On Free Speech.
My interaction with the internetz has been to not engage in controversial matters, to not express an opinion that people might take ‘the wrong way’, especially in their own journals. Because fandom IS my happy place, I feel I engage on subjects that are important to me in real life quite enough.
When I started to see “signal boosting” (in order to draw attention to a single fan's ignorance) cross my friendslist it took me a while to realise why I found this whole idea so uncomfortable. After all, so many fans I respect do it, and obviously with the best of intentions, so why am I feeling so weird?
There have been many instances recently of fans and writers called to account by fandom. Most that I have seen have apologised. Their apologies have then been judged for level of remorsefulness, sincerity and whether they’ve learned their lesson. I have seen very few of these apologies accepted gracefully.
The last time I saw this happen was some fan had, presumably through ignorance and thoughtlessness (because I’m sure she wouldn’t have chosen to provoke fandom like this) written a Big Bang fic setting her romance in the emergency relief efforts in Haiti. The wrath of fandom descended upon her. Very shortly there were essays in blogs linked to, ‘constructive’ comments, even blogs where fans had helpfully deconstructed her entire fic to highlight every instance of racefail, horrified reactions to the inappropriateness of her setting her fic so soon after the tragedy, etc. I can only imagine she felt firmly put in her place.
I do not believe this ‘policing’ of fandom is a good thing. I believe signal boosting that does this is a form of bullying. When did fandom start organising en masse to tell people they've fucked up? No-one reacts well to being picked on, to being singled-out and embarrassed.
Kassrachel wrote an eloquent piece about generous listening in which she talks about fandom as a community. This is how I see fandom.
*wavy segue lines*
This semester I took a unit where they encourage you to think for yourself. I know - crazy!!! One of the topics was whether David Irving (a holocaust denier) should be allowed to speak in Australia. Up until recently I thought ‘hell, no.’ Because I’ve never really thought about ‘free speech’. I mean, I knew we didn’t have it, but I was happy with that. After all, people shouldn’t be allowed to say hurtful things, right? But maybe they should be. Maybe the way to deal with people who say things we disagree with is to engage with them, rationally and without attempting to shut them down. But that requires effort. Most of us (including me) can’t be bothered. Instead of saying ‘shut up, you’re wrong’, we could say, ‘tell me why you think this’.
So that’s my resolution.
Comments? (this is me attempting to engage On The Internet)
Edit I used the word 'lynch mob' in my post and inadvertantly hurt someone, therefore it was inappropriate. I am sorry for that. I have changed it.
When I started to see “signal boosting” (in order to draw attention to a single fan's ignorance) cross my friendslist it took me a while to realise why I found this whole idea so uncomfortable. After all, so many fans I respect do it, and obviously with the best of intentions, so why am I feeling so weird?
There have been many instances recently of fans and writers called to account by fandom. Most that I have seen have apologised. Their apologies have then been judged for level of remorsefulness, sincerity and whether they’ve learned their lesson. I have seen very few of these apologies accepted gracefully.
The last time I saw this happen was some fan had, presumably through ignorance and thoughtlessness (because I’m sure she wouldn’t have chosen to provoke fandom like this) written a Big Bang fic setting her romance in the emergency relief efforts in Haiti. The wrath of fandom descended upon her. Very shortly there were essays in blogs linked to, ‘constructive’ comments, even blogs where fans had helpfully deconstructed her entire fic to highlight every instance of racefail, horrified reactions to the inappropriateness of her setting her fic so soon after the tragedy, etc. I can only imagine she felt firmly put in her place.
I do not believe this ‘policing’ of fandom is a good thing. I believe signal boosting that does this is a form of bullying. When did fandom start organising en masse to tell people they've fucked up? No-one reacts well to being picked on, to being singled-out and embarrassed.
Kassrachel wrote an eloquent piece about generous listening in which she talks about fandom as a community. This is how I see fandom.
*wavy segue lines*
This semester I took a unit where they encourage you to think for yourself. I know - crazy!!! One of the topics was whether David Irving (a holocaust denier) should be allowed to speak in Australia. Up until recently I thought ‘hell, no.’ Because I’ve never really thought about ‘free speech’. I mean, I knew we didn’t have it, but I was happy with that. After all, people shouldn’t be allowed to say hurtful things, right? But maybe they should be. Maybe the way to deal with people who say things we disagree with is to engage with them, rationally and without attempting to shut them down. But that requires effort. Most of us (including me) can’t be bothered. Instead of saying ‘shut up, you’re wrong’, we could say, ‘tell me why you think this’.
So that’s my resolution.
Comments? (this is me attempting to engage On The Internet)
Edit I used the word 'lynch mob' in my post and inadvertantly hurt someone, therefore it was inappropriate. I am sorry for that. I have changed it.