signal boost: racism in post-earthquake Haiti fic
I lurk on the SPN anon meme to see what people think of the Big Bangs and figure out if it's worth reading - so the recent drama I have seen develop since the very beginning.
Yesterday, gatorgrrrl posted a J2 fic set in post-earthquake Haiti. The summary reads: The setting is Haiti, post-earthquake. Jensen Ackles is an American doctor who's running from his past, trying to make up for his mistakes in this broken place and live up to the promise he made to his brother half a lifetime ago. Jared Padalecki is a naive photojournalist who's hiding from himself, hoping to find one more story in a place already forgotten by the rest of the world. When he learns about all the good things Jensen and his friend, Haitian nurse Abraham Joseph, are doing around the ravaged country, he thinks he's found his story. Jensen, of course, thinks otherwise. But Jared is nothing if not persistent, and when circumstances work to throw them together, he quickly learns that Dr. Jensen Ackles is more than just a story and that sometimes, stories can become personal.
You want to know why this is a bad idea?
This is why it's a bad idea.
That post contains a summary of the fic; talks about its problems; and provides a lot of links to the ensuing comments by anon and logged-in LJers who raised their problems with the fic, the author's apology, other wank, and link to a lot of very interesting, very informational meta.
You can see snippets of the fic here (warning for massive racefail):
http://bossymarmalade.dreamwidth.org/502091.html
You can see critical discussion of the fic here:
http://spnpermanon.livejournal.com/5327.html?thread=21170127#t21170127
http://gatorgrrrl.livejournal.com/166197.html
You can see the author's apology here:
http://gatorgrrrl.livejournal.com/170704.html
I posted to my RL journal and ended up raging about it all day and most of last night. I am honestly exhausted. But I want to let other people see what's going on and what's wrong here, because we don't automatically know. We have to be told; discover; learn on our own. I learned a lot from this drama (as well as raged a lot) and I hope you do too.
One of my comments:
It's not just the "too soon" argument though that is definitely a huge problem. It's also about the erasure of actual, painful Haitian experiences for the sake of two First World white men (and their Romance). Seems like her characterization and portrayal of Haitians within the fic were also highly problematic. On the bright side, a lot of people have called her out on it and she has posted a public apology. I am dearly hoping she is thinking about the problems. Intent is not required for racism. Hell, most racism is subconscious and ingrained (from privilege or other bias). And that's really a huge factor in why it's so problematic, you know? :/
To quote someone else's comment:
No matter how much research you do, it really doesn't do justice to the sheer magnitude of the event. I have close Haitian friends, some of whom are back in their country doing rescue work, and there is so much that is just - off, to put it mildly - about what they say and what's presented in the fic. Why is it that we always tell stories about the third world and our own racial minorities through the lens of privileged white westerners? That is predominantly how our fiction and our media present the rest of the world of the world to us. And no matter how good a story is, by foregrounding the J2 romance, there is inevitably a lot of erasure of actual Haitian's lives, experiences and stories going on. In light of what happened, I feel like their stories are still the most important, and we sadly don't get to hear too much of their pov.
This whole thing has caused me so much rage and so much disgust and disappointment. I just - I can understand cluelessness up to a point, but what gets me is the people who are still defending this even after all the problems are pointed out to them. I can't even begin to understand that.
meiface: most people were sane, y'know? saw the problems with the fic.
mardisgrasmaven: yea
meiface: the people who didn't see it immediately seemed to see it after it was pointed out & ok fine they're clueless and privileged but at least they were open to learning, including the artist and i think the author (reservations on the author)
mardisgrasmaven: (nods)
meiface: but there are some people still wanking away trying to defend the fic even AFTER it has been pointed out and i'm like WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU
mardisgrasmaven: why would they?
meiface: they keep saying stuff like "it's just fiction" and other shit about the tone argument
meiface: basically: if people are stupid and racist, you have to tell them politely so you don't offend them/hurt their feelings
meiface: someone even went so far as to say "my prof told me that the most impt thing about tolerance is accpeting the right of others to be wrong" or something
meiface: and yes i get that you woo more flies with honey than vinegar BUT WHAT THE FUCK
mardisgrasmaven: not when it's racism
meiface: WHY SHOULD WE HAVE TO BE NICE AND SWEET AND ACCEPTING OF RACISTS AND BIGOTS
meiface: i don't have to accept their opinion because THEY ARE WRONG.
mardisgrasmaven: not when it's about something so inherently and morally wrong
meiface: tolerating them at all is giving their opinion validity and saying "oh yes i see your point, let us have a civil discussion about it"
mardisgrasmaven: yea, that shit would've worked out well with hitler
meiface: NO. no you're bigot and a racist and FUCK YOU for hurting and offending minorities and still demanding that we be NICE and CALM when we tell you why you're wrong
meiface: ugh sorry. rage. /breathes
bookshop brings up a good point:
The most appalling thing about this is that the writer (presumably) had a team of betas who read this story while it was being edited. She had at least one artist who read the fic before posting as part of the challenge. She had 2 challenge mods who most certainly at least *skimmed* the fic to make sure it fit the challenge rules. And when the challenge was over she had grateful fans who read it and thought it was an "amazing journey."
