My post is specifically directed towards the people who, after reading about the race wank, stated that they were never going to include POC in their work because they didn't want to deal with the potential fallout. You'll notice I included a particular quote expressing that exact sentiment at the beginning of my post. The rest of my post is intended as a response to that quote.
To clarify, I was addressing the specific fear the commenters in question were expressing: the fear of inciting mass criticism. I was trying to show in my post how unreasonable and paranoid that fear was. My basic message was, "terrible consequences happened because people did something terrible; there's no reason for you to fear terrible consequences unless you also plan on doing something terrible."
Of course everyone experiences anxiety over how their work will be received. There's always the danger that we might inadvertently offend someone. However, not everyone makes the unequivocal decision to avoid certain subject matter because they are convinced wank will rain down upon them. That is an extreme reaction.
Frankly, I don't think the original commenters were genuinely afraid of being attacked with racist accusations at all. I think they were just looking for an excuse not to be inclusive in their creative works. And that is why I wrote this post. I was calling them out. I was saying "either you're being ridiculously paranoid, or you're just making excuses for being racist, and in that case, shame on you."
I suppose I thought that was clear within the context of my post -- I put forth a set of purposefully hyperbolic examples (you'll recall I use the word epic at least twice) in a snarky tone to make an angry and embittered point. Because I am in fact angry and bitter over this issue.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2010-06-24 01:36 am (UTC)To clarify, I was addressing the specific fear the commenters in question were expressing: the fear of inciting mass criticism. I was trying to show in my post how unreasonable and paranoid that fear was. My basic message was, "terrible consequences happened because people did something terrible; there's no reason for you to fear terrible consequences unless you also plan on doing something terrible."
Of course everyone experiences anxiety over how their work will be received. There's always the danger that we might inadvertently offend someone. However, not everyone makes the unequivocal decision to avoid certain subject matter because they are convinced wank will rain down upon them. That is an extreme reaction.
Frankly, I don't think the original commenters were genuinely afraid of being attacked with racist accusations at all. I think they were just looking for an excuse not to be inclusive in their creative works. And that is why I wrote this post. I was calling them out. I was saying "either you're being ridiculously paranoid, or you're just making excuses for being racist, and in that case, shame on you."
I suppose I thought that was clear within the context of my post -- I put forth a set of purposefully hyperbolic examples (you'll recall I use the word epic at least twice) in a snarky tone to make an angry and embittered point. Because I am in fact angry and bitter over this issue.