This just gets more upsetting…

[rusty_halo]

http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2788

One of the most striking things about the current RaceFail/cultural appropriation debate is the extent to which discussions of racism are something that white people can just shrug off, as too confusing, or uncomfortable, or tl;dr. But people of color have to live with racism; it’s not something they can just turn off when they don’t want to deal with it anymore.

So I spent a lot of time today catching up on the debate, even though it is very upsetting. And I’m blogging about it mainly because that’s how information spreads in this community, and this information needs to get out there. We should all be thinking about these issues, not just the people who don’t have a choice about dealing with them.

If you haven’t been following it, I would really recommend at least trying to understand what’s been going on. I’ve been following links from metafandom, from rydra_wong’s very comprehensive list, and from Seeking Avalon’s timeline.

What it more or less seems to come down to is that fans of color and their allies dared to criticize problematic science fiction books, so professional authors and their friends responded by attacking their critics in horrifying ways: outing pseudonymous fans; calling them orcs, hordes, sockpuppets, and grudgewankers; complaining about their “tone”; insulting their educational backgrounds; attacking their class backgrounds; threatening professional retribution. And trying to turn the discussion into one of anything but race: classism, the ethics of pseudonymity, the hurt feelings of white people accused of racism.

Honestly, if you think the hurt feelings of a white author accused of racism are equivalent to the hurt feelings of a person of color who has to spend her entire life dealing with racism, there is something seriously wrong with you.

And now they’re trying to brush it all under the table with “mistakes were made on both sides” and “can’t we just take a time out”? As if people of color can take a time out from racism? As if publicly airing your anger about racism is just as “bad” as publicly airing your racism?

God, this makes my head hurt. But I’ll keep reading.

Current Mood: stressed

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. You can comment here or there.
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