Quick note

[cnoocy]

I've been keeping track of the discussion that is being called RaceFail09 on rydra_wong's lj. I don't have anything really deep to say about it, because I am very much reading and learning. But I do want to say this:

Publicizing any personal details, including their legal name, about someone who has requested that those details stay private is horrendously offensive and not to be easily forgiven. And you cannot make the argument that your target justified your behavior by saying bad things about your real name in public if you chose to participate in a discussion under your real name. You both brought a persona to the table, and each of you made the choice what data to link to that persona.

Comments

[lemurtanis.livejournal.com]

I spent about 15 minutes reading through things linked from the above LJ and from other links from other friends.

I guess the continuing discussions are just too animosity-filled to really make me want to learn more.

[naomikritzer]

There are some truly fabulous and enlightening posts that unfortunately have been largely overwhelmed by the volume and heat of some of the others.

deepad's posts are particularly worth reading (and there aren't a ton of them) and nojojojo also wrote some really excellent observations (like, "hey, you know what? People of Color worry about this stuff, too!") There are others, but those are a few that come to mind really fast.

[lemurtanis.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I might poke around those once I shake off all the negativity from my last foray.

[probably-lost.livejournal.com]

Aagh! My eyes!

Naomi, your recommended posts are indeed worthwhile, and if I had been possessed of the sense to stop there, I would have been better off for it. But oh, the animosity.

I also had somehow failed to realize that since the last time I was paying attention, an Author Who Shall Not Be Named has gone completely and utterly insane.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

I'm letting Tablesaw's LJ tell me everything I need to know.

[tablesaw]

Well I'm definitely not telling folks everything I think they should know; I'm just telling the parts that I think I can communicate.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

That's as much as I need to know. Er, I mean...in all seriousness, it's not that I don't care about racism; I just don't care as much about sf fandom as I used to (and while I love sf, I never cared about its fandom that much to start with). Following this would take far, far more energy than I have to spare these days.

[tablesaw]

I'll rephrase. There's a lot of really thoughtful and helpful posts that have come out of this discussion that stand on their own even for people who aren't invested in the specifics of the community. And I haven't been making a particular effor to link to those posts (or to evaluate other linkspams other than rydra_wong's comprehensive collection) in my journal. I may reconsider that.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

I started to look at Rydra's collection of links and found it far too overwhelming. What I'd love is a neutral summary, perhaps with a handful of links, preferably just with a few major quotes pulled out. Alas, Wikipedia has no article about this (and that may be just as well, but then again, tracking current events is otherwise one of the things that Wikipedia tends to be good for).