Comments | ink_space: Stupid internet arguments.

ink_space

Stupid internet arguments.

Feb 19, 2010 19:54

Okay, so this giant blog argument exploded because Amanda Palmer collaborated with another musician on a fun, if somewhat dark, fictional concept album about a pair of conjoined twin sisters who were also musicians ( Read more... )

Comments 13

Oh privilege. theshaggy February 20 2010, 01:36:07 UTC

Oh, I love how people of privilege like to exclaim that they are people of privilege, and so somehow that self-awareness lets them speak for the people who are without privilege. And cursed be the people who refuse to accept that they are ultimate deficient for said privilege!

Penn & Teller did an episode of Bullshit about "Sensitivity training" in offices, which showed that trying to make everyone sensitive and aware about how bias and prejudice hurts others (as a means of creating an equal playing field) only serves to make everyone more aware, and think about such things even more.

I don't know anything about Amanda Palmer's new project, nor much about her, but the idea of conjoined siamese twins recording an album is awesome.

she is anti-status quo. she is anti-making people feel bad.

Um, anyone see the inherent contradiction here?

Also, what's that about Amanda Palmer trying to not make people feel bad? She's the one who wrote the happy song about rape.

Eden, you're awesome in your responses. Go you.

Re: Oh privilege. raincollector February 20 2010, 02:05:18 UTC

Yes, basically everything here. I'm not surprised in the least by all this OMGZing, because everyone is offended by everything. I would be curious to hear the point of view of an actual pair of conjoined twins. Your point about the history of freak shows is correct.

Also, I wonder what any of these OMGZers thought when/if they read Geek Love.

Re: Oh privilege. theshaggy February 24 2010, 20:34:02 UTC

nly serves to make everyone more aware, and think about such things even more.

Clearly, thinking about this is bad. Only those victim to stuff like that should think about it, those actually bashing minorities shouldn't have to think about what they're doing, white people need their time for important things, not stupid POC who nobody gives a shit about really. I wouldn't want to always worry if I accidentally offend one. Not my fault, it was just a word anyway.

Re: Oh privilege. theshaggy February 24 2010, 20:41:47 UTC

I wasn't clear enough, Person of Anonymity.

What I meant by that was "then people end up treating everyone else so delicately because they're too busy worrying about offending everyone, and all you do is think about the differences instead of the similarities." The point was that trying to eliminate
the gap of unequal treatment by making a big deal about the differences does nothing but highlighting them. You'll be too busy thinking about how what you say or do affects a person with a disability rather than trying to get past it and live equitably.

Next time you want to hyperbolise, and put words in my mouth to misrepresent what I said, have the audacity to identify yourself with at the very least an online handle, you cowardly asshat.

Thread 5

laradwyer February 20 2010, 03:18:54 UTC

As a privileged non-fictional person, I feel it is my duty to speak up for those non-privileged, fictional persons who do not have a voice and are treated as mere PUPPETS by the privileged. It is an outrage. IT IS SLAVERY AND YOU ARE WORSE THAN HITLER.

lokabrenna February 20 2010, 08:43:11 UTC

Haw. I haven't really been keeping up with this whole thing - from the outside it looks pretty messy.

I was kinda shocked by how dismissive AFP sounded on twitter, since it didn't seem at all like her, and conjured up thoughts of "oh no, she's engaged to a Very Very Famous Person and it's finally started to warp her ego, this sucks" - maybe that's contributing to some people's reactions to this, I dunno. But sometimes it ain't easy to express tone in 140 characters, that's for sure.

ink_space February 20 2010, 14:05:50 UTC

Actually, she got flack for the dismissive statement and addressed it in her blog, too ( ... )

ink_space February 20 2010, 14:17:04 UTC

In any case, I'm done with it myself. I'm tiptoeing riiiight on out of there!

lokabrenna February 20 2010, 14:37:41 UTC

Yeah, I saw that much! I haven't been reading the millions of comments, is all.

My previous comment was poorly worded altogether re: my thoughts, actually, but I am too sleepy and lazy to try making sense of it right now... and in any case, it doesn't matter!

People love to get offended by things on the internet, though. I'm not surprised it all exploded.

Interesting quote from Amanda anonymous February 20 2010, 20:09:28 UTC

My friend Shawna did an interview with Amanda Palmer, and it's clear that the girl likes to make you think. When Shawna told Amanda that it was probably OK for her to make fun of date-rape because it happened to her, Amanda replied:

I actually don’t agree with that. Even though emotionally that makes sense, I found myself thinking, who can criticize me? I’ve been through these things, I’m allowed to joke about it. It’s like, well, no, really, anyone is allowed to joke about anything. It’s not like you get more cred because you’ve been through a specific trauma.

http://www.songfacts.com/blog/interviews/amanda_palmer/

Re: Interesting quote from Amanda ink_space February 20 2010, 22:16:25 UTC

Oh wow, yes, this! I couldn't agree more. That was the argument about "privilege" was driving me crazy. Why does the artist's background have to be inextricably linked to the piece? The piece should be able to stand on its own.

I could appreciate the "Oasis" song and video for what it was without knowing whether or not any of that was a true experience of Amanda's. It didn't matter even a little bit to me. The piece can stand on its own. I think the same thing goes with the E/E controversy. If Amanda were herself a conjoined twin no one would be giving her crap about the project. (And seriously, what odds are there that she or ANYONE would be? One in several million, easily.) I really don't see that that could be expected to be a first-hand experience for anyone to be allowed to write about it.

Re: Interesting quote from Amanda anonymous February 24 2010, 20:31:43 UTC

I agree. I wish people would stop asking for "credentials".

If an artist wants to use "nigger" in a piece, their skin color shouldn't matter. It sucks we live in a PC world where the rights of hypothetical niggers to not feel "offended" trumps the right of artists to make good art.

Same here. Sure she's no conjoined twin. So what? She should be able to use the stereotype. She's a good artist, she can handle it fine.