impertinence does too:
Your apology shouldn't be "I'm sorry I posted this". You shouldn't think the only fuck-up was posting your racist writing publicly. The most important thing in this whole debacle is that people were hurt reading that fic. On a shallow level, that's because it was posted publicly, and they read it. But we're not children here: the fail started way earlier than that. Your thoughts do not exist in a vacuum. Our thoughts, our patterns of thinking, that is where the problem starts, that is the beginning that leads to PEOPLE BEING HURT.
deirdre_c has a good post about owning up to mistakes:
So here's the lesson I'm hoping we'll all internalize from this, and it goes beyond racefail: when you've (I've) done something wrong or hurtful, own up. Apologize. Don't try to excuse yourself (myself) or talk about your (my) intentions or make caveats. Just BE SORRY and say it out loud. And then stop doing the thing that's wrong or hurtful. And try as best you (I) can to figure out ways not to do it again.
And this anon user sums up how I feel about intent:
I would personally like to see an apology for what you did. Not what you did/didn't intend to do. I believe you that you didn't mean to cause harm with this, but the fact is regardless of your intentions you did cause harm. Other people have already detailed the harm caused better than I could. A real apology would acknowledge what you did. Not what you meant to/didn't mean to do. What. You. Did.
I am sorry if this seems harsh to you. I'm not trying to be mean, but the fact is... while intentions matter, ultimately your actions matter MORE.
Or this opinion:
Obviously, it wasn't your intention to offend, but you did offend, and you seem to be implying that if readers felt that way, they were reading your story wrong, and that's just not true. Whether or not it was your intention, if readers were offended (and they were) the blame falls on you for not treating a difficult subject with the respect and dignity it deserves. I hope you can understand that, because you're a good writer and it'd be a shame to see your talent wasted because you write ignorant stories.
...so that and the unbelievable rape culture fail has made the last few day unbelievably fun, don't you know?
I am not inviting disagreement in this post. I honest to god cannot stand another argument about how I (or any of the other dozens upon dozens of people upset with this fic) am merely "interrogating this text from the wrong perspective". Please feel free to to discuss the problems within the fic, feel free to discuss any of the meta in the links, feel free to discuss how sad it is that our society perpetuates this kind of privilege, attitude, and language like it's not problematic - to the point where it becomes default language and behavior for people to have to actively stop and overcome.
But not up for discussion is whether or not this fic is racist or problematic. It is.
We can talk about everything else. :)
(My next post will be happy and flaily about the World Cup, okay? Flail with me, I have been tweeting madly and learning things about football. I need the lighthearted break from these heavy topics and shallow footballers is right up that alley. ♥)
Yesterday, gatorgrrrl posted a J2 fic set in post-earthquake Haiti. The summary reads: The setting is Haiti, post-earthquake. Jensen Ackles is an American doctor who's running from his past, trying to make up for his mistakes in this broken place and live up to the promise he made to his brother half a lifetime ago. Jared Padalecki is a naive photojournalist who's hiding from himself, hoping to find one more story in a place already forgotten by the rest of the world. When he learns about all the good things Jensen and his friend, Haitian nurse Abraham Joseph, are doing around the ravaged country, he thinks he's found his story. Jensen, of course, thinks otherwise. But Jared is nothing if not persistent, and when circumstances work to throw them together, he quickly learns that Dr. Jensen Ackles is more than just a story and that sometimes, stories can become personal.
You want to know why this is a bad idea?
This is why it's a bad idea.
That post contains a summary of the fic; talks about its problems; and provides a lot of links to the ensuing comments by anon and logged-in LJers who raised their problems with the fic, the author's apology, other wank, and link to a lot of very interesting, very informational meta.
You can see snippets of the fic here (warning for massive racefail):
http://bossymarmalade.dreamwidth.org/502091.html
You can see critical discussion of the fic here:
http://spnpermanon.livejournal.com/5327.html?thread=21170127#t21170127
http://gatorgrrrl.livejournal.com/166197.html
You can see the author's apology here:
http://gatorgrrrl.livejournal.com/170704.html
I posted to my RL journal and ended up raging about it all day and most of last night. I am honestly exhausted. But I want to let other people see what's going on and what's wrong here, because we don't automatically know. We have to be told; discover; learn on our own. I learned a lot from this drama (as well as raged a lot) and I hope you do too.
One of my comments:
It's not just the "too soon" argument though that is definitely a huge problem. It's also about the erasure of actual, painful Haitian experiences for the sake of two First World white men (and their Romance). Seems like her characterization and portrayal of Haitians within the fic were also highly problematic. On the bright side, a lot of people have called her out on it and she has posted a public apology. I am dearly hoping she is thinking about the problems. Intent is not required for racism. Hell, most racism is subconscious and ingrained (from privilege or other bias). And that's really a huge factor in why it's so problematic, you know? :/
To quote someone else's comment:
No matter how much research you do, it really doesn't do justice to the sheer magnitude of the event. I have close Haitian friends, some of whom are back in their country doing rescue work, and there is so much that is just - off, to put it mildly - about what they say and what's presented in the fic. Why is it that we always tell stories about the third world and our own racial minorities through the lens of privileged white westerners? That is predominantly how our fiction and our media present the rest of the world of the world to us. And no matter how good a story is, by foregrounding the J2 romance, there is inevitably a lot of erasure of actual Haitian's lives, experiences and stories going on. In light of what happened, I feel like their stories are still the most important, and we sadly don't get to hear too much of their pov.
