Id Software co-founder and former Oculus VR CTO John Carmack came under fire after recently announcing he would be attending BasedCon, a sci-fi and fantasy convention for fans “tired of waking propaganda.” It is
“I will be attending basedcon.com again this year,” Carmack tweeted. “He had read books with three of the authors and interacted with them on Twitter (more since then!), but I didn’t know what to expect last year. It was fun as a grassroots movement. The era of space access.
We are planning to appear on https://t.co/plYFgrjxYP again this year. I had read and interacted with three of her authors on Twitter (more since then!), but I had no idea what was going to happen last year. It was a grassroots effort that reminded me of the old days of space access, and it was a lot of fun.May 17, 2023
“I was going to attend last year just as a regular attendee/author fan, but Rob [presumably BasedCon fouder Robert Kroese] I was encouraged to give talks and panel discussions, which I really enjoyed. ”
Attending a convention is mostly unremarkable, but not at BasedCon.this is website (opens in new tab) claims that the tournament “does not impose any particular ideology”, while listing examples of “underlying beliefs” that organizers agree with.
- men cannot give birth
- Guns don’t kill people.people kill people
- fetuses are human too
- Socialism failed everywhere it was tried
- Discrimination against white people is racism
The website complains that “sci-fi scams used to be a lot of fun,” but in recent years have been dominated by “a small band of authoritarian bastards who have made the doctrine of social justice a forum.”This in turn caused the following controversy sad puppies (opens in new tab)Efforts to Push Right-Wing Writers to the Top of the Hugo Awards Voting, and a Misogynistic Harassment Campaign gamergate (opens in new tab)which had Gina Corano fired from The Mandalorian and pushed for a push to “introduce critical race theory and other social justice trash into schools.”
It also warns that if you don’t happen to embrace such beliefs, it’s probably best to stay away. “If you think people of a certain color can’t be racist, or expect people to use coined pronouns when they talk about themselves, then you I don’t think so, it’s better to check reality before attending BasedCon.”
Carmack is known for his liberal tendencies, and recently defended the idea that: self-made millionaire (opens in new tab)For example, he didn’t seem particularly concerned about his public image. He’s a little weird, he made Doom and Quake, so he has a lot of leeway. But headlining an event like this is going too far for many of his followers on social media.
John, I’m so sorry, dude.May 17, 2023
I am very sorry to hear you talk about this as if it was just a good time. It’s a socially regressive conference with hate speech in the description, but it’s fun! I think a lot of people stop caring about other people when they get money.May 17, 2023
One follower wrote, “I’ve been a fan of yours for more than half my life, but it’s a shame you go to an event run by people with such reprehensible views.” “Think again. There are so many better tech events that I’d be happy to attend.”
“Hey, you gave me a glimmer of hope when you saw my tweets about address formats and VR, and now I’m going to a chacha party where /this/ is their reason for being.” I will,” answered another. “This sucks.”
One Twitter user pointed out that BasedCon does not disclose its location. The event will be held at an unnamed hotel in Grand Rapids, Michigan, but details will not be revealed to those who have not registered to attend “for security reasons.” I think this is a very revealing detail about the true nature of BasedCon. If you don’t want people to know where your event is taking place, it might be worth looking into why.
The whole thing is kind of gross and sad, but Carmack is arguably oblivious to the ugly side of what happened. Everything is spelled out very clearly on his website, and as he said on Twitter, he knows the organizers and this isn’t his first visit to the show. As many people responding to this situation have pointed out, it all comes down to the old adage. It means “I will never meet my hero”. We have reached out to Mr. Carmack for comment and will update if we hear back.
