Race--Fandom is not as safe as we wish

[gaudinight]

Fandom is racist and sexist and classist because society at large is. And very un-cool at times.  I think we get caught in this trap of thinking that fandom is cooler than it is. 
Because it's subversive in it's own way, because many participants are bright and articulate, because many participants are liberal and because it's a place that we can

Comments

[liviapenn]

I just noticed this post and-- thank you. Although I don't think I *always* remained unfailingly courteous in every single reply to every single comment, I did really try to do my best to maintain civility. (Other good posts on this issue that I liked were telesilla's and thecaelum's.)

Welcome to LJ, btw. Is your LJ name from "Gaudy Night" by Dorothy Sayers?

[gaudinight]

It was very important in that discussion in particular to keep a cool head, especially since there were so many distracting and imflammatory things being said in comments there, as well as elsewhere. I followed that conflict closely for a couple of days and found it very instructive

[liviapenn]

I think probably I was more lucky than anything else, because I happened to miss about the first 24 hours of *really* hostile/unproductive discussion, merely because I had a houseguest and wasn't online much at all for several days. Otherwise, God knows what kind of unproductive hostility I might have produced.

But by the time I got an opportunity to read and post, I'd had a while to think, and I think also, most of the people who might have otherwise flamed or been hostile had already got it out of their systems someplace else. :) So it was a matter of timing more than anything else. *G* And if it hadn't been me, I'm sure it would have been someone.

Re: Sayers... I actually have some LJ entries tagged with 'sayers,' and truepenny has some fascinating posts in her memories if you haven't seen them.