b_writes: It turns out, in the end, I do have something to say about RaceFail 2009. - None of us have to be old, if we don't want to be. We can be aged, or decrepit, or ancient. We can live in care facilities or our own homes; we can be losing our toes to diabetes or our speech to aphasia. But we can still be open. We can still be willing to learn.//You can be aged. But you choose to be old. -
jenlev: Thinking about how human beings treat each other. - Sometimes there are no words to articulate how disappointing the human race is. Although, there are moments rich with generosity of spirit. The internet writes that conundrum of human behavior very large on most days. I can't stop hoping for people to be better and kinder. But somehow I'm not surprised when they aren't -
sartorias: Derail Statement - My own paradigm has defined itself thus: accept people on their own terms. I thought it was good. But underneath the heart-wrenching anger and name calling of the recent trouble there is this sense that another paradigm change is happening.[...]So I'm glad that during the past few days that various communities are forming to address the issue, to enlighten and share, to bash down walls I guess I still have not been able to see. I'm joining these communities to listen and learn, thinking, show me the new paradigm. Though I am old, I can still learn. -
papersky: RaceFail - I think this is a lot of what has been the problem with RaceFail, that there are two "families" of fandom coming together and the allowances and expectations and knowledge don't carry over. You say different things when you're in a room full of people who know you. -
florence_craye: ignoring racefail and why that is a bad idea for white fans* - I know there are many people in fandom (and outside of it, for that matter) that don't want to have to think about politics or real-life issues or difficult notions like equality beyond their use as bywords or catchphrases ("diversity, "tolerance", etc.). Because once you think about racism, sexism, privilege and so forth- you have a new responsibility to analyze and critique everything for the rest of your life.//That's a difficult task to take on, and one which we don't necessarily want to do. I know. I've been there and I still am fighting against that desire. I like to feel comfortable, too! -
sheafrotherdon: One white person to another - Fifteen minutes a day is very little to ask. Three months of incremental catch-up to stand in solidarity with the people who are hurt, day after day, by a thousand papercuts and more than one punch to the face, by racial prejudice and racism and the white privilege you and I possess, is a tiny thing to ask.//Don't say you don't have time. -
comice: Fail Fest '09 - Mostly, I wish to address some of the women science fiction writers who have behaved so atrociously throughout this. And what I have to say is simple://How dare you forget that Alice Norton and Alice Bradley Shepherd were forced to adopt the pseudonyms of Andre Norton and James Tiptree, Jr. to be heard, and to be safe.//How dare you forget that your position of status in the sf writing community was so recently earned. -
ladyjax: Getting down to it - I say this because I know people who've done work like this, including a lot of white women, and it's tearing me apart to hear yet one more person bemoan how "hard" it is to talk about race without people being big meanines.//So I'm going to ask a question and you can feel free to answer or not://Does dealing with race mean anything at all to your survival? -
wordweaverlynn: Shame and RaceFail - You can be a decent human being with the best of intentions, and still hurt someone else inadvertently.//It took me a long time to learn this. I was so overloaded with shame and guilt and failure over things I didn't have any responsibility for that there was no room for me to admit my errors in the things I could have done something about. -
queenofhell: I am not the moderator - She is not the moderator; I am not the moderator; the various commentors who observe that "both sides are behaving badly" as though yelling "Get the fuck off my foot" is the same thing as deliberately stepping on somebody with a spike heel--they are not the moderators either. If there's anything that I'd like to accomplish with this post, i's just that -
upstart_crow: Briefly. - And no, white people, I'm not saying you can't disagree in good faith. Just, you know, educate yourselves on the issues and on how white privilege is operating in your life before you do. And if someone says your argument is dismissive, well, ask yourselves why they said that. And if maybe you didn't just say something that came across as uneducated, racist or downright assholish. -
