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So much fail!
Jan. 25th, 2009 05:57 pmI'm not dead yet! I just seriously tweaked my shoulder a while back and typing has only just stopped being massively painful. I will catch up with all your posts soon. (Uh, once I finish my homework...)
So in lieu of being interesting myself, I'll link to other people. In case anyone has missed the Cultural Appropriation Debate of Doooooom, Part Eleventy,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rydra_wong has an excellent roundup of links.
To explain... no, that would take to long. To sum up: Elizabeth Bear made a post on her lj about writing the other. Deepa D. posted an utterly amazing response on her journal, I Didn't Dream of Dragons, about growing up reading literature in which she was that other, and imbalances of power in writing the other, and crippled imaginations. Willow/Seeking-Avalon posted an open letter to Bear on her blog which pointed out places where Bear had fallen down on the job, and about other instances of white writers falling down on the job that really, really hurt, especially since it was entirely possible for those writers to have no idea they'd even offended anyone because they have the privilege of not thinking about these things.
And then the internet exploded. You can read the headdesky responses yourself. I will just state that this blind obtuseness is NOT COOL. In fact, it is HORRIBLY RUDE and THOUGHTLESS. And quite often disingenuous. Do you complain that people are stifling your creativity if they tell you to stop going around calling everyone "Jackass" just because they don't care to learn anyone's real name? (Well, maybe you do. But in that case, I think everyone else is justified in calling you a jackass right back and then ignoring you.) Do you get pissy about people oppressing you if they point out that hey, rocket science actually doesn't work like that and here is what actual rocket scientists have to say? So why is "hey, how about not insulting poc for once?" so an OMG UNREASONABLE AND MEAN? Look, you don't have to be decent to other people. The only thing stopping you is the fact that people might say mean things about you saying mean things first. If other people saying mean things is horrible oppression, and you saying mean things is artistic license and not that important, and you don't see how this is a problem... well, let's just say the problem isn't that people are upset that you're a willfully ignorant jerk.
ciderpress has another point to keep in mind: yes, sometimes white people come out of these discussions enlightened and are glad they've had such a learning experience. This does not mean it is cathartic and enlightening for poc. Again in the interest of not seeing other people as useful props to one's own edification and amusement, I think it's important to read take it to heart.
Finally, someone (sorry, forget who) linked to a brilliant xkcd comic. If I could write viruses and cared a little less about respecting the integrity of other people's computers, I would so do this for lj.
So in lieu of being interesting myself, I'll link to other people. In case anyone has missed the Cultural Appropriation Debate of Doooooom, Part Eleventy,
rydra_wong has an excellent roundup of links.To explain... no, that would take to long. To sum up: Elizabeth Bear made a post on her lj about writing the other. Deepa D. posted an utterly amazing response on her journal, I Didn't Dream of Dragons, about growing up reading literature in which she was that other, and imbalances of power in writing the other, and crippled imaginations. Willow/Seeking-Avalon posted an open letter to Bear on her blog which pointed out places where Bear had fallen down on the job, and about other instances of white writers falling down on the job that really, really hurt, especially since it was entirely possible for those writers to have no idea they'd even offended anyone because they have the privilege of not thinking about these things.
And then the internet exploded. You can read the headdesky responses yourself. I will just state that this blind obtuseness is NOT COOL. In fact, it is HORRIBLY RUDE and THOUGHTLESS. And quite often disingenuous. Do you complain that people are stifling your creativity if they tell you to stop going around calling everyone "Jackass" just because they don't care to learn anyone's real name? (Well, maybe you do. But in that case, I think everyone else is justified in calling you a jackass right back and then ignoring you.) Do you get pissy about people oppressing you if they point out that hey, rocket science actually doesn't work like that and here is what actual rocket scientists have to say? So why is "hey, how about not insulting poc for once?" so an OMG UNREASONABLE AND MEAN? Look, you don't have to be decent to other people. The only thing stopping you is the fact that people might say mean things about you saying mean things first. If other people saying mean things is horrible oppression, and you saying mean things is artistic license and not that important, and you don't see how this is a problem... well, let's just say the problem isn't that people are upset that you're a willfully ignorant jerk.
ciderpress has another point to keep in mind: yes, sometimes white people come out of these discussions enlightened and are glad they've had such a learning experience. This does not mean it is cathartic and enlightening for poc. Again in the interest of not seeing other people as useful props to one's own edification and amusement, I think it's important to read take it to heart.Finally, someone (sorry, forget who) linked to a brilliant xkcd comic. If I could write viruses and cared a little less about respecting the integrity of other people's computers, I would so do this for lj.
