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Posts on Privilege, Race, and Racism
Jun. 18th, 2010 09:48 pmHow to Discuss Race and Racism Without Acting Like a Complete Jerk by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kate_nepveu
And We Shall Call This Moff's Law by Latoya Peterson
Surfing around the net, I came across a couple more links in regards to learning more about privilege and/or racism. I thought I'd bookmark them here for future reference for myself. I've noticed in a few places, some comments by other people that the whole Fail!Spn Big Bang Fic was unnecessary, became a dogpile, etc.
Did the author need to be told that setting her story in Haiti & using the earthquake as a plot device was both callous and showed extremely poor judgement.? The story was written while bodies were still being pulled from the rubble. Also, this story was illustrated. You read that right. Illustrated. Fromamazonziti's LJ --"I am also given to understand that the original art created for this fic featured photos of actual survivors of the earthquake in Haiti, but that this has since been remedied. Tell me this: why would you ever think this was okay in the first place?"
Choice bits of the story as captured by bossymarmalade. The story has apparently been pulled down now. I haven't followed the minutiae of the outrage, and/or wank. I read enough about the fic that I knew I didn't want to go anywhere near it.
What I am bothered out that people want to brush this event under the carpet and forget about it. The impression that "It's just fanfic after all. It's not serious art, so it shouldn't be held to the same standards of accountability that regular fiction/media is held to. We just want to enjoy the pr0n of pretending our favourite characters/actors are fuck machines, etc. Nobody really cares what we write, and we just like getting off on it/getting away with it." The author disabled all comments to the story posts, which also erases all comments, and issued a long-winded apology. By shutting down the comments, the author effectively shut down the conversation that was evolving, and clearly revealed her privilege by doing so.
You can't force someone to change their beliefs or worldview. It is not the same to say that by trying to point out that the fic was written from a position of privilege or was racist (or both), that is not trying to make that person believe what you believe. Some people will not be so polite about it. Some people will dogpile. I think that if the reaction is hostile/non-polite/dogpile, it is because people have suffered daily with dealing with other people's privilege and you have tripped their wires.
kate_nepveu And We Shall Call This Moff's Law by Latoya Peterson
Surfing around the net, I came across a couple more links in regards to learning more about privilege and/or racism. I thought I'd bookmark them here for future reference for myself. I've noticed in a few places, some comments by other people that the whole Fail!Spn Big Bang Fic was unnecessary, became a dogpile, etc.
Did the author need to be told that setting her story in Haiti & using the earthquake as a plot device was both callous and showed extremely poor judgement.? The story was written while bodies were still being pulled from the rubble. Also, this story was illustrated. You read that right. Illustrated. From
amazonziti's LJ --"I am also given to understand that the original art created for this fic featured photos of actual survivors of the earthquake in Haiti, but that this has since been remedied. Tell me this: why would you ever think this was okay in the first place?" Choice bits of the story as captured by bossymarmalade. The story has apparently been pulled down now. I haven't followed the minutiae of the outrage, and/or wank. I read enough about the fic that I knew I didn't want to go anywhere near it.
What I am bothered out that people want to brush this event under the carpet and forget about it. The impression that "It's just fanfic after all. It's not serious art, so it shouldn't be held to the same standards of accountability that regular fiction/media is held to. We just want to enjoy the pr0n of pretending our favourite characters/actors are fuck machines, etc. Nobody really cares what we write, and we just like getting off on it/getting away with it." The author disabled all comments to the story posts, which also erases all comments, and issued a long-winded apology. By shutting down the comments, the author effectively shut down the conversation that was evolving, and clearly revealed her privilege by doing so.
You can't force someone to change their beliefs or worldview. It is not the same to say that by trying to point out that the fic was written from a position of privilege or was racist (or both), that is not trying to make that person believe what you believe. Some people will not be so polite about it. Some people will dogpile. I think that if the reaction is hostile/non-polite/dogpile, it is because people have suffered daily with dealing with other people's privilege and you have tripped their wires.
By not wanting to discuss privilege or say it doesn't apply to you is a sign of privilege. Dismissing it outright? Privilege.
