I do not appreciate being part of a "teaching moment"...

[roseembolism]

I was surprised to see that RaceFail 09 was still going on, and saddened if not surprised to see that the conflict had escalated in the way that fannish conflicts do, to the point of the point of legal and other threats, and even the outing of an a LJer's real name out of revenge.  More and more overtly racist comments and responding anger, and all that.  Not surprising at all, really when fans and authors are involved.

But I was more than a little annoyed to find out that Elizabeth Bear didn't actually agree with the critics of her writing, but  was doing a little teaching experiment to show how to deal with people of color when they complain about their portrayal in one's stories.  And oh gosh, she's totally saddened by how things blew up from her oh-so-generous attempt to be inclusive.

I've lost my sympathy for Ms. Bear in all this.  It's a bit like walking into a domestic argument, and you've been nodding your head at what one person says, yeah, she seems reasonable, it's sad how it all exploded this way...and then finding out you've been played. 

I agree with the poster who said this is no longer RaceFail 09, but more like Race Clusterfuck Katamari 09.

Comments

[mithriltabby]

I don’t get that impression from her post.

[roseembolism.livejournal.com]

A big part of my annoyance with this whole thing is that her whole thing was that she agreed with the critique of the book, and that this was the proper thing to do. And now she did a 180 degree turnaround to saying it's unfair and shallow. Which is a mirror of one of the comments that REALLY set things off, from pro writers saying that it was all because the critic wasn't "correctly" reading the novel, that takes special education....

Honestly, it's difficult to explain to anyone who hasn't been involved. But tempers are high, and Bear's implication that she wasn't being sincere and what looked like trolling for sympathy, set a lot of people off. Including me.

A lot of people aren't giving her the benefit of the doubt. As for me...after her latest post, I just don't know. But I am glad that I don't go to SF cons.

[mithriltabby]

*shrug* I haven’t been following the kerfuffle. To me, it looks like she wanted to try to navigate the minefield of race issues in our country and move things one more tiny increment toward a better state of affairs, and she put a foot wrong. Boom. The first thing to do when someone steps on a mine is: don’t set off more mines. It looks like she knows she made a mistake and is attempting to learn from it; are there better outcomes than that from this kind of situation?

I’ll be surprised if there’s even a panel on this at BayCon.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Umm, what's "RaceFail 09" for those of us on the outside?

[mithriltabby]

I missed it too, but there’s a summary at FeministSF.

[roseembolism.livejournal.com]

There's also a quick summary in a comment from white_serpent. Of course this leaves out the fun crap that will Shetterly and co. have been doing.

[palecur.livejournal.com]

It's a discussion about cultural appropriation and representation of non-whites in science fiction that quickly turned into a pogrom of writers who, without any malice or bigotry, dared to either:

(a) not write about people of color (prima facie evidence of racism)

or

(b) write about people of color (prima facie evidence of racism)

The entire thing was frankly sickening.

[fintach.livejournal.com]

You know, I hadn't looked into it at all until today, and I only scratched the surface, but I suspect there is a great deal of truth in your summation, especially the last line.

I know it was making me sick and I'm positive I didn't see the worst of it.

[racerxmachina.livejournal.com]

I hid under the bed.

[ghilledhu.livejournal.com]

*rolls eyes*

Oh please. That's as bad as all the idiots online who stir things up and then claim to be doing a "sociology study". It's pretty much always just a desperate attempt at butt-covering.

And while the katamari image is entertaining, katamaris are much more charming than this mess.

That's why...

[seawasp]

I have avoided being involved. I don't agree with the extremists on either side and don't want to HEAR any of it for the most part. I write stories. They mostly involve either what I know, or what I invent. I'm not trying to be "inclusive", "depict the Other", or anything else. I'm writing stories that I would like to read. That's it.

Re: That's why...

[roseembolism.livejournal.com]

I think one of the most salient comparisons I've heard today is with the old usenet flame wars. And I think that's also why the answer to the question I've heard:"Why aren't more professionals getting involved". They look at this more as a "Gee Livejournal and the fans and writers are screwy", than an actual race issue.

A bit later I am going to write a bit on what racial/cultural awareness may mean for my completely imaginary world of my WiP. But for now, I'm actually kind of happy I don't have fans. Dealing too much with fandom either makes you mean or insane.

[rfmcdpei.livejournal.com]

I'm not touching this thing at all. It's ... well.