Opinions wanted: Is this racially offensive to an anglophone audience?
Hello.
This time, I don't have a research question but a thorny issue that I would like some second opinions on, preferably by people of colour. I know this is probably going to cause a big argument, so my apologies go in advance to the mods (and a potential racism trigger warning for this entire thread to everyone who might need it). But I'm a ( Read more... )
This time, I don't have a research question but a thorny issue that I would like some second opinions on, preferably by people of colour. I know this is probably going to cause a big argument, so my apologies go in advance to the mods (and a potential racism trigger warning for this entire thread to everyone who might need it). But I'm a ( Read more... )
But you give me too much credit. This is more a case of me trying to make some sort of sense of the various, and not always compatible, snippets of canon information on the species and its relations with humanity. (...What? Developing elaborate fanwanks helps me fall asleep at night.)
Also, the main purpose of this story I'm planing is just to pick up a stranded character from the pre-human era. I'd just like to have some sensible and non-clichéd reason for my time travellers to go there in the first place, and realistic motivations make secondary characters more interesting.
Making the aliens characteristically alien is a good idea, but I'm hitting a problem with that. There are some inherent differences in physiology and sensory abilities, of course. (Part of the reason why I ignore the current Doctor Who Silurans in favor of the old school ones is that the new ones are basically just aggressive, green-skinned humans with long tongues, whereas the old version was much more alien.) But part of the backstory I give them specifically means that the modern Silurans who are my POV characters have been integrated into human society so deeply and their families indoctrinated with human values so thoroughly for the last few generations that there is very little cultural difference anymore. Making them still very alien would give nature more importance than nurture - which is too close to evolutionary psychology, phrenology and nasty ideas like "people of colour are inherently more sexual/lazy/dirty/criminal" for me to be comfortable with.
PS. There are plenty of sentient species here on Earth, but we think we're the only sapient ones. Sorry, pet peeve.
Ah, sorry. Non-native speaker here. 'Sapient' is what I meant.
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