best response I've yet seen to the Elizabeth Moon contraversy

[tylik]

http://blog.carlbrandon.org/2010/10/regarding-elizabeth-moon-controversy.html

(I find the response to be of general interest)

Comments

[benndragon]

You know, every time the Carl Brandon Society has put up a response to the latest Fandom!Fail, it has been some of the best commentary on that Fail that I've seen. They are made of awesome.

[emily_shore]

As I've said elsewhere, I think that the first point has a bit of American exceptionalism going on. I mean, is it OK to go on about how immigrants ought to assimilate if you are French? Or an Icelander?

[tylik]

What, in your view, makes it exceptionalist?

I read it as talking about the case of the United States, without reference to other situations. I think I might have been likely to do the same thing, as I don't feel like I'm well enough informed to speak about immigration issues in other countries. (I don't think the heritage* of the US, with explicit reference towards immigrants, is either trivial or identical with situations in other countries. This hardly makes it a shining city on the hill.)

* I'm using term broadly.

[emily_shore]

To me, the implication of saying that "America's [implied, unusual or unique] lack of a unified cultural heritage means that no one should be asked to assimilate" is that countries that can demonstrate (or have a mythology of) a unified cultural heritage *are* justified in forcing immigrants to fit that mould. Maybe that's not what the writers intended but it sounds that way.

If they had meant to take a non-exceptionalist position, they could have said that all/many countries have multiple subcultures (which is true as far as it goes), and therefore made a general statement about the politics of immigration and assimilation.

Talking about US immigration issues in isolation and without reference to other countries seems... unproductive to me somehow.

[netmouse]

Talking about US immigration issues in isolation and without reference to other countries seems... unproductive to me somehow.

Are you familiar with the context of the commentary? Ms. Moon's essay was specifically discussing the U.S. situation and citizenship; it does not seem unproductive to me for a response to take the same scope as the original essay.