The Bear Debacle, Part I
I'm not sure what to cover first. Every time I'm about to make a post, I read another thread that throws me in a different direction. Should I talk about the comment that made me and probably every other PoC actually gasp?
coffeeem: I think Bear is a better writer than AW is a reader. That does happen all the time in the world of literature. It has nothing to do with class, race, gender, or sexual preference. But I don't want to go as far as to say that an opinion based on a shallow reading and a reaction to cultural injustice is as insightful as an opinion based on careful consideration of the text.
That might have single-handedly shifted the discussion into something far, far uglier than it already was, but I can't talk about it without pointing to its obvious follow-up, so thinly veiled and disgusting that I could barely believe someone would write it in public.
pnh: I wouldn't even split the problem into "authors" and "readers". Some people are smarter than others, to put it as baldly as possible.
Of course, not-so-bright people are entitled to justice, as are (also) people who don't express themselves well. As the ghost of John Rawls reminds me, all of us fall into both of those categories at many points in our life, so we should always be suspicious of the temptation to "worship language, and forgive / all of those who by it live."
This does not, however, amount to an unlimited claim on our time and energy by people who can't sort out the difference between their inner feelings and the exterior world of discourse. We can try to help them but we cannot be their servants.
I should also mention the now-locked post containing that lovely comment ( screenshots), in which mac_stone called PoC manipulative abusers who seek to brainwash "reasonable, intelligent, articulate, passionate, kind, and caring [white] women." We all know about the Black brute, but apparently women of color can also be scary savages hell-bent on attacking the white wimmins. I mean, I knew this already, as I am drinking the blood of white women even as I type this, but I didn't realize other people knew it.
(Honestly, that post was so insane and outrageous that I couldn't even be offended by it. The fact that mac_stone then tried to start a diversity project with medievalist, her racist-comment-making BFF, only confirmed to me that they are not of sound mind.)
Then there is matociquala/Elizabeth Bear, whose anti-racist ally mask would be more convincing if she didn't:
-- post extremely shaky essays about " Writing the Other."
-- repeatedly claim "It's not about me!" while inevitably making it all about her. My favorite was her explanation for why she's not a White American (even though she is) and how that identification is in no way about her wanting cookies from PoC but about her special snowflake experience.
-- start out saying, "Comments on this post are so, so very, very moderated. Feel free to agree or disagree with me or anyone else, but if you can't be polite, I'm not having you in my house," only to take NO action when her friends and others were attacking PoC all over her journal. I did see her tell an ally, " Psst. Please, no shouting," for a few all caps words that were not even directed at anyone. I guess racist comments are okay, but showing a little frustration about racism is impolite and going Too Far.
-- declare eventually that she's "not taking sides" even when one of those sides is filled with offensive, hurtful, racist comments. Suddenly all the talk about requiring politeness and respect in her journal has been replaced with vigilant apathy for what anyone else in the world, particularly in her journal, says or does, because she can only be concerned with herself. Because it's not about her.
The best, though, the absolute best, is the dismissal not only of the layered, passionate, far reaching discussion about racism and cultural appropriation that has been going on for the past week, but of its participants, emphatically led by PoC.
matociquala: Actually, the entire imbroglio boils down to about twenty people, as near as I can figure, unless some of them are sock puppets. So, no, not really that much of a splash, even. But an *awful* lot of noise.
coffeeem: I think Bear is a better writer than AW is a reader. That does happen all the time in the world of literature. It has nothing to do with class, race, gender, or sexual preference. But I don't want to go as far as to say that an opinion based on a shallow reading and a reaction to cultural injustice is as insightful as an opinion based on careful consideration of the text.
That might have single-handedly shifted the discussion into something far, far uglier than it already was, but I can't talk about it without pointing to its obvious follow-up, so thinly veiled and disgusting that I could barely believe someone would write it in public.
pnh: I wouldn't even split the problem into "authors" and "readers". Some people are smarter than others, to put it as baldly as possible.
Of course, not-so-bright people are entitled to justice, as are (also) people who don't express themselves well. As the ghost of John Rawls reminds me, all of us fall into both of those categories at many points in our life, so we should always be suspicious of the temptation to "worship language, and forgive / all of those who by it live."
This does not, however, amount to an unlimited claim on our time and energy by people who can't sort out the difference between their inner feelings and the exterior world of discourse. We can try to help them but we cannot be their servants.
I should also mention the now-locked post containing that lovely comment ( screenshots), in which mac_stone called PoC manipulative abusers who seek to brainwash "reasonable, intelligent, articulate, passionate, kind, and caring [white] women." We all know about the Black brute, but apparently women of color can also be scary savages hell-bent on attacking the white wimmins. I mean, I knew this already, as I am drinking the blood of white women even as I type this, but I didn't realize other people knew it.
(Honestly, that post was so insane and outrageous that I couldn't even be offended by it. The fact that mac_stone then tried to start a diversity project with medievalist, her racist-comment-making BFF, only confirmed to me that they are not of sound mind.)
Then there is matociquala/Elizabeth Bear, whose anti-racist ally mask would be more convincing if she didn't:
-- post extremely shaky essays about " Writing the Other."
-- repeatedly claim "It's not about me!" while inevitably making it all about her. My favorite was her explanation for why she's not a White American (even though she is) and how that identification is in no way about her wanting cookies from PoC but about her special snowflake experience.
-- start out saying, "Comments on this post are so, so very, very moderated. Feel free to agree or disagree with me or anyone else, but if you can't be polite, I'm not having you in my house," only to take NO action when her friends and others were attacking PoC all over her journal. I did see her tell an ally, " Psst. Please, no shouting," for a few all caps words that were not even directed at anyone. I guess racist comments are okay, but showing a little frustration about racism is impolite and going Too Far.
-- declare eventually that she's "not taking sides" even when one of those sides is filled with offensive, hurtful, racist comments. Suddenly all the talk about requiring politeness and respect in her journal has been replaced with vigilant apathy for what anyone else in the world, particularly in her journal, says or does, because she can only be concerned with herself. Because it's not about her.
The best, though, the absolute best, is the dismissal not only of the layered, passionate, far reaching discussion about racism and cultural appropriation that has been going on for the past week, but of its participants, emphatically led by PoC.
matociquala: Actually, the entire imbroglio boils down to about twenty people, as near as I can figure, unless some of them are sock puppets. So, no, not really that much of a splash, even. But an *awful* lot of noise.