Peter Baxter evades questions again

Well, the USC event was a near-bust. The one person who should have been there, Slamdance Film Festival director Peter Baxter, was a no-show.

Because Peter Baxter has failed to offer a coherent explanation for booting Super Columbine Massacre out of the Slamdance games competition, we still don't know why the event that started the whole controversy happened. Last night would have been a perfect opportunity for Baxter to explain his actions in a controlled environment, to some of the people who were most affected by what he did.

Instead, the only representative of Slamdance present was games competition director Sam Roberts, who said that he a) personally disagrees with Baxter's decision, and, b) still has not been told why Baxter made that decision. It was painful to watch as Roberts was left to twist in the wind, explaining that he wishes Baxter had not unilaterally pulled the game, but still, as director of the Slamdance games competition, supporting Slamdance in general and relating on behalf of Peter Baxter that Baxter feels he made the right decisions "at every turn."

Shorter Peter Baxter: I am right, and nobody can question me.

Obviously, Peter Baxter feels accountable to nobody, not even his own games competition director. What Baxter really needs to do is admit that he made a huge mistake, apologize for what he did, and pledge to do what he can to alleviate the greatest potential harm he has caused -- the chilling effect that is the likely result of his actions combined with the vague explanations he has offered to date.

Nobody really knows why Baxter pulled the game, but one impression out there as a result of Baxter's own statements is that Baxter and Slamdance's lawyers imagined some legal scenario in which Slamdance might be sued, and, according to Sam Roberts last night, they weren't worried about losing this imaginary lawsuit so much as dealing with the expense of fighting it.

As I said last night at the panel, if this is what truly happened behind the scenes at Slamdance, it's the worst-case scenario. It's actually worse than Slamdance buckling to a stated legal threat. The message Slamdance is sending is that if you can make Slamdance imagine a threat, and not even a very good threat, you can get them to bend to your will. Not only can you knock Peter Baxter over with a feather, you can knock him over with his own fear of your imaginary feather.

Other comments from me here.