on privilege and the burden of proof

[thingswithwings]

I haven't said much about Racefail 09, or Bride of Racefail, or Racefail III: The Revenge, mostly because I've been reading and reading, every day reading posts by people who've said it far better than I ever could, and who know much more about this than I do. As always rydra_wong has linkspams and timelines and summaries to help you navigate all the words

Comments

[nextian]

As always, all I can say to this post is: THIS.

And I think it is a similar thing, that people keep saying "I don't know what's going on, I don't know what's going on," when often they mean, "I have not followed the links because I do not want to know what's going on." I don't resent genuine ignorance. I resent it when I see people saying "I've seen people I love fighting and I don't really know what's happening" because to not know what's happening, at this point, with the wealth of resources at your fingertips, to continue to ignore and deflect and make it about assertion, is to add more weight to the burden of proof.

[thingswithwings]

oh, good point - I hadn't really thought about that, but I think you're absolutely right, and that's another aspect of the same problem - people who feel no personal stake in the issue expecting to be spoon-fed some not-too-tl;dr summary of events. That's a really great connection, thank you.

actually, that's something that I love about sparkymonster - whenever she sees one of those "I can't keep up with all of this/I don't know what's happening," comments, she blithely provides a set of links - happily taking them at their word that they want to know what's going on, rather than acknowledging their actual desire not to know. She's awesome.

[nextian]

sparkymonster: best use of disingenuity this year. ♥ I also appreciate it because I've used that set of links so many times, jesus.

[sparkymonster]

I wear the helpful hat!

[bearfairie]

Yes, this, all of it. Thank you for so painstakingly spelling this out.

The "boo hoo I'm being attacked and we've all done something wrong" crap I've been hearing from E Bear and Sh*tt*rly and company has been driving me rage-inducingly batty. And this is exactly why.

[thingswithwings]

it's completely crazy-making, particularly because it happens over and over and just keeps getting worse and worse.

[sol_se]

Yes, exactly. I've begun noticing this as well.

[cathexys]

Yup, it's really fascinating how many different ways we can paraphrase the concept of privilege. Here: thinking you'll be believed by your word/reputation alone (which goes hand in hand with the pseudonym debate, of course).

The thing that irks me, of course, is that there were these semblances of academic arrogance early on. Sorry, but that's comp 101! Show your sources :)

[thingswithwings]

I've also been thinking that. What kind of literary professionals are these people really, that they don't cite appropriately?

And you're right about the connection to the pseudonym debate; I hadn't thought about it that way, but it makes perfect sense in a way. A way where I want to smack my face into the table all the time.

[anatsuno]

Apparently I managed to talk EB out of deleting older posts! I am very surprised. And tempted to link her to your post, because: YES. It's been glaringly obvious to me throughout - like you said, nothing new for anyone who's been through this earlier - and yes, it deserved to be put in the spotlight. Thank you.

[msilverstar]

well done you! Owning your (her) words is really important. Leaving links pointing at nothing undermines the whole conversation. Discussion can't happen in a vacuum.

[anatsuno]

I hesitated - I truly thought she must already know what the consequences were going to be, thought I. And I wasn't sure I wanted to engage her at all. But I think that once more it was a case of ignorance-not-malice -(hard to believe, and yet!), and she must truly have thought it was going to stand as a better apology for her to 'retract' by deletion than any other way. Which, yeah, NO.

Fandom and F_W taught me a lot. :)

[nextian]

WHAT. Where do you want your unicorn delivered?