facetofcathy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
facetofcathy) wrote2010-06-15 02:04 pm
facetofcathy) wrote2010-06-15 02:04 pm
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How could they? How could anyone?
That's the question going around about That J2 Haiti Fic®. I'm taking a stab at answering it.
A few points first.
1. The following is my opinion, and I don't think any of this is revelatory or particularly hopeful. I think it needs to be said in plain language, and I'm not pulling any punches here. I don't think the author's feelings warrant much consideration at this time.
2. I haven't read all of the fic. I'm not apologizing for that, nor do I think that fact negates my right to say what follows. I read the opening scenes, skimmed sections, and I read half of the pull quotes collected by bossymarmalade here. I cannot be directly hurt by this story. I am in a position of privilege that allows me to read things this dreadful and not be harmed, and still I could not force myself to read all the pull quotes. I do not believe that this story is merely a mistake, a poor choice, a bad idea or even a series of bad ideas. It is offensive in concept and in execution.
3. I'm pretty much setting aside the author is dead idea for this post. I'm not claiming to be able to see inside this particular author's mind, but I am stating bluntly what I believe are the prerequisites for the existence of this story.
4. I absolutely believe that the author did not know this story was offensive. I absolutely believe that the author did not know they wrote racist depictions of Haitian people. I absolutely believe the artist did not realize that using pictures of Haitian people was offensive. I absolutely believe that the artist did not know that was a racist act. I just don't think any of that matters.
How? How could anyone?
First and primarily: in order for this story to exist, a person has to be able to sit down in front of the television, watch graphic depictions of horrific tragedy, destruction, pain and death, and react as if they are watching a drama unfold for their enjoyment. Like it's a story not very different from the fight against the apocalypse on the next channel over. Infotainment. Emoporn. Nothing more. There has to be a disconnect between the viewer and the scenes they view, a dulling or total dissolution of empathy for the people harmed in favour of the thrill of watching events unfold in real time. The viewer has to be self-centred. The most important element of the event for them is their emotional response to the images they see on the screen, not the event itself.
There's lots of parts, both within and without an individual, that make up the whole of that initial response to a natural disaster that claims thousands of lives and devastates a nation. White privilege certainly helps with the lowered empathy and the self-centred thing. CNN thrives on this response. Literally. Their profit depends on large numbers of viewers wanting to view their programming passively and uncritically and see Anderson Cooper as the focus, not the stories he covers. A cultural devaluation of critical thinking doesn't hurt either. Racism is key. Racist images, rhetoric and media that devalues and dehumanizes People of Colour is the crucial thing that lets you look at scenes of devastation and see, not people like you, but some other thing altogether.
Secondly and with roots similar to the primary prerequisite: a place like Haiti has to be unreal to the viewer before the specific images are ever seen. Racism, ethnocentrism, American imperialism, colonialism--centuries of all of those foundations of white privilege have made much of the world into a vague and ill-defined elsewhere that has no meaning or relevance to the viewer. In this way, Haiti becomes a stage of conveniently placed, or rearranged, rubble that has no history, no culture, no significance or reality outside the story.
Thirdly: poor People of Colour must be seen as noble but foolish, ignorant as well as stoic, simple and lesser but still mysteriously different. They are--well, them. Not anything at all like the white protagonists. They become thin stereotypes who speak some infantalised form of Creole and broken English, but not French. Never French. And the white characters who dance on their graves find their good white French unusable in this strange other world.
And finally: in order for that initial response to become part of a story, to become this story, it is necessary for there to be an overwhelming history in literature and film of stories told only from the white point of view. The people and location make up an exoticized background, plot device, thematic colouring, but are never the focus. Never the point. There are rarely stories about Haiti and Haitian heroes out where they can be consumed by the massses. Even when mass-media stories are not this egregiously formed, they still make up a part of the whole of the single story. The white story.
It's possible, if you can achieve a little dispassion about this (white privilege helps with that too), to see what a person gains by the above responses to this and similar events. There's a comfort in simplifying the human suffering from random earthquakes, systemic racism and inequalities, the culpability of the US and the rest of the wealthy, white-dominated nations into nothing more than a stage with players upon it. There's a relief in giving up the analysis and the history and the critical thinking. Giving up responsibility. Focusing on yourself. And I don't think I'm immune to any of the influences that led to this story. I don't think I have any purity of heart or mind or thought on this front.
