Shhh! Don’t Talk About That in Public!
Every time I think I’ve seen the lowest ebb in corporate cravenness and general cowardice, I am sickened by something even worse. This time, it’s the Livonia Holiday Inn Holidome in Livonia, MI, host to Penguicon, a science fiction and open source software convention. Heaven forbid that people at a convention about science fiction should talk about dirty subjects in public… like warfare.
From the blog of Howard Tayler, author of the webcomic Schlock Mercenary:
At 4:00 I took in the “Warfare in Science Fiction� panel. This was in “the Pit,� an open living-room type setting that seats about 30. The hotel made an absurd request: Don’t talk about Warfare in an open area. So the panelists rose to the challenge, and euphemistically discussed “Tea-Parties in Science Fiction� at euphemistic length. Starship Tea-Drinkers by Heinlein, Old Man’s Tea-Party by John Scalzi, A Hymn Before Tea by John Ringo… the lengths to which this eupemism were stretched defy logic.
It was hilarious and brilliant. And they managed to cover the material, even if there were a few disambiguation problems.
(Emphasis added)
Oh my. I didn’t realize that the subject of war itself was no longer fit for polite company. Horrors! I am an uncultured barbarian. Why, I remember having a discussion of our Iraq War strategy with a friend just the other day, in a public eatery. How rude of myself. I shudder to think what the other patrons of that fine establishment might have thought. Oh, how their food must have tasted so awful, with such a subject under discussion at the next table! I’m so ashamed; next thing you know, I’ll be wearing shoes in a Japanese home, or something equally gross.
I suppose the Veterans of Foriegn Wars Overseas Peacekeeping Missions must have a hard time eating out too. . .
On the other hand, if you think this sort of censorship is just a bit obscene in and of itself, here’s the contact names for the Liviona Holiday Inn (and Warfare Out!)
Contacts
Guest Services: Anthony Smith
Sales & Marketing: Sherrilyn Cavanaugh
Meetings: Robin Andersen
General Manager: Cindy Ricketts
Front Office: Anthony Smith
Web contact form here.
Holiday Inn
LIVONIA (DETROIT/WEST)
17123 LAUREL PARK
LIVONIA, MI 48152
UNITED STATES
Hotel Front Desk: 1-734-4641300
Hotel Fax: 1-734-4641596
Contact information for the Intercontinental Hotels Group, owner of Holiday Inns, can be found here.
PS: if you go to the Schlock Mercenary for today, don’t be frightened by what you see. She’s undercover, and bad taste in HDTV (that’s hyperdimensional TV) is about to get a severe two thumbs down from the critics…..