J. Michael Stracyznski Doubles Down On Woke Message For Dangerous Visions In Grimdark Magazine Interview

Last Dangerous Visions is no tribute to Harlan Ellison, it's just more Hollywood leftism in science fiction.

J. Michael Straczynski most recently released a new Last Dangerous Visions anthology as a follow-up to the Harlan Ellison Dangerous Visions science fiction short story line meant to push boundaries in the genre. While the original featured a myriad of perspectives and writing styles, the new one curated by Straczynski courts wokeness, and in a new interview, JMS admits the book pushes agendas of “Afro-Futurism and “The LGBTQIA community” like all other mainstream books.

Instead of calling it “Last Dangerous Visions”, J. Michael Straczynski should have gone with “Sensible Visions” as he sensibly courts every single generic political talking point of mainstream publishing. There is nothing brave about what he’s producing, despite a recent interview with Grimdark Magazine where he hits the same tired and false talking points repeatedly to promote his bastardization of Harlan Ellison’s original great anthology.

In the 1970s, Harlan Ellison came out with Dangerous Visions and a follow-up, with a range of authors tackling different writing styles with some of the best of the best literary prowess out there. While Ellison was a rabid leftist, he actually believed in not being censorious, bringing in different voices who were known to be right-wing or Christian into the fold, such as Poul Anderson and Gene Wolfe, to tell their tales along with others. Dangerous Visions truly allowed a diversity of thought.

Fast forward to 2024, when no such thing is allowed in mainstream publishing. If you are not pushing for the extreme leftist identity politics agendas, you get blacklisted from publishing. They attack you even if you’re on their side and you misstep. Several “dangerous” authors have faced blacklisting and cancellation in recent years because of their visions which the establishment publishing deemed uncouth. One only has to look at authors like Vox Day and John C. Wright, among others, to see what different ideas get you in publishing.

It's never enough for the establishment, who likes to pretend they’re freedom fighters while pushing for the same message the government and every major corporation approve of. 

Straczynski bragged about his woke street cred with Hollywood, stating, “When I co-created/wrote/produced Sense8 for Netflix, I heard from so many in the queer community who were moved and happy to have a story that dealt respectfully with their lives, interests and concerns.”

Please clap, everyone. Now imagine if a writer presented a vision showing the queer community to be narcissistic, pornographic, grooming, and toxic like it has been to culture in recent years, what would happen? Hollywood would blacklist that person. Mainstream publishing would call for the work to be destroyed. One can see where Straczynski’s loyalties are, and it’s not to free speech like he further claims in the interview.

“There will always be the outraged, the inflamed, the censorious. If anything, given the massive emphasis on banning books of alleged controversy, especially those that deal in any way with the simple existence of people in the queer community, the stakes and risks have gotten higher. But that makes it even more essential to keep pushing for freedom of speech,” he said. 

Meanwhile, in real life, authors are getting banned from platforms for speaking out against the queer community’s censorship of everything. Did Straczynski champion free speech then? No, like everyone else in mainstream publishing, he attacks people who have different thoughts than him. He proudly stands against any openly Christian or conservative author who makes a mark. 

He doubled down on every leftist talking point trying to paint political opponents as something to shun, saying, “What I found of greatest interest is just how much we are still wrestling today with the same issues that were present when the first batch of LDV stories were written: racism, sexism, fear of technology, fear of the outsider, and the heavy hand of political repression. We’re still having the same arguments. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could finally resolve those things once and for all, and move on to new arguments about new subjects?”

For Straczysnki, the only way to move on will be when non-leftists are dead or shunned so much in society that they can’t operate, which is exactly what mainstream publishing has attempted to do, ironically. What he’s presenting isn’t a Dangerous Vision at all but more of the same D.E.I. agenda in everything.

However, true visionaries do the work independently, self-publish, and bypass the system. While these brave authors are truly presenting visions dangerous to the establishment, they’d never get invited by J. Michael Straczynski to tell their science fiction stories. It’s just another Hollywood hypocrite using a brand as a skin suit.

What do you think of J. Michael Straczynski doubling down on woke politics in a Grimdark Magazine interview talking about Harlan Ellison and Dangerous Visions? Leave a comment and let us know.

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