Second paragraph of third chapter:
Some say it’s The Culture War, finally reaching into the realm of geeks, but it isn’t. The Culture War is a struggle between conservatives and liberals, and is more a label on thousands of disagreements than anything definite. That loosely defined war involves the issues held dear by the right wing and the left wing and how each would like America (or England, or wherever) to shift closer to those beliefs. The Puppy Mess isn’t a left/right affair. There are no conservatives trying to conserve anything or liberals trying to be open to new ideas. This is true for multiple reasons, but the main one being there aren’t two sides. This isn’t an us vs. them, left vs. right, good guys vs. bad guys situation, though some will vehemently say that it is as they search to find the illusive other side. This is everyone, and within everyone a small group breaking things. The metaphor of a war doesn’t apply; one of a terrorist cell would better reflect the situation.
A book of essays by Foster, widower of the much-missed Eugie, mostly assembled from blog posts at the time of the Puppy debacle. God be with the innocent days when we did not yet realise that cynically channeling outrage and resentment with no regard for the actual facts could be a viable political business model. He makes and emphasises the crucial point that there were not really two sides in the Puppy dispute; there was a small group of bad behavers who managed to motivate a larger but still small group to support them, and there was the rest of fandom who responded with revulsion. It’s a point worth bearing in mind if anyone ever tries to give you a “both-sides” interpretation of the events of 2015. Other than that, these are really historical primary material now; what will probably be the definitive chronicle of the Puppies has been written in Debarkle, by Camestros Felapton. But you can get Welcome to the Doomsphere here.
This was the second last unread book of all of those that I acquired in 2015. That leaves only Rauf Denktaş, a Private Portrait, by Yvonne Cerkez.
