I thought I had said everything I needed to on the subject, both in my posts and responses to a lot of other posts more well written than mine. I was wrong.
This is going to be a post about race.
If you need to back away and not read that is cool, I won't be angry or upset. If you do post I only have one rule - Don't refer to 'Racefail '09' as a flame war or wank. Seriously. Do not do this in my journal.
See, that is what finally tipped me over the edge. I was reading blogs out in the mainstream (off of LJ) and I kept seeing references to a 'flame war'. It annoyed me, but I try to understand that many authors not on LJ may be getting info second hand and not really have a clue about what is going on. Then I started reading posts here on LJ this morning and kept seeing 'flame war' and 'wank' used to describe this discussion. Usually followed by the (paraphrased) "if we all just calmed down and listened to each other's points we might get somewhere" argument. Now I am pissed.
Here is the deal. My Mom is a retired newspaper editor. She has talked about meetings where the men yelled at each other, insulted each other, intimidated each other and in one memorable case, one man threw a notebook across the room. This was all acceptable behavior...For the Men. In contrast my mom had to be calm, rational and steady. She had to have hard copy documentation for any subject she wanted to discuss with references to back it up. If she so much as raised her voice everything she said was negated due her being "upset" or "angry" or "emotional" or my personal favorite, "hysterical."
Sound familiar?
For every post where someone has said, "hey, I am angry and hurt because of those racist remarks" there have been several more posts very calmly, very rationally explaining why the comments were racist. Point by point, definition by definition this has been explained. And then explained again. And again. No matter how reasonable the 'tone' of these posts, people are still calling it a 'flame'.
rydra_wong has links to hundreds of these calm, rational posts and yet it is just 'a little dust up' or "more wank."
This is not a flame war. This is one side habitually silencing the other. This is one side being wrong and using their power and prestige to make themselves out the victim. This is one side painting attempted rational discourse as trolling or grudge-wank.
I review books and music. I have been reviewing books since Fido-net was around. Last year I read an amazing short story called "The Girl Who Sang Rose Madder". It was just gorgeous. It was by Elizabeth Bear. Now I find out Bear doesn't think I am qualified to review or critique her work based on my race? Because I am just not smart enough since I am not white. Wow. I am so glad my 'lesser" status was pointed out to me, by Bear, Cramer and others.
Well, I can be cranky too. I won't be reading or reviewing several of the authors involved in this. I won't be reading anthologies or books edited by Cramer and others. This last point kills me because some great stories come out of the SF anthology she edits and if I can't find them in other formats I will be missing them. I hate doing it, but I am not contributing money to these people or more importantly, giving them free press.
Finally, I am not an eloquent writer. I usually put the words in a bucket and kind of fling them at the page. I call it 'gonzo' writing and I like it. It fits me, but it doesn't always cover the issues. For some incredibly well written and eloquent posts check out the link roll (see above) in rydra's journal.
ciderpress and
deepad have some especially memorable words on the subject.
For the record ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) I don't like the term 'people of color'. I am old and it always sounds like 'colored' to me. But, since everyone else is comfortable with it, I can deal.
2) Sometimes I get books for free. Either as an advance copy or from a free download promotion. I consider a positive review to have the potential to put money in an author's pockets so for me, money is still involved whether I bought the book or not.
3) I will be using the many books by PoC's mentioned in several posts to fill in the reviewing gaps on my book and music blog. I consider this a bright spot in a sea of gloom.