Virtue Signaling, by John Scalzi

I enjoy seeing an author pull back the curtain so his readers can get to know him.  Sci-fi author John Scalzi has been doing that for years on his Whatever blog (https://whatever.scalzi.com/).  Here he posts personal, topical, timely, witty, and random thoughts about life, family, politics, culture, or whatever is on his mind. Scalzi’s new book, Virtue Signaling and Other Heresies: Selected Writings from Whatever, 2013-2018, collects a variety of these blogs into book form.

The best bits are Scalzi’s reflections and stories about family. He is crazy about his wife and daughter  He holds his mother—who raised him as a single mom after his dad left—in high esteem. He also writes lovingly about his school and the teachers who shaped him and the libraries that have sustained him throughout his life. He writes, “Every time I publish a new book—every time—the first hardcover copy goes to my wife and the second goes to the Bradford library.”  Scalzi is a man with a deep appreciation for the forces and people who shaped him, and a desire to pass along his good fortune to make a better world.

Some of the passion, on the other hand, is pretty annoying. Scalzi is WOKE and be wants you to know it. He was for gay marriage before it was cool. He is absolutely NOT racist, sexist, or homophobic. And if he thinks you are, you are surely an a—hole. He talks about being tolerant of other beliefs, but, for most of the things he cares about, if you disagree with him you are an a—hole.

Scalzi’s biggest target is President Trump, “just about the biggest a—hole in all of the United States of America.”  Trump “is a terrible person and an even worse president, probably the worst in living memory.”  Like so many of Trump’s critics, of which there are legion, he takes anything Trump says or does and gives it the most uncharitable spin. I am aware Trump offers much to criticize, but Scalzi can’t bear the thought that Trump and his policies might accomplish something positive for the country.

He beats the drum of Trump’s racism repeatedly. Of course, according to Scalzi, I’m clearly a racist if I even dare to suggest that Trump is not a racist. He might throw me in the with the “race-baiting xenophobic religious bigots” that he says now populate the GOP. He can’t se the good Trump has done and is doing for black Americans and other minorities, and he can’t seem to see any of the negatives that drove voters away from Hilary. On the blog this vitriol dripped out over several years. Packing it into a book was overload. Yuck.

In a couple of his essays, Scalzi talked about appreciating the work of an artist who has had a moral fall. E.g., enjoying a book by an author who is a known rapist. I agree with him, that the art can be separated from the artist. I can enjoy Bill Cosby’s comedy routines whole not approving of his taking advantage of women. In the same way, I can enjoy Scalzi’s fiction while being disgusted by his vicious, unbalanced derision of the President of the United States.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!