This story doesn't actually deserve that bitter, tongue in cheek trademarked name I gave it up above, because it's not unique. It is not unique to J2 fandom, slash fandom, SPN fandom or to fandom in general. It is not an artifact just of fandom, but of the world at large. I don't think it's even a uniquely bad example of the genre it makes up a part of. I do think it is a foreseeable outcome of what happens when white people in wealthy nations choose to selfishly indulge their privilege and passively consume the reality of the rest of humanity as entertainment.
That's how I think they could. That's how I think anyone could.
There's lots of parts, both within and without an individual, that make up the whole of that initial response to a natural disaster that claims thousands of lives and devastates a nation. White privilege certainly helps with the lowered empathy and the self-centred thing. CNN thrives on this response. Literally. Their profit depends on large numbers of viewers wanting to view their programming passively and uncritically and see Anderson Cooper as the focus, not the stories he covers. A cultural devaluation of critical thinking doesn't hurt either. Racism is key. Racist images, rhetoric and media that devalues and dehumanizes People of Colour is the crucial thing that lets you look at scenes of devastation and see, not people like you, but some other thing altogether.
Secondly and with roots similar to the primary prerequisite: a place like Haiti has to be unreal to the viewer before the specific images are ever seen. Racism, ethnocentrism, American imperialism, colonialism--centuries of all of those foundations of white privilege have made much of the world into a vague and ill-defined elsewhere that has no meaning or relevance to the viewer. In this way, Haiti becomes a stage of conveniently placed, or rearranged, rubble that has no history, no culture, no significance or reality outside the story.
Thirdly: poor People of Colour must be seen as noble but foolish, ignorant as well as stoic, simple and lesser but still mysteriously different. They are--well, them. Not anything at all like the white protagonists. They become thin stereotypes who speak some infantalised form of Creole and broken English, but not French. Never French. And the white characters who dance on their graves find their good white French unusable in this strange other world.
And finally: in order for that initial response to become part of a story, to become this story, it is necessary for there to be an overwhelming history in literature and film of stories told only from the white point of view. The people and location make up an exoticized background, plot device, thematic colouring, but are never the focus. Never the point. There are rarely stories about Haiti and Haitian heroes out where they can be consumed by the massses. Even when mass-media stories are not this egregiously formed, they still make up a part of the whole of the single story. The white story.
It's possible, if you can achieve a little dispassion about this (white privilege helps with that too), to see what a person gains by the above responses to this and similar events. There's a comfort in simplifying the human suffering from random earthquakes, systemic racism and inequalities, the culpability of the US and the rest of the wealthy, white-dominated nations into nothing more than a stage with players upon it. There's a relief in giving up the analysis and the history and the critical thinking. Giving up responsibility. Focusing on yourself. And I don't think I'm immune to any of the influences that led to this story. I don't think I have any purity of heart or mind or thought on this front.
This story doesn't actually deserve that bitter, tongue in cheek trademarked name I gave it up above, because it's not unique. It is not unique to J2 fandom, slash fandom, SPN fandom or to fandom in general. It is not an artifact just of fandom, but of the world at large. I don't think it's even a uniquely bad example of the genre it makes up a part of. I do think it is a foreseeable outcome of what happens when white people in wealthy nations choose to selfishly indulge their privilege and passively consume the reality of the rest of humanity as entertainment.
That's how I think they could. That's how I think anyone could.
half_vulcan on Live journal I am not anon
(Anonymous) 2010-06-19 03:34 am (UTC)(link)My initial response was that the author was uninformed, probably young, and had NO clue what a faux pas she had made. I felt that after she had been informed and apologized the issue should have been laid to rest. At least with her. If people want to continue their discourse on race relations and American Imperialism that is fine but to crucify someone in the forum of public opinion like is being done with this girl was wrong to me. Some of the hateful things and threats being tossed around are just not right. Not for her having written a racially skewed story. And I know it may seem that everyone that comes from a position of privilege abuses it but that is not true either. My family is wealthy and I have never used being Black or being wealthy to hurt anyone.
After having read your comment and the comments of others, I was directed here from LJ. I have come to see that perhaps I am Black but I was raised "White". I have been in a position of entitlement for my whole life. Private schools, all white neighborhoods, best education money could provide and I did not feel anything like what you and many others did when I read that story except that the dialect was killing me.
I have a unique worldview because my mother is White and my father is Black. My parents married when interracial marriage was illegal in most states. I have been put out of "White Only" establishments with my White mother who was dragging around her half breed child.
