Something I've noticed

[browngirl]

On sociopolitics as seen through fandom.

There's an idea that when someone says something offensive online, however unwittingly, a horde of angry unappeasable commenters immediately appear. The process I've seen is a little more complex, and I was reminded of it by the SFWA bulletin controversy, so I thought I'd make a note of my thoughts to organize them and poke at them.

A posts something [needlessly*] offensive, usually un-thought-out (such as evaluating editors and writers in terms of their physical attractiveness rather than their professional output simply because those editors and writers are women)

B and maybe C say to A "that was offensive"

A responds with a counterattack (such as saying, "Our Warrior Woman protesters and enemies of the adjective (who unlike Ms. Dworkin will not identify themselves) fall into the category of what Right Wing radio talkers call 'liberal fascists,' and a great more invective besides. ")

C, D, E, and much of the rest of the alphabet disagree at greater length and with increased vehemence

Sometimes X, Y, and/or Z show up to defend A because from their POV A is the underdog and/or they agree with A's offensive statement and/or they confuse being disagreed with with being censored and/or as "Devil's Advocates" and/or whatever other reason. [I honestly suspect it's usually for the lulz, but whatever.] The whole mess snowballs from there.

I used to spend a lot of time being A, as those who were my fellow Nosers can attest (and/or being B in such a way that I drew C etc's opprobrium down on myself), which started me off on thinking about this sequence. One of the things I've been trying to do in recent years is, when I've stumbled into being A, to respond to B with "I didn't know that/I misspoke; thank you for pointing that out to me/telling me this" and then contemplating what I've been told in private and/or under friendslock, which is a far calmer and less flame-producing manner of handling the issue than a public vitriolic counterattack (and lets me save those for when they're truly necessary.) As for the general progression, I started assembling this form of the concept during the infamous "J2 Haiti Fic" controversy in fanfic fandom, and the current SFWA debacle reminded me of that one and subsequent kerfuffles (not least the big RaceFail argument of 2009) so I thought I'd write this down. When I have a moment I need to rummage my journals and see if I tried to write it down before.

Comments

[chienne-folle.livejournal.com]

You're so much more patient/forgiving/understanding than I am. When A responds with a counterattack, I simply think, "Oh, you've proved yourself to be an asshole. Okay, I don't need to talk to you anymore, ever." And then I go away.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

You give me too much credit. *blushes* If it's just about me I just throw up my hands and back away from A, but if they attack a friend of mine I will stand up for my friend, and sometimes... sometimes there are statements that are so damn wrong and/or oft-agreed-with that if one hears them one needs to say one disagrees lest one's silence be taken as tacit agreement.