Really?

[maevele]

It's time again for rampant assheaded cluelessness about Cultural Appropriation AGAIN?

NOTE TO ASSFACES "Sometimes white authors don't do enough research when writing POC or other cultures, and fuck up pretty bad, so do good research/get familiar with your subject/don't write what you don't know shit about and maybe you'll fuck it up less" is ABSOLUTELY NOT THE SAME AS "White writers have no right to write anything other than white people, and if they try they're KKK members"

Also? Criticism IS NOT Censorship.

Go read and pay attention, to some of the good, smart, shit that's been thrown down the last few days. here's a roundup, even.

http://aqueductpress.blogspot.com/2009/01/great-cultural-appropriation-debate-of.html

Comments

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

Not only that, but "it's problematic to borrow other people's stories" is not the same as "the only characters you can ever write about have to be Just Like You."

[bibliofile.livejournal.com]

I think that "problematic" was the 2008 word of the year at WisCon. And oh so accurate here.

[ladyjax.livejournal.com]

I really hate them all now. Separatism is looking like a much more viable option for me.

[maevele.livejournal.com]

But I can't get separatism to work in any way that separates my white ass from theirs.

[littlebutfierce]

And I can't get separatism to work in any way that separates my white half from my non-white half. ;)

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

I agree with this 99%. My only worry (1%) is that some writers may be so intimidated by the raaage that they won't risk attracting it - not censorship, of course, but certainly a chilling effect.

[maevele.livejournal.com]

but y'know, there wasn't really raaaaage in the original criticism. all the ragey bits started with the "OMG! How dare you attack someone who is trying to be an ally by criticizing when they make a mistake!!" reactions, and then the reactions to the reactions.

Also, if they are scared of criticism the shouldn't be a writer, just as if one is scared of having it called out when you fuck up in allyship, you shouldn't try to be an ally.


Mind you, I have nothing but respect for what I have seen of the author's reactions. It's everyone else who is assfacey.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

Well, there's criticism, and then there's criticism. The online debate is characterised by intense, bitter, personal criticism. This is understandable; it's fandom, it's the Internet, and the context is years and years of anger, frustration, and disappointment at SF's rubbish record on race - not to mention fandom's collusion in that. But it's also understandable if not every writer can weather it as well as Bear (whose behaviour has been exemplary).

Speaking personally, I have an abnormally low level of fear of criticism when it comes to my writing. Plus I've have the benefit of more forgiving guidance, such as Nisi Shawl's essay Transracial Writing for the Sincere, and the terrific little book Cultural Etiquette: A Guide for the Well-Intentioned. But there must be writers, especially hopeful writers, who see a minefield of hostility and judgementalism and just think, 'Holy shit, I am so not going there.'

[maevele.livejournal.com]

But I'm still not seeing how this criticism concerning race issues was so harsh and personal. The personal attacks started with the defenders of Bear's virtue, not the critics.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

I think very many people less smart and gracious than Bear would have responded to the "open letter" with spluttering, angry, hurt defensiveness.

[maevele.livejournal.com]

but that still doesn't mean the open letter was harsh or attacky. Just because defensive whitepeople might get defensive doesn't mean it's harsh.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

That's true. And White people, especially middle class White people (and especially Anglos like me!), broadly speaking, aren't very good at handling anger, ours or other people's. We tend to avoid or sublimate conflict. When the understandable rage, frustration, and disappointment burst out, we can respond with panic and anger. It's a pattern I've seen over and over in online discussions of race and racism - including the current outbreak - and a trap into which I've fallen myself.

That said, if someone told me they threw my book across the room and that I am clueless and thoughtless and merely seeking a pat on the head from POC, I would feel pain and fright, alongside sorrow and dismay and the urge to do better; and many people might only feel pain and fright, along with confusion and anger. And indeed, some of those bewildered, defensive responses are on display in both Bear's LJ and Seeking Avalon's blogspot.

Having said that, I think Seeking Avalon goes to great lengths to avoid making the open letter merely a personal attack, and thus shutting down any chance of communication or change. By doing so, she made Bear's positive response much more possible.

[maevele.livejournal.com]

okay, but those reactions are your problem, as a white writer, not the problem of someone who finds a racial situation in your books offensive/troublesome.

White writers, (hell, all writers) need to accept the fact that they WILL FUCK IT UP SOMETIMES. And it is the obligation of readers to point that out, if the writer didn't catch it herself, and then the writer should, honestly, be grateful someone pointed out that their ass was showing so they can cover it, rather than get pissy that we didn't just ignore their ass.

nojojojo has a great post up about how she, as a black author, still fucks it up and writes racist tropes. racism is in everybody, and getting defensive/denying won't make anyone less racist.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

You're preaching to the choir there; I agree with everything you've just said.

But I'm not talking about writers who try and fail. I'm talking about writers who avoid the issue altogether because they can see it's the only surefire way of not having someone rip you a new one. (And then that turns into the excuse of 'Oh, but I'd only fuck it up and offend people.')

Now we can deride that response as cowardly or weak or whatever, but the remains that not all of us are tough enough to take that, especially if it seemed to come out of left field. And hopeful writers haven't had time to grow thick skins.

If you've not been pilloried - publicly, bitterly attacked by a crowd - it may be difficult to understand how destructive that can be, how silencing.

As you can see from my previous comments, I'm not saying that POC should modify their tone / catch more flies with honey / various other cliches. The anger, frustration, and disappointment of non-White SF fans has to be expressed, must be heard. I don't have any suggestions or solutions. All I want to do is identify a pattern, a problem I see in online discussions of race and racism.