hermetic: more from the RaceFail, with direct comments to Elizabeth Bear - That's a point I want to particularly make, because you mentioned the privilege that people of color have in conversations with white people on race. It is not a privilege. It's the simple fact that in general, the oppressed are on the objective ethical high ground when discussing the experience of their oppression with those who benefit from their oppression. -
nenena: On Apologies, Meaningful or Otherwise - We all know that "I'm sorry that you were offended" is a fauxpology. Or at least, anyone with a lick of common sense already understands that much.//" I'm sorry that I hurt you" is much, much better. By all counts.//But just saying "I'm sorry that I hurt you" and leaving it at that... isn't enough. -
nojojojo: Operating in hostile territory. - By allowing myself to be silenced to any degree, I'm letting people down and probably losing some folks' respect. I sure as hell am losing some respect for myself. But the way I see it, I've got two choices: hate myself a little but keep writing and publishing, or respect myself and torpedo my career.//I am not safe right now. I will not be for a long time, if ever. So my choice is clear. -
naomikritzer: RaceFail 09 - It needs to be okay, in the SF community, to raise the issue of racism and racist tropes. The fact that racism still exists in our society, and that we are a reflection of society, and that things are not going to get better if critics are silenced -- this is all pretty damn obvious. -
ultranos_fic: Thoughts on privacy and being anonymous on the internet - Yes, I'm vaguely worried about potential employers finding out about my activities online, but in the sense that I hate the idea of that invasion of privacy. I'm a huge proponent of privacy online.[...]To me, privacy and anonymity online are sacrosanct. Employers should not get to act as Big Brother and invade personal lives. What you do on your own time is your own business, as long as it isn't illegal. -
kateelliott: Pseudonymity - out of my own personal experience, I feel strongly that there can be good reasons for seeking pseudonymity on the internet. Additionally, I admit I have come to prefer the step-back, the sense that I have a public persona and a private one. Is this cowardly of me? I dunno; maybe; so what? As an individual, I've always had a public persona and a part of me held aside -
mystickeeper: If anyone calls me "honey" in a comment again, this shit is gonna get real. - Nobody said it's easy. Nobody said "We will never misinterpret things you say or criticize your word choice." Because we will! We totally will. And it will suck, and you will feel horrible. But then, if you're really listening, you will never make that same mistake again. -
thingswithwings: on privilege and the burden of proof - in the last few days I've been thinking about one particular aspect of this failboat, and it's the manner in which POC and anti-racists and white allies are always, always called upon to bear the burden of proof. -
holzman: For the record, and regarding Fandom - Maybe the takeaway from Race Fail 2009 is that there's a bunch of fen that fandom is failing, and maybe we should be doing better about that? We write and dream of futures wherein we build better cultures than we have today. Those don't just happen, we build them. -
impertinence: preaching to the choir, i'm sure. - I've seen a few people call "oppression Olympics" when someone poked their head in to say, "hey, you are a woman but you're still white" that is not how it works. not playing oppression Olympics fucking ought to mean not attempting to compete for degrees of oppression - not trying to talk about who's been hurt the most by society. it should not mean ignoring inequality and pretending all oppressed peoples have the same experiences and thus are free to use those experiences to oppress and silence other people. -
pepper_field: Not wanting to be part of the silence. - What EB started, and others like her have done by running with it, is polarising opinion--and I don't think it's because what they're doing is an extreme example of racism, but precisely because it's so ordinary, so established and unexamined. It makes some of us, white and comfortably liberal, stop and think--"Well, if EB can end up saying that, acting like that, when she seemed to be starting from where I am..." -
cimness: the moral value of shunning (yes, it's racefail some more) - The point of shunning and shaming is not only to spread the word and warn potential future victims of the transgressor. That's one motivation, but another one is to set a boundary - a way for the culture and the community to draw a line and say THIS IS NOT OKAY. -
