Let's talk Privilege

[tanndell]

Two rants in a month?  I'm on a roll.  But I believe that I genuinely have something to say about the recent outrage regarding a certain fic set in Haiti in the spn_j2_bigbang.  Again, it's something that's been intensely discussed and fantastic points about privilege, racism and ignorance have been highlighted, but as a FoC there are responses

Comments

[bjjones]

*applauds*

I think you put a good perspective on the whole thing. It's about learning how to present other cultures not avoiding them. If we only wrote what we know - fiction would pretty boring.

Cause I seriously doubt all those author's out there on the NY best seller list only wrote what they know and in their own culture.

[tanndell]

Thank you. I'm glad my ramble made sense. There are so many fics that I have problems with, but you know what, I'm reading about two white men. Let's not forget that. I don't think trying to broaden the horizon is a bad thing. I just don't think that creating magical black people, or joking about Colombian kids picking coffee beans is the way to go about it.

[ficwriter1966]

That's beautifully said.

We try. We fail. We learn. And we try again.

[tanndell]

Yes... Oh my god...Yes. That's exactly it. And refusing to do it is not the answer. Apologizing profusely if you get it wrong, and not making the same mistakes is.

[lion]

All I can say in response to this is that, well, you've given me an awful lot to think about. I can see that my long-held opinions about time-sensitivity and the inaccessibility of other cultures are, well, wrong. I really appreciate what you've written here and also, for coming back to me about it. I hope to comment again when I've digested this post further, but I just wanted to say an initial 'thank you very much' because you've opened my eyes. You're not obligated to do that and, well, it's very much appreciated.

[tanndell]

You're welcome, and I hope I didn't come off sounding too aggressive. I just find it that in fandom, we argue both cultural erasure and cultural appropriation, and the debates around this fic were beginning to veer alarmingly towards the former. I look forward to hearing what you have to say after thinking about it a bit.

[spiletta42]

Thank you for this, particularly point #2. Certain screaming about cultural appropriation over the last few months has just added to my already problematic paranoia over posting fic (my issue, and not anyone's problem but mine), and what you said here makes sense, as does yesterday's post by muccamukk on DW.

I just wish fandom didn't need such disturbing catalysts to have productive dialogs.

[tanndell]

Thanks for pointing me to muccamukk's post and thanks for commenting. I don't think there's anything being called out for cultural appropriation. But putting a gag order on another author, or yourself for writing about another culture is ridiculous. Hope my little ramble helped.
Unfortunately... productive dialog only comes out of disturbing catalusts.. both in fandom and in RL. But it's better than not happening at all.

[smidee]

I came here from niennah's journal. Thanks for this perspective on things.

I hope you don't mind if I link to this in my journal?

[tanndell]

Hey you're welcome and thanks for commenting. Please feel free to link. I'd be very flattered.