#435654634.7th post
First, fandom managing to be racist and unapologetic about it, all in one fic-prompt: The whole mess, neatly summed up by witchqueen. The level of ass-hattery exhibited by the mods of daily_deviant is quite astonishing, really
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Granted, the Bible-thumpers have managed to turn "homosexual" into a slur and knowingly take advantage of the off-putting quality of its clinicalness (they will never call us "gays," because that sounds too fun) but the fact remains that the word itself, without a derogatory context, is inherently inoffensive.
On top of that, the context of the HP-verse creates tons of possibilities for exploring the subject of miscegenation without any patina of white/black racism, and I'm sure it sparked lots of great fic.
The policy of not censoring what random words they use is simply the most feasible way of doing it. If we can't have miscegenation, where does that leave Lupin? What about rapefic, or bestiality? Will they really deny us the hardcore Harry/basilisk? Fandom goes places no other entity will dare. You can't stop it, you can only label it so people can avoid what they don't want to read. daily_deviant seems devoted to doing just that, and I respect them for it.
It really just seems like witchqueen has a bee in her bonnet. I wonder if she is a person of color (a phrase which ironically I think is antiquated, vague, and patronizing); in my experience, it's the people who don't actually live with prejudice who seek out straw-mans to get hot and bothered about. Also people who are secretly or subconsciously racist but ashamed of it do stuff like this. Did you find the dog-whistle analogy as shocking and (dare I say it) offensive as I did? If anyone's being an asshat it's her, but she has good intentions.
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This is all winding up to a post on the function of origin myths in the adolescent imaginations of second-gen immigrant kids. (That would be me & my brother
Rock. That sounds like exactly the sort of thing my brother and I would do. Do you know (considering the discussion above), we were kicking around the idea for a Harry Potter parody set in the United States that would function as social commentary on plantation culture? The school teaches a mish-mash of Native American, Voodoo, Eastern European, and every other type of magic ever imported, and there was going to be a tension between more traditional (re: British) magicfolk who are ostensibly in charge (i.e., the plantation owners), and the eclectic and overwhelming mass of people ostensibly controlled by them (the slaves). We wanted to have a black girl be the protagonist instead of yet another white male.
I may not be explaining this well; I need sleep, also. But I will have ice cream first. XP
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I know nothing about southern US, but it was my impression that several people disagreed quite vehemently on this, arguing that this word was the one used for the Jim Crow laws etc. My own opinion is that I, personally, find it offensive, as the term refers to inter-racial and inter-species couples. Which groups my parents with those practising bestiality. THAT is my main issue with it.
Now, if the mods had said, "ooops! our bad. we meant inter-species in the HP universe such as Hagrid (half-giant) rather than Fluffy (dog), and we'll add in explanatory notes on the prompt to reflect this", or "ooops! didn't realise that this term is offensive to a great many people, will use 'inter-racial' instead", or even "ooops! this was the definition we were using - linky link - and we'll make sure that everyone knows that this is what we mean", I would have been ok with it, I think. Instead, they basically said that people being offended was libel. Which - dude, wtf?
the proper term to describe it.
I am SO going to have to disagree here.
1) The definition they are using conflates inter-racial and inter-species, as I mentioned above. That is pejorative.
2) Even if it was the correct clinical term, people are entirely within their rights to be offended by it, especially since those clinical terms were coined by victorians with firm ideas on the purity of blood and deviant sexual practices. (I desperately want to go off on one about "We Other Victorians", but my brain can't take it today!)
3) Someone tells you that they find a term you are using racially or sexually offensive, the mods' responsibility is NOT to say, "we're using a book, sod off" - which is what they did. Oh, and to make their statement on a no-comments post, so no one can disagree with them. They're basically saying that the encyclopaedia they're using has the word, therefore anyone being offended by it is by definition wanking. That, to me, was the most frustrating thing of all. Yeah, arguments in a comm are never nice, but telling people to sod off if they're offended? I mean, they basically came out and said that whoever is offended by their use of these words should just leave the comm. Which, wow, is precisely what my parents got told when they got married. *headdesk*
Yeah, it's a small scale. No, I don't find that excuseable.
the fact remains that the word itself, without a derogatory context, is inherently inoffensive.
Except that they've given it a derogatory context. Such as saying "today's kink is 'pervesion #xyz' - i.e. draw all those homosexual or bestiality pairings you've been wanting to draw!" I'd be pretty damn offended by that - and that's what they've done. Inter-racial or inter-species. *shakes head* I can't get over that. Seriously.
On top of that, the context of the HP-verse creates tons of possibilities for exploring the subject of miscegenation without any patina of white/black racism, and I'm sure it sparked lots of great fic.
It's an art comm, actually, although I do see your point.
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I have no issues with any of that, but - witchqueen wasn't calling for them to remove the prompt, or anything of the sort - just to clarify what they meant. I mean, I support including all your list of pairings in comms, but only if they are properly labelled. So Ginny/Dean, for instance, shouldn't have a label that says 'inter-racial and/or inter-species pairing' and be listed alongside Harry/giant squid, which is what they've essentially done.
Personally, if I'd been in the mods' position, I'd have done the following -
1) Apologised for the offense caused.
2) Changed the prompt so it included a disclaimer, stating that this word is racially-charged, however it is included in the book they're using. Therefore, they will include it as a prompt, but the definition that people should use is x, y, and z, (linky link) and they wish to stress that they do not intend offence.
3) Included an email for people to contact a mod if they still feel the need to discuss it.
But that's just me.
Did you find the dog-whistle analogy as shocking and (dare I say it) offensive as I did?
I'm finding the whole situation shocking, actually. Not people's reactions, but the vitriol dripping from both sides. People have really gone off on me for daring to be offended (even though that label is basically talking about people like me!), which was... interesting.
Rock. That sounds like exactly the sort of thing my brother and I would do.
I may pick your brain on that! *g*
The school teaches a mish-mash of Native American, Voodoo, Eastern European, and every other type of magic ever imported,
That would be awesome. There's a comm out there - hpmugglestudies - that's going to have a fest on magic world-building. I was going to do stuff with eastern european magic - mainly slavic traditions - but this would so totally fit in with it all, SIGN UP IMMEDIATELY ZOMG!!
I may not be explaining this well; I need sleep, also. But I will have ice cream first. XP
*nods* ice-cream is of the good.
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