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LurkingProvidence t1_jc89eri wrote

Reply to comment by lestermagnum in Help keep Providence Weird! by Jtownusa

As someone who used to think like this until this past year or two. I just wanted to clarify some misconscenptions about places like Lovecraft Arts and sciences.

Places like Lovecrafts arts and sciences, and the Portland Lovecraft film fest, and the historical society in LA aren't really about Lovecraft specifically. They're about weird fiction, like weird tales pulp magazines back in the day.

The most popular (and influential) author from the weird tale's era is by far Lovecraft, so his namesake has become a label for all things weird. His fiction does play it's part because of it's sheer influence on the genre as a whole, but it's really just a small part of what places like Lovecrafts arts and sciences do.

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lestermagnum t1_jc8ed1a wrote

The place isn’t called “Weird Fiction Arts and Sciences”. Literally it is named after a horrible bigot and white supremest who admired Hitler and wanted to gas Chinatown, among many other terrible idea. Google the name of his cat for gods sake.

They sell tote bags and t-shirts with his likeness on them. They advocated for putting a statue of the man on public land. They have a weekend long celebration of him on his birthday. And had to issue an apology for some of the speakers espousing white supremest rhetoric at the celebration.

My argument is that this is very much a celebration of the man as much as it about his stories. “Sure he was an absolutely horrific person that wanted all non-whites wiped off the face of the planet, but I like a few of his stories so I’m cool with it”. It has strong “But Mussolini got the trains running on time” vibes.

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VinylGator t1_jc8mtf2 wrote

> And had to issue an apology for some of the speakers espousing white supremest rhetoric at the celebration.

It’s ironic given today’s political climate, in New England, as white supremacy propaganda is literally being thrown onto our driveways in rice filled ziplock bags, this is so brazenly overlooked.

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