i need a hand to help me lift some kind of hope inside of me

[ivy_chan]

Since I'm not in the fandom in question as well as being offline for a good deal of time, it took me a while to be alerted to the issue of the SPN-fic that spawned a new bout of racefail and meta. In short, someone wrote a story, during the earthquake in Haiti, about the two actors from Supernatural falling in love. While in Haiti. It showcased

Comments

[celarania]

Oh jeez... I'm usually willing to give the benefit of the doubt, but that's just tasteless. I was thinking that they just happened to be writing a fic set in Haiti when that happened, but I think I have too much faith in humanity. I do wonder to what degree they're aware of what they're doing (I was a stupid little thirteen year-old), but that doesn't really excuse it.

To a certain extent I can excuse broken English from the average Joe, because well, I'm sure if a Spanish speaker depicted the US, there'd be a lot of bad, broken Spanish, but that doesn't mean that the average person in Haiti should be depicted as they were in the fic.

I do think that PCness can go too far, but god that person could use a lesson in it.

[ivy_chan]

I don't think they are at all aware of the degree of racism shown in their story, but that's pretty much the problem with a lot of institutionalized forms of prejudice: subconscious, unchallenged patterns of behavior. The outcry her story received will most likely help her realize that what she wrote is wrong, which I suppose is at least one positive thing to come out of this.

[killing_rose]

Terrifyingly, the author in question is in her 30s. I checked because sometimes people lie about that. But she talks about her children and her daily life, and it sounds like those I know who are in their 30s.

...I had no words because honestly? I do not understand how she managed to stay clueless enough to write not only the fic in question, but apparently she wrote a similar fic for last year's big bang.

[celarania]

I know... I found out later. As a young teen you might not realize the effect your words might have, when to back down, or even the severity of the disaster, but just once you're 30 , I think you're beyond that point.

She's done this twice?!

[saralinda]

Agreeing with celarania--so, so tasteless. And after reading the quotes from the fic--no desire to read the whole thing for multiple reasons--it's just blind racism. Really. The trope of "white man brown sidekick" has been around for hundreds of years, as has "white man saves brown woman from brown man." It just amazes me how it is still internalized by our culture; that in our postmodern (post-postmodern?) time, it still gets offered up in this way

[ivy_chan]

Fic took place as the Haitian death tolls were coming in, even, showing you how much this author was able to connect with them as people. Good god.

And I think Americans should be made to learn another language aside from English, preferably Spanish because of our close proximity to South America and Mexico and the high rate of our Spanish-speaking citizens, but that's just me. Bi or multilingualism is better, to me, than strict adherence to one tongue.

[natsuko1978]

This. THIS (it needs caps locks, I'm afraid

[ivy_chan]

God, I NEED the passionate asexual story. Asexuals are often shown, if shown at all, as being cold and distant, when that is not necessarily true at ALL. I am, personally, a passionate, emotional person, AND an asexual.

I, too, have made some racial mistakes, but I also own up to them and apologize for them when I make them in public, and lecture myself when I make them in the privacy of my head. It's inescapable to make privilege-based mistakes when raised in a culture steeped in it, but the important thing is to become aware and responsible for your own privilege, and helpful and supportive of people without it. (Helpful in a helpful way!) 'It's not about me' is really the best advice to keep in mind through all of it.

[natsuko1978]

Thank you ::HUGS

gah, i am so bad about replying in a timely fashion

[ivy_chan]

I can't wait until asexuals gain more visibility, but until that point, I'm going to keep being as openly and loudly and, yes, healthily asexual as I am. I'm going to continue telling people that I am not a disease, I am not a condition, I am a sexuality and I demand respect.

It didn't come across that way to me. Actually, I was agreeing with a point you made! I don't think there's any safe tone for a discussion about prejudice. There is no way to talk to people about their privilege, because they are instinctively programmed to be defensive and deny their own sense of entitlement and the fact that they, by virtue of being a majority, have privileges you don't. No matter what tone a discussion is conducted in, the privileged will always have derailing methods open to them. I can only say that polite and submissive doesn't work, that any movement needs anger and passion and loud words to back its diplomats.

[robina1984]

I posted in my journal more about her author's notes than the fic, but I linked to this entry as someone better qualified. (Okay, shouldn't be trying to handle this level of...uberfail right after third shift.) Because I saw the quotes, and I saw how they were wrong...but they were out of context. I don't know the canon, at all. So I can't say how much was the author and how much was the author thinking "this is what this character would think!" Though I doubt it's the case, it's possible

[ivy_chan]

- I have no doubt that the author had no idea what she was writing, which really is the problem here. Racism with awareness is much easier to tackle than what we have today, racism coupled with ignorance and the defensiveness of the privileged. She didn't know that what she wrote was a glaring race fantasy, and she should have, and it saddens me that it went through so many people before people stood up about it, but it doesn't shock me.

-That means a lot to me. It really, really does. It helps when I know that I have made a difference in at least one life, helped change a perspective so maybe you can make a change in others as well. I'm happy to hear it. <3

Here via metafandom

[redsnake05]

Thank you for writing this post. I agree, it's brutal to look around and see how pervasive all the hurtful norms are, and how impossible it is to escape them.

late because rl is a jerk to me

[ivy_chan]

Thanks for responding to the post. I'm...amazed this got on metafandom, actually. o.o