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shadowkatHave been debating writing anything on RaceFail - which still sounds a heck of a lot like a bad reality tv series to me. It's not by the way, in case you have no clue what I'm talking about. Although up until about Thursday or Friday, I thought it was. Mostly because people on my flist were vaguely stating things like: "Still watching the insanity that is RaceFail". Watching = tv, in my head, not internet. So I was actually trying to envision it. They race? But they fail? I should only be so lucky. But, no, it's actually a horrible and somewhat insane blog kerfuffle. Not the first I've seen nor I'm certain the last, but it may be by far the worst - since this one actually resulted in invasions of privacy, outright threats and harrassment. If you want to read more about it, I'm sure you can find the links somewhere.
I'm not really qualified to discuss it - because I'm not really part of the community in which it sprung. Also I'm white.
Live Journal unlike Facebook, Blogger, and other social networking sites - provides the user with the ability to hide completely behind a pseudonyme or alias. I know, because I do it, as do the vast majority of users. Some people will give you their first name, but most of us prefer not to. Let's face it the internet can be a spooky place, and you want to be a little careful how much information you put out there. Also...at least in my case, my full legal name is actually more popular than my alias. Too many other people already have it or have used it. Good luck finding me.
Also LJ unlike those other sites is centered around a vast sci-fi/fantasy community of fans, writers, and editors of various ages, ethnicities, genders, and cultures from around the world. Many of which use live journal as a means to promote their writing and as a social network. Part of the reason I decided to join lj - was to interact a little with fellow sci-fantasy and cult fans, find writers in the field, and tv shows/movies - because I can't really find them in my daily life and daily associations. I'm not as obsessed or into the genre as many people on lj are, nor do I want to be. Am a bit of a dabbler - with no interest in specializing in any one arena. So, I don't tend to interact with the hardcore sci-fantasy fans and writers very much, when I do? I get blasted for my lack of expertise in the field. They are a prickly bunch, but then most people are.
At the core of the kerfuffle - near as I can figure, have not read all the links (seriously who has the time?) - is the fact that minority writers, specifically persons of color (POC) are not well-represented within the sci-fantasy community or welcomed. That's true. There may be POC's in many sci-fantasy books but these books are largely written by whites and as result misrepresent the POC, often putting them in a supporting role or depicting them in a less than favorable manner, possibly even an offensive one that the white writer, being white, may or may not be completely unaware of. The problem is not that whites are writing books about POCs or that have POCs in their books, so much as it is that there are a limited number of POC writers being published, so we only really get one perspective and that perspective is slanted towards a white pov and is unfavorable from a POC perspective. If we had an equal number of POC writers/publishers as we did white writers/publishers this would not be an issue. Also racism like most things is caused by ignorance, and a lack of reliable information. Sure we are currently in the information age, with more information than we know what to do with - but unfortunately about 90% of this information is unreliable. And unregulated - due to the internet, which reminds me more and more of the wild wild west. In other words - you can write whatever you want and shrug off the consequences. But what we write, as I've learned much to my own chagrin and deep embarrassment, does have serious consequences. We can hurt people deeply with our words and need to take responsibility for them.
I have to admit, one of the problems I've always had with the science fiction, fantasy, and western genres is that they tend to be, shall we say, a bit too white? Not only white, but chauvinistic, sexist, and racist. The old Tarzan novels and the Martian Chronicles - were highly racist. And I've tried reading other old school pulp sci-fi. It's hard to find many non-white writers in the field. Or for, a while at least, many female writers. By find - I don't mean on Amazon but in bookstores, such as Barnes and Noble, The Strand, Book Court, etc - where I tend to see the same names over and over again. You have to really hunt for the buggers.
But Sci-Fi isn't alone in this regard. It wasn't until Oprah began championing black and minority authors in her book club - that they actually began to hit the New York Times Best-seller list. And it was not until relatively recently that black romance novelists or "urban" fiction hit the shelves. Same is true with tv shows and movies. There was a time and it was not that long ago - in which the only black characters we saw were in books like Gone With the Wind.
How does one combat racism? Or homophobia? Or prejudice? The same way you combat ignorance with information. But, and this is a big but, which I learned myself rather recently, the hard way, you have to be careful how you relay that information. Attacking people does not change their minds. Calling someone homophobic, doesn't make them any less homophobic. Any more than calling someone a bigot - stops them from being a bigot. What you have to do is provide them with a different perspective. And it is hard to do.
The frustrating thing about a lack of POC writers - is that we only get one perspective, the white one, the majority. I wish sometimes, for example, that the director of Slumdog Millionaire had been someone from India, from Mumbai - because I'm curious to know how that individual would have directed that film. That is not to say, I'm not happy to see Danny Boyle's take on it. Just that I'm curious to know what someone who had actually lived in those slums and in that culture had to say. Maybe I need to read the book or watch more Bollywood films?
