I can't just stay in lurker-mode for this one.

[briarwood]

Sometimes I think we're over-sentistive about racism in fandom. I'm conscious that maybe I think so because I'm white, with all the attendant privilege, but still. Sometimes.

I could give a list of examples, but that's really not the point of this post.

This is.

By now, I'm sure most of my friends list has already seen it, and witchqueen's response and discussion here. If you haven't, go read. It's an incident in Harry Potter fandom, but this isn't about Harry Potter, it's about fandom. Adult fandom.

liviapenn has a collection of links and cold_poet links to more of the discussion here.

Sometimes I think we're over-sensitive about racism in fandom. This is not one of those times.

Like some of my friends, I didn't even know the word miscegenation. I had to look it up. And having done so, I had no trouble recognising it as a word I shouldn't be using. Like ever. That these people would not only use it when there are a number of non-offensive alternatives available, but that they would actually defend its use when the offensiveness of the term is pointed out to them...well, I'm lost for words.

I really thought fandom was better than this.

I hope someone reports them to lj abuse because this isn't just use of offensive language; it's hate speech.

Fandom is no place for that. We war with each other all the time. We meltdown over the silliest things. We "hate" each other for liking the wrong couple, or for not liking the right one.

But this. This isn't fandom. It's racial hatred.

Comments

[mab-browne.livejournal.com]

Okay, so I did know what 'miscegenation' meant before this issue, and well - ::boggles:: If people want to use such a loaded word in a casual way then they should batten down for the shitstorm.