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Re: polish fandom on fire. Longest-running printed sf/f magazine Nowa Fantastyka published an extremely homophobic, harmful short story by a known nationalist-pandering writer, shitstorm followed, that much is known.
I had the displeasure of reading through all the comments that were left under facebook apology by the publisher. (I chose to do that for the cause, s'fine). It seems like they're finally realising what kind of "fan" supports them publishing such garbage, and they're terrified.
The conversation ceased to be about this specific text or even sf/f maybe thirty percent in. Now it's classic "FREEDOM OF SPEECH!!!", homophobic garbage, slurs, and the like. It's almost seven hundred comments in six hours, making it probably the most popular post of all times.
This is where the problem lies. Hateful language in politics, not just ignored but promoted, affects us all. Hateful ideas spread by the ruling party bring out the worst in us. Literature doesn't exist in void, sf/f is the unique case of the opposite.
Those hateful ideas spread here as well, and there's the whole background of sf/f in Poland supposedly *belonging* to conservative-leaning people (read: men). Now they realised it's slipping away from their grasp and they're enraged.
Hint: creative forces have been elsewhere for a long time. In the end this shitstorm might result in something positive. Keep your fingers crossed.