This whole thing has caused me so much rage and so much disgust and disappointment. I just - I can understand cluelessness up to a point, but what gets me is the people who are still defending this even after all the problems are pointed out to them. I can't even begin to understand that.
meiface: most people were sane, y'know? saw the problems with the fic.
mardisgrasmaven: yea
meiface: the people who didn't see it immediately seemed to see it after it was pointed out & ok fine they're clueless and privileged but at least they were open to learning, including the artist and i think the author (reservations on the author)
mardisgrasmaven: (nods)
meiface: but there are some people still wanking away trying to defend the fic even AFTER it has been pointed out and i'm like WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU
mardisgrasmaven: why would they?
meiface: they keep saying stuff like "it's just fiction" and other shit about the tone argument
meiface: basically: if people are stupid and racist, you have to tell them politely so you don't offend them/hurt their feelings
meiface: someone even went so far as to say "my prof told me that the most impt thing about tolerance is accpeting the right of others to be wrong" or something
meiface: and yes i get that you woo more flies with honey than vinegar BUT WHAT THE FUCK
mardisgrasmaven: not when it's racism
meiface: WHY SHOULD WE HAVE TO BE NICE AND SWEET AND ACCEPTING OF RACISTS AND BIGOTS
meiface: i don't have to accept their opinion because THEY ARE WRONG.
mardisgrasmaven: not when it's about something so inherently and morally wrong
meiface: tolerating them at all is giving their opinion validity and saying "oh yes i see your point, let us have a civil discussion about it"
mardisgrasmaven: yea, that shit would've worked out well with hitler
meiface: NO. no you're bigot and a racist and FUCK YOU for hurting and offending minorities and still demanding that we be NICE and CALM when we tell you why you're wrong
meiface: ugh sorry. rage. /breathes
bookshop brings up a good point:
The most appalling thing about this is that the writer (presumably) had a team of betas who read this story while it was being edited. She had at least one artist who read the fic before posting as part of the challenge. She had 2 challenge mods who most certainly at least *skimmed* the fic to make sure it fit the challenge rules. And when the challenge was over she had grateful fans who read it and thought it was an "amazing journey."
impertinence does too:
Your apology shouldn't be "I'm sorry I posted this". You shouldn't think the only fuck-up was posting your racist writing publicly. The most important thing in this whole debacle is that people were hurt reading that fic. On a shallow level, that's because it was posted publicly, and they read it. But we're not children here: the fail started way earlier than that. Your thoughts do not exist in a vacuum. Our thoughts, our patterns of thinking, that is where the problem starts, that is the beginning that leads to PEOPLE BEING HURT.
deirdre_c has a good post about owning up to mistakes:
So here's the lesson I'm hoping we'll all internalize from this, and it goes beyond racefail: when you've (I've) done something wrong or hurtful, own up. Apologize. Don't try to excuse yourself (myself) or talk about your (my) intentions or make caveats. Just BE SORRY and say it out loud. And then stop doing the thing that's wrong or hurtful. And try as best you (I) can to figure out ways not to do it again.
And this anon user sums up how I feel about intent:
I would personally like to see an apology for what you did. Not what you did/didn't intend to do. I believe you that you didn't mean to cause harm with this, but the fact is regardless of your intentions you did cause harm. Other people have already detailed the harm caused better than I could. A real apology would acknowledge what you did. Not what you meant to/didn't mean to do. What. You. Did.
I am sorry if this seems harsh to you. I'm not trying to be mean, but the fact is... while intentions matter, ultimately your actions matter MORE.
Or this opinion:
Obviously, it wasn't your intention to offend, but you did offend, and you seem to be implying that if readers felt that way, they were reading your story wrong, and that's just not true. Whether or not it was your intention, if readers were offended (and they were) the blame falls on you for not treating a difficult subject with the respect and dignity it deserves. I hope you can understand that, because you're a good writer and it'd be a shame to see your talent wasted because you write ignorant stories.
...so that and the unbelievable rape culture fail has made the last few day unbelievably fun, don't you know?
I am not inviting disagreement in this post. I honest to god cannot stand another argument about how I (or any of the other dozens upon dozens of people upset with this fic) am merely "interrogating this text from the wrong perspective". Please feel free to to discuss the problems within the fic, feel free to discuss any of the meta in the links, feel free to discuss how sad it is that our society perpetuates this kind of privilege, attitude, and language like it's not problematic - to the point where it becomes default language and behavior for people to have to actively stop and overcome.
But not up for discussion is whether or not this fic is racist or problematic. It is.
We can talk about everything else. :)
(My next post will be happy and flaily about the World Cup, okay? Flail with me, I have been tweeting madly and learning things about football. I need the lighthearted break from these heavy topics and shallow footballers is right up that alley. ♥)