ethrosdemon: oh dear lord, please call your agent before you blog, woman! - My personal belief is that when someone expresses personal feelings about an issue, it's just best to withdraw and accept that. Am I always charitable in my head or in private to my friends[...]HELL NO. However, what I've learned in my long years on this earth is that just because *I* don't personally understand someone else's issues doesn't make those issues wrong, nonexistent, or stupid. -
izzybelbooks: RaceFail 2009 - For a very long time, fandom was a safe space for me. When I found fandom, I thought I had finally found a place where people accepted me in all my geeky glory. But as I grew up and figured out who I am, as I became a stronger me, a more Jewish me, a me who got in touch with being a Latina, I began to feel less and less welcome, and less and less safe. -
sinboy: That shit just ain't right - POC don't have privilege in silencing me. Nor does Bear. *I* have the privilege of just ignoring this, and giving in to the real bully, which is *my* fear of getting points taken off of my hoard of hard won social connections.//But you know what? I can't shut up and feel good about myself. I can't silence myself, and I'm ashamed that I thought of doing it. -
helsmeta: Actually, it's because of the fish. - I may not be the only one who goes on vacation or who takes a breather from the Interwebs over the next few weeks.//But that's our call. And the fact that matociquala even thought it was her call just blows my mind. -
jhkim: The Ethics of Debate - So I've been having some arguments lately, and I've been following on the sidelines others which have prompted me to think more on ethics and etiquette.//I call this ethics of debate rather then etiquette. I tend not to rant or insult people much, but I appreciate those and use them on occasion. For me, these principles apply even if I'm in the process of calling someone a dickhead. -
miriam_heddy: Where is your home? - This thing we're all calling "RaceFail 09" dates back to early January of this year. [...]//And yet I continue to see people, just now posting and commenting, who write://I have no idea what this is all about.//I don't know what this is about, and I can't judge this whole race thing, but outing a fan is clearly wrong//I didn't know this was happening, since I'm not on LJ//I didn't know this was happening, since I'm only on LJ... -
minnow1212: Two recommended entries, one by wistfulj - And then there was this section, a relatively short mention in a litany of interactions between white women and women of color:// > "A white academic welcomes the appearance of a collection by non-Black women of Color. 'It allows me to deal with racism without dealing with the harshness of Black women,' she says to me."> //And this phrase struck home, because while it's easy enough for me to see the fail in the white woman's comment, I find myself falling into such similar traps--looking for things that allow me to deal with racism without dealing with the anger of people of color. -
shewhohashope: Cultural Appropriation 101 - For the people who still don't know what the big deal is, or have been pulled so far into the soul-sucking vortex of internet pseudonymity and professional egos that they've forgotten that there was a deal: Cultural Appropriation 101. Hopefully, by the end of the course, you will comfortable with the basic arguments against appropriation of marginalised cultures by dominant cultures. -
kynn: Who is the real Elizabeth Bear? - Bear isn't the devil; she's not a klansman or anything. (Let's leave those comparisons for the looneys, eh?) She's not a saint either.//She's someone who obviously doesn't know how to talk about issues of race, but she thought she did, and she desperately, desperately wanted to do the right thing.//But white privilege is dangerous. -
yasaman: Because I Have to Say Something - Seeing the pro SFF community respond the way it has to critiques from fans of color and fans like me who have been misrepresented, underrepresented, ignored, and silenced in fiction and in the community has been astonishingly disillusioning and hurtful. It makes me feel unwelcome as a reader and a fan -
rozk: Sometimes things become very clear - By apologizing insincerely, Elizabeth Bear has poisoned discourse, whatever her good intentions.//In the end, her refusal to engage looks horribly patronizing, and patronizing someone with less power than yourself is always offensive.//And everything else in this poisonous mess derives from that single act of bad faith. -
kate_nepveu: Fighting the Derail: Some Possibilities - So, elsewhere on LJ, one proposal for fighting the derail [*] was setting up a fundraiser to send awesome fans of color to Wiscon. I started thinking about logistics of this, which are behind the cut, but one side-track of my thought was://Would a community be useful? I see a lot of good suggestions around for fighting the derail, but not really centrally pulled out. I can create oneâ”umm, actually, I seem to have created [info]fight_derailing -