Abstraction

[badgerbag]

http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/010999.html

What? Oh, that? No of course I'm not talking about that. It's just totally abstract.

Comments

[ithiliana.livejournal.com]

So, the hordes of trolls on LJ are now upgraded to....being a cargo cult?

Wow. WOW. Does she have no historical knowledge of the context of colonialism in which that terminology arose???

[ithiliana.livejournal.com]

Did she ever answer your perfectly polite and with real name attached questions, btw?

[ladyjax.livejournal.com]

I really, really don't like those folks one bit.

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

One of the things that article decries is the idea that everyone is an expert. So if this is a problem, why is it OK for white people to dismiss the pointing out of racism by the people who have greater expertise in experiencing it? Oh yeah, because whiteness is expertise in analysis, with the emphasis on the first 2 syllables.

[delux-vivens.livejournal.com]

You know, this thread in your lj is the umpteenth time recently I've seen someone trying to 'engage' with poc but who seems to somehow not be able to develop the trust and history of interactions that would that possible.

Jumping into conversations of white people who *do* have enough credibility with outspoken people of color seems to be a popular tactic.

[skywardprodigal.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link! I find it as appealing (and persuasive) as Bloom's intro to the 10th anniversary Best of the Best American Poetry anthology. And Bloom had better cred. And still he was full of fail in that.

I'd seen pnh's post and rolled my eyes accordingly. Even though the posturing you link to is rooted in Sci-fi, I think Jill Nelson's recent piece on race and media representation applies (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jill-nelson/the-audacity-of-whiteness_b_163295.html).

Also, you may find some of Kit Stolen (http://community.livejournal.com/steamfashion/374499.html)'s thoughts on cargo cults (and sci-fi's most popular bastard-of-the-minute) relevant.

Via links

[la-vie-noire.livejournal.com]

Blah blah blah. I like people who are enamored of their own voices. You know, "OF COURSE IT'S A THEORY, I'M WHITE, I HAVE NEVER ACTUALLY LIVED IT."

Or, this could be a distorted case of "my theory is more important than your experience."

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

"...“stuff I just now realized I think.” [like:] Certainty is strength, doubt is weakness[.] Admitting alternatives is undermining one’s own belief. Changing one’s mind means one has wasted the time spent holding the prior opinion."

[etc.]

You know, he could've just tried apologizing.

Tongue only halfway in cheek.

Oh, look -- I am shocked, SHOCKED I say

[bellatrys.livejournal.com]

to find akirlu making tedious, tendentious, intellectually-dishonest logic-chopping arguments in your blog.

Or, actually, not so much. At all.

[al-zorra.livejournal.com]

It seems that people who are startled / shocked at finding themselves held up as examples of colorist dominionist discourse are people who don't really have friends who aren't like themselves. I mean dealing with parents dying, children going to hell -- or not, good stuff, bad stuff, loaning money, asking for a loan, cooking together, dancing together.

They know and associate with POC in very many ways, but all of them are in the context of domination -- teacher-student, editor-writer, boss-entry employee, conferences - conventions at which the white population well outnumbers the number of poc.

Or something.

If a person who happens to be white spends a lot of time with, um friends, i.e. people you hang out with when it isn't work, who aren't white also, people who proclaim non-color bias can look rather different.

This is ugly and I wish it hadn't happened. But I'm not surprised.

I believe from the bottom of my soul if you as a white person, don't really have deep personal relationships -- of equality, of even -- um, totally in charge of the deal -- you will have a problem that you haven't looked at.

Which is the Really Big Elephant in the U.S.A.'s living room anyway. I probably didn't make any sense in this context, but it is as best I could describe the social AND professional worlds within which my household makes life's music.

This, again, is not to claim specialness -- just a great joy and sense of fortune.

And, sometimes incredible anger, as the bullshyte that went down all over the place about Ms. Franklin's Inaugural Hat.

Love, C.

[moondancerdrake.livejournal.com]

*sigh* these people make my brain hurt. I made the mistake of starting to read the comments and the urge to reach through the cyberspace and spack the shit outta some folks was hard to contain. I think I need to got hug my kids.

So many people (mostly white writers) I'd always respected have said such horrible and hateful things over the past few weeks... I wonder what might come out of my mouth at Wiscon this year if these folks are still missing the clue train by then. I guess we'll find out in May.