In the Irrelevancy thread, there was a big brouhaha. I mean, he called ABNA irrelevant. He entered, lost, and called it irrelevant. His name calling was exquisite. Here's what the OP wrote across several posts. (I was calling him Mr. Classy.)
(This was his original post.) I should have known better than to submit "China Basin" to this contest. Collective minds cannot judge value, only decide on the least controversial or on the most mediocre. Howard Roark would't have won the Cosmo-Slotnik architectural contest, either. I was just curious to see how far my novel went, which was apparently nowhere. (Oh, yes, you read that right. Ayn Rand. He's an Objectivist. Bwah!)
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Entering this contest was a disinterested experiment, with no expectation of making the second rung. I would have been quite astonished it my novel had made it that far. It would have been evidence of other sentient life in the field. As for rummaging through five years of past posts, that isn't going to happen.
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(This was where he started the heavy name calling. No one did it but him.) And it took you this long to dig up that dirt? Is this your profession? Sneers, smears, and shoveling dung? Rand, by the way, disowned that story. As for your last remarks, what philosophy have you created lately? How many people are quoting you? It seems you're the orangutan tossing turds at your betters. This discussion is attracting all manner of "creative" nihilists. Its title, which was no accident, is drawing in all the moths. And cockroaches, and silverfish.
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Jeff Davis: Thanks for your words here. But I don't think it's bitterness that is causing many of the snide and smarmy remarks here. I made an innocuous observation about the pointlessness of literary contests and a band of hooligans and mental graffiti artists jumped on it. Believe me, this is the last contest I'll ever enter, even for the curiosity. At least I've learned the stature of some of these people. Nice company. Like the Taliban. Thanks again. There are some civil tongues out there.
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P.S. Wright: I think you overestimate the character of most of your colleagues. Yes, they are mean-spirited, and a more debauched crew I haven't encountered in a long time. No, I wasn't "venting," pardon me, but making a cogent observation about literary contests. And look at the caliber of responses I got. But, it is all educational, and probably reflective of the caliber of their fiction.
A couple people actually defended him. They're probably Gingrich supporters.
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