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In which brickbats need hurling
Jan. 18th, 2009 02:33 pmSee, I've been trying valiantly to ignore the current clusterfuck of doom that is once again enveloping teh LJ re: certain white authors' clumsy, ahistorical, racially promblematic and downright headdesk inducing handling of minorities and their legends in their sf/historical/ whatever the hell they might be writing about.
Naturally, as has happened in the majority of these cases, the author and her friends have rallied around in self defense. They are manning the barricades and are shooting missiles of condescension: "Oh, you are not smart enough to read the text properly!!!" "you need to have gone to university to be able to understand the writers intent!!!" (Really? For a fucking fantasy fiction novel????) or "oh well some people [that is, the critiquers] are not smart at all you know, lets just ignore their petty concerns". They have been unleashing truly astonishing bombs of self-pity, pique, and anger at the unmitigated GALL of these troublesome POC daring to ask that they be properly portrayed, "HOW DARE YOU CALL ME RACIST!!! TAKE THAT BACK!!!
There are those who are counseling surrender."Oh please don't upset us well-meaning white people, with your emotion, it is so unseemly and discomfiting." "Oh, how do you expect people to listen to you when you are so emotional! Your tone, your tone!!!" There are those who are screaming huffily, "Well, if we are doing it wrong, YOU need to tell us what to do!!!" (Never mind the fact that various articles have been written and re-written about this same goddamn problem over the two years that I have been on LJ and in any case, when links are proffered, refusal to read and engage constructively is rampant, and all we have is a bunch of white people acting the outraged, racist fools on various people's journals. And, of course, there is the inevitable push to portray the victims of their stereotypes, aggression, racism and downright ignorant attitudes as the actual problems. So the people who are pointing out that the toxic effects of their literary pollution is having a dire effect on POC readers mental health, well, they are abusers. reverse racists. whiners. these angry poc hordes are attacking the white people who were doing them a favour by even mentioning them in their precious writing oh my god how ungrateful, the bitches and trolls!!!!!!!!!
I cannot believe that every fucking couple of months the same fucking bullshit pops up again and again and no-one seems to be learning from it. Minorities still portrayed as sub-human and/or in thrall to white protagonists. Minorities still barbarians, whites civilized saviours. Minority cultures evil, whites' teh greatest thing since sliced bread. Minority cultures distorted and mangled so as to heighten the "exotic" quotient of the story, carefully set out medieval halls and forests populated with white magical beings ... And of course, when there is a minority hero, if he/she isn't over sexual and/or barbaric, she/he is practically a white person in blackface. Thinks white, acts white and must be separated from those barbaric uncivilized other. I am so fucking sick and tired of this shit that I could fucking puke. And you know what is completely spirit draining? The fact that in the next couple months, the same motherfucking shit will happen all over a-fucking-gain. A post-racial society my ass! I am just at the point where my patience for this shit is gone.
Naturally, as has happened in the majority of these cases, the author and her friends have rallied around in self defense. They are manning the barricades and are shooting missiles of condescension: "Oh, you are not smart enough to read the text properly!!!" "you need to have gone to university to be able to understand the writers intent!!!" (Really? For a fucking fantasy fiction novel????) or "oh well some people [that is, the critiquers] are not smart at all you know, lets just ignore their petty concerns". They have been unleashing truly astonishing bombs of self-pity, pique, and anger at the unmitigated GALL of these troublesome POC daring to ask that they be properly portrayed, "HOW DARE YOU CALL ME RACIST!!! TAKE THAT BACK!!!
There are those who are counseling surrender."Oh please don't upset us well-meaning white people, with your emotion, it is so unseemly and discomfiting." "Oh, how do you expect people to listen to you when you are so emotional! Your tone, your tone!!!" There are those who are screaming huffily, "Well, if we are doing it wrong, YOU need to tell us what to do!!!" (Never mind the fact that various articles have been written and re-written about this same goddamn problem over the two years that I have been on LJ and in any case, when links are proffered, refusal to read and engage constructively is rampant, and all we have is a bunch of white people acting the outraged, racist fools on various people's journals. And, of course, there is the inevitable push to portray the victims of their stereotypes, aggression, racism and downright ignorant attitudes as the actual problems. So the people who are pointing out that the toxic effects of their literary pollution is having a dire effect on POC readers mental health, well, they are abusers. reverse racists. whiners. these angry poc hordes are attacking the white people who were doing them a favour by even mentioning them in their precious writing oh my god how ungrateful, the bitches and trolls!!!!!!!!!
I cannot believe that every fucking couple of months the same fucking bullshit pops up again and again and no-one seems to be learning from it. Minorities still portrayed as sub-human and/or in thrall to white protagonists. Minorities still barbarians, whites civilized saviours. Minority cultures evil, whites' teh greatest thing since sliced bread. Minority cultures distorted and mangled so as to heighten the "exotic" quotient of the story, carefully set out medieval halls and forests populated with white magical beings ... And of course, when there is a minority hero, if he/she isn't over sexual and/or barbaric, she/he is practically a white person in blackface. Thinks white, acts white and must be separated from those barbaric uncivilized other. I am so fucking sick and tired of this shit that I could fucking puke. And you know what is completely spirit draining? The fact that in the next couple months, the same motherfucking shit will happen all over a-fucking-gain. A post-racial society my ass! I am just at the point where my patience for this shit is gone.
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