets of Campbell cancels the other one out. Just as its not true that any amount of good deeds done for some people can repair the harms he visited on others, its also true that none of those harms cancel out the kindnesses he did for the people he was kind to.

Life is not a ledger. Your sins cant be paid off through good deeds. Your good deeds are not cancelled by your sins. Your sins and your good deeds live alongside one another. They coexist in superposition.

You (and I) can (and should) atone for our misdeeds. We can (and should) apologize for them to the people weve wronged. We should do those things, not because they will erase our misdeeds, but because the only thing worse than being really wrong is not learning to be better.