Wednesday, August 05, 2009

potatoes

Sometimes the most useful conversations about race, privilege and the cultural frame of whiteness comes from outside politics and the media. Mainstream media should take note.

Check out the discussion thread here: SF Signal: TOC: The Mammoth Book of Mindblowing SF edited by Mike Ashley

What I like about the thread is not just the fact that privileged assholery is severely out-numbered but that the level of argumentation is just so cogent (and funny as hell); there is also a sense that the community of writers participating in the discussion actually cares about the implications of white supremacy on their genre. The community cares about it - not just one or two voices in the wilderness, getting frustrated that no one is 'getting it.' That matters, you know?

(And here for further context and discussion of intersectionality.)

h/t to racismreview.com

4 comments:

Greg said...

You're right (of course), it's a great link. Is it just me, or does it seem like a lot of people's unspoken feelings and beliefs about race, gender, etc. are being hauled out into the light these days? Ugly, depressing, but encouraging too, I think.

Greg said...

Coming from a different angle, and totally off the point of your post: I have never read a blog comment thread before in which many (most?) of the commentors are authors. Interesting and very cool. Desperately hoping I didn't just insult all your readers....

Delia Christina said...

I know; that's what struck me too. They're invested in the conversation as authors in the genre and are conscious of the need for change.

It's not just women or POC who have the issue, it's the community who has the issue. (Clearly, the men who run the industry need to get clue...)

In other threads I've read for comics or movies, for instance, it's mostly a small minority of conscious consumers who bring up the issues, leaving one to wonder if people running, and profiting from, that industry care about the impact racism/sexism have on their work.

Delia Christina said...

As for the other question, yes.

Like it or not, the election was like an earthquake, creating fissures in a lot of folks. I think that most people of color knew it was going to be ugly but not this ugly. And it's only 7 months in!