Moments of Permanence - A curious parallel

From: daf9.livejournal.com Date: March 21st, 2009 03:51 am (UTC) (Link)

It may have been a false assumption (about one person - or possibly two because I think some of the comments also referred to deepad's post about cultural appropriation) but I saw no evidence it was made on the basis of the race of the authors of either post.

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From: tevriel.livejournal.com Date: March 21st, 2009 06:48 am (UTC) (Link)

On the basis of what, then, other than their presumption in challenging the privileged position(s) of the people they were disagreeing with?

Their comments were literate, reasoned, and articulate. Whether academic privilege (which, by the way, is still rubbish; you're right if you can back up your coherent argument well, not if you have more degrees or professional success than the person you're arguing against) or white privilege, it was still unfounded. And since they went on to couch the discussion in racially oppressive terms, they were clearly speaking from a position of white privilege.

Assuming that a non-white person is going to be uneducated is an obvious racist stereotype; trying to claim it's otherwise is just a different way of trying to change the terms of the discussion. Derailing, as it's known. sf/F fandom is known for the bias towards highly educated participants; assuming that someone who is well-read in sf/F and critiquing a work of genre fiction in a thoughtful and articulate manner is uneducated and doesn't really know what they're talking about is something that wouldn't fly in ordinary discourse; saying it about a known non-white person, in the context of a discussion of race?

Racist stereotyping. Given the conventions of genre fandom and of online discourse (in which appealing to external credentials without references is largely frowned-upon) you will have difficulty convincing me otherwise, to be honest.

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From: daf9.livejournal.com Date: March 21st, 2009 07:19 am (UTC) I've already broken the three comment rule so this is my last- promise (Link)

Assuming that a non-white person is going to be uneducated is an obvious racist stereotype Assuming anyone is uneducated based on the color of their skin is an obvious racist sterotype but assuming someone is un- or under-educated based on the content of their writing- no, I don't think that's an obvious racist stereotype. You perceived AW's post as thoughtful, reasoned and articulate; apparently not everyone read it that way and those who didn't responded based on how they read it.

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From: lady-ganesh.livejournal.com Date: March 21st, 2009 04:47 pm (UTC) Re: I've already broken the three comment rule so this is my last- promise (Link)

but assuming someone is un- or under-educated based on the content of their writing- no, I don't think that's an obvious racist stereotype.

But there's nothing in the content of their writing that would assume an uneducated reader. Go back to the original post-- grammar's fine, spelling's fine; the only 'uneducated' aspect is 'their interpretation does not match mine.'

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