silver

Link to misogyny and ignorance. Click with caution.

I made it halfway down the first page of comments and then gave up.


My reaction, helpfully summarized:
DEAR EVERYONE ON THE PLANET (minus those already armed with The Clues):

1. Words have meaning.

2. Words have two types of meanings: one is a dictionary (or scientific, or otherwise defined meaning). There is a second meaning, connotation. These are associations attached to words.

3. Generally connotations are the most important.

4. Pulling dictionary definitions when people are clearly talking about the connotations is neither helpful nor clever.

5. We are not separate from our history. Even if you think there's no misogyny in your world*, by using words that historically** carry misogynistic intent to describe someone you don't like, you are using the term in a way that is misogynistic. Even if you don't mean it. I'm sorry, this is the legacy we've been handed down with.

6. Live with the awareness that yes, while you wish you could totally throw around "whore" and "bitch" and all the rest without worrying about PC POLICE***, don't.

7. For the last time, the history is why words like "dick" do not garner such reactions. No, really. You're not pointing out anything that has not been brought up before in these conversations.

8. Please for the love of all that is holy stop telling anyone they're overreacting or oversensitive.

9. If you know nothing about this issue, I would advise your library or Google or another person who knows you well and this issue.

10. This applies wonderfully to just about any -ism you can think of; just change some of the words! 

Regards,
silverflight8

*OH MY GOD HAHAHAHAHA YOU MUST BE JOKING JUST GO AWAY
**They still do, by the way.
***Someone forgot to send me the uniform, obviously; I still don't have any weapons for these things...



tl;dr: *puts head on desk and thinks of happy thing*

I saw this post come up this morning. I thought: "OK, it's not horribly bad; it looks like the OP, after some comments, could see why this is offensive and maybe it'll be okay!" This is the text of the OP's post, in case it gets taken down.

( ... )

I gave up trying to read the twisting comments of the OP after awhile. But seeing saciel start to pull out the tone argument--again and again and AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN--I...I...I don't know. I remember zie from the last time fanficrants went and got into a huge racefail, but seeing so many people--half-a-dozen, at least--try to explain, again and again, PATIENTLY AND CALMLY (Oh my God, the irony) why zie was wrong, it didn't sink in. And so all I can repeat is OW OW OW.

ETA: There's actually quite a nice little summation by lil_utterance about why this post's comments are so very faily. Here.

I am on dreamwidth partially because of the sudden change of fanficrants to explicit adult content (and blocked off to 18+ only), and also partly because I'm starting to feel that LJ is becoming more and more...insensitive, perhaps? Reneging on their privacy policies, and not really responding.

I think the bulk of my posting will still be at my LJ account (silverflight8.livejournal.com), and this account will probably be just a place for me to access other communities. However, you'll know when LJ finally pushes me too far--my dreamwidth account will fill up with posts.

Thanks again to jalendavi_lady  for the invite codes.

Heh heh. Um.

While some people may not be exactly up on their history (I point you to a giggle-worthy fanficrants post, where the OP ran across someone writing a Tudor character texting on a cellphone [and it wasn't crackfic, apparently]) let me tell you, there are some people who are.

For instance, though 9/11 was nearly ten years ago,  jokes about it are in bad taste as far as most people are concerned. I don't think we have the necessary distance required to make a cartoon about Marie Antoinette losing her head amusing (and even now it's a little horrifying. Reign of Terror=do not want.)

Please, then, refrain from using your "Heil Grammar" icon with Hitler saluting on it. I don't care if it's in SPARKLY RAINBOW and it's supposed to be a light jab at the colloquialism "Grammar Nazi", WWII was not that long ago. My family was not persecuted for arbitrary reasons and weren't even in the same hemisphere (let's not talk about Japan for now), but even I can tell that stuff like that is pretty offensive.

You can laugh it off and say "Oh, it's just a 100x100 pixel picture for God's sake, stop whining and making it a big deal," except I have this little problem with it.

Are you honest to goodness comparing spelling and grammar to Nazi-era Germany? 


Thank you for your time, and hoping that you wisen up after that dogpile,
silverflight

OK. To those whining about ficwriters not doing research, please take a breath.

Exhale, then inhale again.

Then consider this: if you think you know something (that is unfortunately wrong) you're not going to go research it. Truly. If you think that loam is a gritty sort of sand, you're not going to look it up! You are under the (mistaken) impression you're right, so you just add the word in where silt might be better.

Some of these facts are not well known. Would someone outside of Canada (heck, Saskatchewan) know that "bunny hug" is sometimes used for "hoodie" or "sweatshirt"? I doubt it; I didn't know until I met someone from Saskatchewan who told me. Who would bother to research things like "the tea that one drinks in X city" unless it was a plot point? There are some points that just are so insignificant, you'd never think to research them at all.

Also, the internet is not only North America. The writers do not come exclusively from Europe. They are not one and all from Eurasia, from Africa, from South America, from anywhere. The internet reaches just about everywhere, and writers are everywhere. Therefore, the words that you use are sometimes (often) used differently elsewhere.

And lastly: Mistakes Are Not Made On Purpose To Spite You. Just because you're frustrated at being thrown out of a fic (irritating, yes, and maybe rant-worthy) doesn't mean that the author did it on purpose.

Keep breathing.




Note: all fake examples. I've never heard anyone mention bunny hugs on the internet, come to think of it...

I have slowly been making my way through Racefail 09, of last year. And it is disgusting that I find on fanficrants the same arguments, the same excuses and "I'M NOT RACIST STOP PICKING ON ME" attitudes that were hashed and rehashed last year brought up all over again.

Here is one statement that I found enlightening. "There ARE no races [swear] (at least that is our stance in europe, I know some us-americans heart and embrace races) so why should it matter what color I am?" I've taken out the swearword because this journal is not closed in any way, but that is otherwise the quote, word for word.

Biologically? Yes, there may not be a distinction between races. Maybe in physiology, there is no difference.

But this has absolutely no bearing on a discussion of racism, because all it does is tell people who are trying to speak up that their issues are worthless. You do not eradicate racism this way. Differences in humans may not exist scientifically, but they exist in my society, in your society. Stop trying to silence people.

It's not easy, nor is it painless to be called a racist. But maybe you ought to reflect before replying: "Am I coming off as racist? Did I mean what I say?" If what they said was untrue, move on. Don't go down in a flounce.

If you have the right to say blatantly racist statements (not the above, though it's coming close), then I have the right to say that you're being racist, and to STOP NOW. Free speech runs both ways.

I think it's the drama and the not infrequent cat-fights that erupt on fanficrants that makes me follow it. That site requires extremely clipped thoughts, or else you'll provoke someone into throwing down the gauntlet and all but challenging you to a duel. Look for the entries that have at least 100 comments added; that's where you'll find the real controversial things. And it's not always blatant over-generalizations, or wrong thoughts; sometimes the fight erupts over a single sentence.

Then again, it might just be because I wrote (write?) fanfiction, a long time ago; I have the sinking feeling that someday my fic will end up being the source of one of those rants.