I have never felt hatred for either race or any race or group of people. I don't know what that must feel like. I cannot even imagine it. It was my experience that I was treated better in the White community because Black people condemned me for having lighter skin and straight hair, speaking English differently and living in a different neighborhood. That is kind of racism and classicism at the same time.
So, knowing that I hope you can see why I felt sympathetic towards this author. I don't know how I feel now. It is difficult because in my head I can see both positions so clearly and I agree with both. Not all of both but a lot of both sides. I think if my discussion and exposure to this issue had started here I might have a stronger leaning but where I started reading things were off the chain ugly. It was a stoning, crucifixion and a witch hunt, a crusade if you will and I felt compelled to defend the author in that situation.
Here I have seen and been educated to why people feel the way they do and why perhaps their reaction was so violent. Perhaps I am cut off from feeling racism as much because of my financial situation or I am jaded and accepting of the status quo. Or perhaps I am just accustomed to racism so I don't even react when I see it. I don't know. I do know that I learned a lot here and I am grateful for that. I will have to continue to seek answers and ask myself why I feel or don't feel the way I do. Thank you for contributing to my knowledge base. feel free to PM me on live journal to respond.
Re: half_vulcan on Live journal I am not anon
I'm going to start by saying that my first response to your comment is a heightening of the discomfort I already felt to the reactions to this post. I may post at greater length about how I feel about the response, but in brief, I feel as though I as a white person am being listened to, am being heard, because of the dispassion that I bring to the issue that I mention in the post itself. It is easy for me to achieve that dispassion, because the things the story represents don't affect me personally very much. I'm not saying anything here that commentors in
Also, I would never think poorly of you or anyone for feeling compassion and empathy for another human being. The lack of that is rather what brought us here. I do think that prioritizing or emphasizing the author's feelings is another way that she is more real to many people that the people her story exploits. But it is not for me to tell you or anyone how to feel. And that's a two way street, yes?
In a thread somewhere, someone very concerned about the author's feelings raised the issue of fandom as a safe space for people who are shy or socially awkward, or even just young and naïve, I suppose, and
I'm not going to talk about the French/Creole/Jabber issue much, beyond saying that as a Canadian of a certain age, I have some familiarity with language politics and French language politics in particular, albeit outside of the context of Haiti.
I'm going to tell you a bit about me, partly because you shared your personal context, but I want to put what I am saying in a personal context too.
I am white, Canadian, in my mid-forties. I grew up in a very small town that was very nearly exclusively white, organized disdain of the majority was reserved for the Hungarian immigrants. I was raised in a tumultuous environment and ended up with a rather intense aversion to unfocused anger, but I have a temper of my own, and righteous rage has always tasted different to me. I have lived in everything from a fairly comfortable working-class consumerist paradise to where is the next meal coming from poverty.
That level of poverty in Canada is vast wealth to a Haitian whose house has collapsed and whose work place went down too, but I do recognize the classism in the story, the dismissal of people as people because of poverty as well as race and "foreignness". I recognize the classism in your statement here: My family is wealthy and I have never used being Black or being wealthy to hurt anyone. Even though I don't doubt for a moment its literal truth. I play in a fandom sandbox where the sentiment that, we're all college educated women, slides by with nothing but an occasional concern about the men left out of that we.
I also, as I said, recognize a very little bit, the taste of the righteous anger over what this story represents. Abstract, dispassionate conversations are all well and good, but people bleeding from a thousand cuts, the fresh ones from this story itself, are going to be angry and the characterization of their anger in metaphors which casts the author as a victim of systemic oppression is very troubling.
And I think I'll shut up now, because it's not my place to tell you how to feel or what to think about this issue.
Re: half_vulcan on Live journal I am not anon
White supremacy isn't just for white people. It's a jealous and demanding god if you will, and it takes its worshippers by stealth.
Creoles are languages. Haitian Creole is a language. I won't go into it with you now, to any detail, but you may wish to look at Bastard Tongues for a rough overview.
If you are not already familiar with the terms 'internalized racism' and micro-assaults, you may wish to look into them. They may be helpful. They may not.
Many people are the children of people for whom it was illegal to marry. Even so, they managed. You're probably not the first person whose family/ies' wealth cushioned them from dealing with racism. Money can help. Money can be very useful.
Long life and good health to you.
SP