So how do you combat it? What do you do? You try to read more books written by minorities or persons of color. You search them out, and if you can't find them ask for them at your book store or library. Take what you read on the internet, in a book, in a newspaper with a hefty grain of salt. Pick up a history book by a minority writer - there are several out there, ask a reference librarian for recommendations. Discuss what you've read. Write reviews and recommendations. Share your thoughts. And if you are writer, and deign or decide to write a character who just happens to be POC, try to base them on someone you actually know, or try to be sensitive about it, if you can't - that is okay too, you have a right to write what is inside you, we all do, but if you receive criticism regarding it - realize that is important as well - it tells you if you got it right. I received some excellent advice recently - in writing, it is best that we not love our creations too much, and when they are sent out into the great unknown - allow them to be critiqued and torn apart a bit - for that is how we learn and become better writers and better people. Sure it is painful, but that's part of the process I think, if it weren't painful -it wouldn't mean much.
And if you see someone making a racist comment or saying something that is offensive to you? Gently point it out. Don't attack them. Don't defriend them. Don't yell. And don't assume that they know it is racist. Don't assume that they are aware of it. And don't assume that you are right in how you interpreted it. Don't assume at all. Most of the mistakes I've made are because I've assumed. I think, we all assume we know more than we do. Ask for clarification. Sometimes honey gets you a lot further than vinegar. People want to be good, they want to help others, they make mistakes. And racism, prejudice isn't something we are born with, it's not innate, it is something we are taught, over time. It can be changed. It is changing. We've come a long way. We just have to keep on going.
I'm not really qualified to discuss it - because I'm not really part of the community in which it sprung. Also I'm white.
Live Journal unlike Facebook, Blogger, and other social networking sites - provides the user with the ability to hide completely behind a pseudonyme or alias. I know, because I do it, as do the vast majority of users. Some people will give you their first name, but most of us prefer not to. Let's face it the internet can be a spooky place, and you want to be a little careful how much information you put out there. Also...at least in my case, my full legal name is actually more popular than my alias. Too many other people already have it or have used it. Good luck finding me.
Also LJ unlike those other sites is centered around a vast sci-fi/fantasy community of fans, writers, and editors of various ages, ethnicities, genders, and cultures from around the world. Many of which use live journal as a means to promote their writing and as a social network. Part of the reason I decided to join lj - was to interact a little with fellow sci-fantasy and cult fans, find writers in the field, and tv shows/movies - because I can't really find them in my daily life and daily associations. I'm not as obsessed or into the genre as many people on lj are, nor do I want to be. Am a bit of a dabbler - with no interest in specializing in any one arena. So, I don't tend to interact with the hardcore sci-fantasy fans and writers very much, when I do? I get blasted for my lack of expertise in the field. They are a prickly bunch, but then most people are.
At the core of the kerfuffle - near as I can figure, have not read all the links (seriously who has the time?) - is the fact that minority writers, specifically persons of color (POC) are not well-represented within the sci-fantasy community or welcomed. That's true. There may be POC's in many sci-fantasy books but these books are largely written by whites and as result misrepresent the POC, often putting them in a supporting role or depicting them in a less than favorable manner, possibly even an offensive one that the white writer, being white, may or may not be completely unaware of. The problem is not that whites are writing books about POCs or that have POCs in their books, so much as it is that there are a limited number of POC writers being published, so we only really get one perspective and that perspective is slanted towards a white pov and is unfavorable from a POC perspective. If we had an equal number of POC writers/publishers as we did white writers/publishers this would not be an issue. Also racism like most things is caused by ignorance, and a lack of reliable information. Sure we are currently in the information age, with more information than we know what to do with - but unfortunately about 90% of this information is unreliable. And unregulated - due to the internet, which reminds me more and more of the wild wild west. In other words - you can write whatever you want and shrug off the consequences. But what we write, as I've learned much to my own chagrin and deep embarrassment, does have serious consequences. We can hurt people deeply with our words and need to take responsibility for them.
I have to admit, one of the problems I've always had with the science fiction, fantasy, and western genres is that they tend to be, shall we say, a bit too white? Not only white, but chauvinistic, sexist, and racist. The old Tarzan novels and the Martian Chronicles - were highly racist. And I've tried reading other old school pulp sci-fi. It's hard to find many non-white writers in the field. Or for, a while at least, many female writers. By find - I don't mean on Amazon but in bookstores, such as Barnes and Noble, The Strand, Book Court, etc - where I tend to see the same names over and over again. You have to really hunt for the buggers.
