the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias as it fell was 'Oh no, not again'

[nzraya]

I see we are once again in RaceFail territory thanks to some writer in SPN fandom (is it just me or does that fandom generate more drama than the rest of TV fandom put together

Comments

[nzraya]

Yeah, I tried to watch SPN once and I was like "This is....not for me." I have friends who are fans, however.

I think I might have seen the NYer story you mention. I tend to skip over that kind of stuff in the NYer because it is those moments when the overwhelming whiteness and middle-class smugness of the magazine becomes completely intolerable (as opposed to just vaguely annoying). That and anytime they publish an article by Adam Gopnik or Patricia Marx.

Anyway, I didn't read the story (though I did read bossymarmalade's post) and on some level don't really care about it -- it is just another iteration of the same old thing that happens again and again and, as you say, happens because fandom has all the same problems as society at large. I care about the issue itself, but don't have any connection to the specific iterations of it, if that makes sense. I mean, I think this author got it very wrong, and hope she learns from her mistake, but it would be totally gratuitous for me to go over there and pile on, or write an indignant post

[nzraya]

Yes, then I have failed to make myself clear. My point isn't that you should think "Oh, a Haitian might read this, so I should try not to say anything offensive." My point is that screwing up a story in this way usually goes hand in hand with simply not realizing (even when people know it cognitively) that those "others" out there are not off in Otherland but here with us (whoever "us" might be), reading the same Internet, eating at the same restaurants, working in the same careers, being friends with the same people. They are not objects but subjects. Roman Polanski's is, clearly, a world in which men are subjects and women are objects. A lot of people who talk a good game about despising racism and/or wanting to help the less fortunate reveal, in moments like this, that they nonetheless see those less fortunate as objects; objects of pity, perhaps, or of altruism, but still not subjects in their own right. People who make gay jokes at the Thanksgiving table may or may not be homophobes but what is clear is that it simply

Oh, look. One of my hot buttons.

[lovefromgirl]

Actually, I think the bolded statement makes a lot of sense if free choice is maintained, and from where I sit, I think a lot of folks get pushed into choices that weren't

Re: Oh, look. One of my hot buttons.

[nzraya]

Oh, don't get me wrong, I think way too MANY people go to college and it's definitely not for everyone, nor is it the obvious route to a fulfilling job that people think it is. Most of the top ten fastest-growing jobs do not, as you say, require a college degree: but nor are they grunt work; they're things like vet techs and plumbers and yes, hairdressers, occupations that require competence and skill and pride in one's work, but NOT a fancy college degree. My beef with the Wal-mart program is that it's the worst of BOTH worlds: it totally feeds into the "everyone must have a BA" frenzy (currently being stoked, shortsightedly in my opinion, by Obama) while at the same time providing nothing that actually resembles a BA (and $24,000 is not exactly small change). This kind of thing is bad for people AND bad for higher education; it dilutes the meaning and content of a BA degree to where there is even less point in getting one that there is now (and makes a mockery of the years of study people undertake to become qualified to work in

And now that I am done being overemotional

[lovefromgirl]

But I think it's deeply disingenuous for a Yale-educated person to opine about what the masses should and shouldn't be encouraged to learn; and I think it's deeply disingenuous for Wal-Mart to pretend it's offering its workers "a college education" when it isn't.Which is the real crux of the matter, yes

Re: And now that I am done being overemotional

[nzraya]

Heh - no, many of them would not make it. (The best would -- I don't mean to imply that all my students are entitled snots, some of them are wonderful, and many of the best are like you -- struggled with motivation the first time around, dropped out, then came back with a renewed sense of purpose and a genuine love of learning

[peak_in_darien]

[nzraya]

HG3 forever!

[amazonziti]

Here via . Just wanted to let you know that I'm linking to you here. If you'd prefer I not link just let me know.

[nzraya]

Good lord, how on earth did I end up on fandomnews's radar? They must have an all-seeing eye. In any case, of course it's fine to link. Thank you for letting me know.

[spiletta42]

My reaction as I read your post pretty much went along these lines:

What's the big deal, at least Walmart is trying -- OMG it's not free? What the frelling frak? Hulksmash! (For the record, I pretty much loathe Walmart, but I did manage to check my bias for almost a whole paragraph.)

As for the wittiness of the Atlantic writer, well, it's pretty much what I expect from the Atlantic -- sneering snobbery. That's the reason I stopped reading it decades ago.