Racefail 2.0
May. 11th, 2009 10:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nilchancePatricia Wrede writes the 13th Child, an Age of Sail novel: "This is an alternate version of our world which is full of magic, and where America (“Columbia”) was discovered empty of people but full of dangerous animals, many of them magical." Plz, white settlers, come and control those magical yet dangerous animals who walk on two legs.
Lois Bujold proceeds to step in it: "People who come down on the social-engineering side do tend to value a book by how well it serves some agenda outside of itself. I see that as a slippery slope, myself." Right. Damn those POCs with their social justice agenda. Why can't they leave the nice clueless white authors alone and stop holding them accountable for their own worldbuilding?
Gryphon's Egg points out the wise and obvious: The Empty America trope points to some rather troubling possibilities. It seems to be all about white people falling in love with the myths of US culture, with Exploration & Conquest of the Wild Lands, Manifest Destiny, and The Frontier, and refusing to deal with what that meant for the people who got here first. I learned in high school history (let alone the research that would go into this kind of novel) that Manifest Destiny was a problematic concept that first established American disregard for a) the environment and b) the native people in their way. It's entitlement in a pretty wrapper, a hunger that devours the world. Erasing the inconvenient people in your world doesn't erase the inherent problems, just magnifies them.
The problem here is not the insensitive mistake, necessarily, though it's troubling that this book got to the public without a few people telling Wrede that it's problematic. The problem is often the kneejerk defensive reaction to being told that your racism is showing. I'm from a racist background, I have internalized racism, I can be racist. It stings to be told that something I said or wrote is racist and hurtful, but I take a few breaths and look at it in perspective: my hurt feelings don't trump a lifetime of experiencing racism, of being buried in pebbles that get cast from every direction every single day. I get over it. You have to, if you're going to write things that other people read. If you can't deal with that, write for your hamster.
Lois Bujold proceeds to step in it: "People who come down on the social-engineering side do tend to value a book by how well it serves some agenda outside of itself. I see that as a slippery slope, myself." Right. Damn those POCs with their social justice agenda. Why can't they leave the nice clueless white authors alone and stop holding them accountable for their own worldbuilding?
Gryphon's Egg points out the wise and obvious: The Empty America trope points to some rather troubling possibilities. It seems to be all about white people falling in love with the myths of US culture, with Exploration & Conquest of the Wild Lands, Manifest Destiny, and The Frontier, and refusing to deal with what that meant for the people who got here first. I learned in high school history (let alone the research that would go into this kind of novel) that Manifest Destiny was a problematic concept that first established American disregard for a) the environment and b) the native people in their way. It's entitlement in a pretty wrapper, a hunger that devours the world. Erasing the inconvenient people in your world doesn't erase the inherent problems, just magnifies them.
The problem here is not the insensitive mistake, necessarily, though it's troubling that this book got to the public without a few people telling Wrede that it's problematic. The problem is often the kneejerk defensive reaction to being told that your racism is showing. I'm from a racist background, I have internalized racism, I can be racist. It stings to be told that something I said or wrote is racist and hurtful, but I take a few breaths and look at it in perspective: my hurt feelings don't trump a lifetime of experiencing racism, of being buried in pebbles that get cast from every direction every single day. I get over it. You have to, if you're going to write things that other people read. If you can't deal with that, write for your hamster.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-11 05:15 pm (UTC)This. And, having learned better, and having taught myself better, and having sought out better role models, it does surprise and hurt to have examples of that internalized racism pointed out. But even if I can't help my upbringing and the things inbred because of it, I can help what I do and I say *now*. And it's better to be grateful for the outside POV and for being given the chance to correct and move on. Anybody who thinks their education is ever finished is either stultified or dead.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-11 07:02 pm (UTC)Well said! Yes, exactly. We should all be responsible for our own behavior, and we owe it to each other to just LISTEN. Take the advice or don't, but at least hear it out.