But Sci-Fi isn't alone in this regard. It wasn't until Oprah began championing black and minority authors in her book club - that they actually began to hit the New York Times Best-seller list. And it was not until relatively recently that black romance novelists or "urban" fiction hit the shelves. Same is true with tv shows and movies. There was a time and it was not that long ago - in which the only black characters we saw were in books like Gone With the Wind.
How does one combat racism? Or homophobia? Or prejudice? The same way you combat ignorance with information. But, and this is a big but, which I learned myself rather recently, the hard way, you have to be careful how you relay that information. Attacking people does not change their minds. Calling someone homophobic, doesn't make them any less homophobic. Any more than calling someone a bigot - stops them from being a bigot. What you have to do is provide them with a different perspective. And it is hard to do.
The frustrating thing about a lack of POC writers - is that we only get one perspective, the white one, the majority. I wish sometimes, for example, that the director of Slumdog Millionaire had been someone from India, from Mumbai - because I'm curious to know how that individual would have directed that film. That is not to say, I'm not happy to see Danny Boyle's take on it. Just that I'm curious to know what someone who had actually lived in those slums and in that culture had to say. Maybe I need to read the book or watch more Bollywood films?
So how do you combat it? What do you do? You try to read more books written by minorities or persons of color. You search them out, and if you can't find them ask for them at your book store or library. Take what you read on the internet, in a book, in a newspaper with a hefty grain of salt. Pick up a history book by a minority writer - there are several out there, ask a reference librarian for recommendations. Discuss what you've read. Write reviews and recommendations. Share your thoughts. And if you are writer, and deign or decide to write a character who just happens to be POC, try to base them on someone you actually know, or try to be sensitive about it, if you can't - that is okay too, you have a right to write what is inside you, we all do, but if you receive criticism regarding it - realize that is important as well - it tells you if you got it right. I received some excellent advice recently - in writing, it is best that we not love our creations too much, and when they are sent out into the great unknown - allow them to be critiqued and torn apart a bit - for that is how we learn and become better writers and better people. Sure it is painful, but that's part of the process I think, if it weren't painful -it wouldn't mean much.
And if you see someone making a racist comment or saying something that is offensive to you? Gently point it out. Don't attack them. Don't defriend them. Don't yell. And don't assume that they know it is racist. Don't assume that they are aware of it. And don't assume that you are right in how you interpreted it. Don't assume at all. Most of the mistakes I've made are because I've assumed. I think, we all assume we know more than we do. Ask for clarification. Sometimes honey gets you a lot further than vinegar. People want to be good, they want to help others, they make mistakes. And racism, prejudice isn't something we are born with, it's not innate, it is something we are taught, over time. It can be changed. It is changing. We've come a long way. We just have to keep on going.
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no subject
Date: 2009-03-11 05:06 pm (UTC)Have seen a few independent films here and there, but nothing memorable outside of No More Tears Sister - which isn't really about India so much as Sri Lanka and native Ceylon. And read a few books. But most of my knowledge comes from a decidedly British and American or Western culural perspective, outside of people who've posted on the culture on the internet and friends, who happen to be Indian, Pakistanian, and Tamil/Sri Lankan. Saw the RAJ Quartet on PBS, and A Passage to India - both depicting British occupation in the 19th century and part of the 20th.
It is a problem. I think Slumdog did have people involved with the film that came from the slums - which is why it is so popular in the slums of Mumbai.
The child actors did, and I think the guy who composed it rose up from the slums, as did the Casting Director.
But I could be wrong about that. The information I've read is contradictory regarding the latter. I know that the film is highly controversial. Wouldn't call it sanitized, or if it is, then...I shudder to think about the actual conditions. The film depicts graphic violence against children as just one example.
But I know little about it.
Ironic, considering there are more people in India than the US. It has a bigger population. I do know there is rigorous caste system in India (which has been compared to the British class system but is not at all the same.) I think it was in place before the British occupation, and the Brits in some respects used it to their advantage and made it much worse.
I don't understand the Indian caste system enough to write about it - but I think it may have something to do with the attitudes we see in Slumdog and the current attitude in Mumbai? Not calling it a justification so much as an explanation?
no subject
Date: 2009-03-11 05:57 pm (UTC)Danny Boyle, an Irishman who totally understands how much the British are still hated in India because of the old Colonial days, wanted to get it right so he went into the slums of Mumbai. He did more than research, he really brought a lot more truth to the screen than most Indians are comfortable with (but of course that truth is what made the film so special).
And yeah, the caste system is an off shoot of ancient Vedic (Sanskrit) texts which became the basis for Hinduism ... it is tied into reincarnation and the spiritual life of every Hindu... after the British left Gandhi tried to get rid of it, but it is too intertwined in the religion. I'm not sure it is really gone now, I think it is just hidden more carefully.