tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4427538608110635294.post3205069445114309434..comments2023-08-09T03:21:13.354-05:00Comments on Letters from Gehenna: The World on a Slant: I'm Already Mourning ItDw3t-Hthrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11584245136407694660noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4427538608110635294.post-43823981396289562072009-04-25T11:56:00.000-05:002009-04-25T11:56:00.000-05:00"Someone posted a belief that Teh Future would be ...<I>"Someone posted a belief that Teh Future would be that mythical postracial society in which interbreeding had eliminated all racial differences, a theory that I find ... irritating and implausible."</I>I find this theory <I>irrelevant</I> - it has nothing whatsoever to do with the speculation on/exploration of what-ifs and consequent worldbuilding that are at the core of SF writing (except insofar as it may be a feature of <I>that person's</I> worldbuilding).<br /><br />If it's become common for things like that to be brought up as if they're relevant to others' worldbuilding (which is the impression I got initially, but on rereading I don't see what gave me the impression, so I could be barking up the wrong tree), that's the rot at the core that provides fertile ground for the *isms/*phobias to thrive. It limits imagination by discouraging people from speculating outside of the conventionalized mythos of What The Future Should Be, which is far too likely to include "free of uncomfortable ideas" - but SF <I>should</I> be a vehicle for examining ideas that the writer and hir audience find uncomfortable and challenging.<br /><br />(I'm feeling simultaneously like a starry-eyed naif clinging to ideals about what SF "should" be, and a grumpy old-schooler waving her cane and telling the punks to get off her lawn.)<br /><br />Yes, mourning time - "It's dead, Jim."<br /><br />SunflowerSunflowerPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15069913788437731669noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4427538608110635294.post-73831314928964435292009-04-24T18:42:00.000-05:002009-04-24T18:42:00.000-05:00That "brown" comment made my head explode. The on...That "brown" comment made my head explode. The only sane response is, "...Yes." Maybe not pens and ink <I>per se</I>, but lands and language.<br /><br />Oh, blah, I'm logged in as the wrong name and can't be bothered changing. But with rasfc's death and Geocities' impending demise I think I'm going to be slowly merging my personas anyway.<br /><br />ZeborahDeborah Fitchetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12058960370520958818noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4427538608110635294.post-6468721370558974742009-04-24T15:40:00.000-05:002009-04-24T15:40:00.000-05:00I saw that same thing you quoted about "browner pe...I saw that same thing you quoted about "browner people" and their lack of impact on the world's literature.<br /><br />The amount of cluelessness displayed there is beyond belief -- except it's there in black and white.<br /><br />And you know what the problem is? I want to leap in and argue with statements like that, but it doesn't do my depression any good, neither does if progress my writing in any way and, sadly, it just contributes to the noise in the newsgroup and bounces straight off the clueless jerk who posts such rubbish.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4427538608110635294.post-70194637041284368782009-04-24T15:33:00.000-05:002009-04-24T15:33:00.000-05:00I have a backstory in my space opera in which one ...I have a backstory in my space opera in which one of the planets was originally settled by the US military, in particular by the grunts. A lot of whom were, I mean are, dark skinned. <br /><br />This is a kind of problematic backstory for me because these people are pretty much the only ones in the whole bucket of populations that are actually pale-skinned, so I find myself with A Problem. <br /><br />In the end I decided that they got rid of the melanin in what was probably a self-hating bit of mental colonialism. (They didn't start out as liberals and sure as heck aren't now.) It's going to be hard to sell it to the readers, though, so I am waiting for inspiration to strike. <br /><br />I could just change their skin color of course, but I've spent so much time with a mental image of these guys that I find it very hard to do.Anna Feruglio Dal Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07231371371625331922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4427538608110635294.post-1172836526693481532009-04-24T02:51:00.000-05:002009-04-24T02:51:00.000-05:00Gods. I just cycled usenet in preparation for goi...Gods. I just cycled usenet in preparation for going to bed and saw this quoted text (the perpetrator of this charming bit of racist bullshit is in my killfile, but people keep <I>talking to him</I>):<br /><br />"That the browner people of the world don't have much of an impact on the world's literature reflects who writes good literature. Did the white male capitalist imperialist colonialists confiscate the pens and ink from darker colored people?"<br /><br />This is the environment I didn't post about Paradi in. Can anyone fucking blame me?Dw3t-Hthrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11584245136407694660noreply@blogger.com