Well, I'm an atheist, and I still think you're an asshole.

[apocalypsos]

Via a number of people on ye olde friends list:

Are you Jewish? That may be why you're angry.

... so that happened.

(What IS it with Big Bangs this year? Is every one going to feature somebody posting a tone-deaf wank-heavy story? 'Cause, yeah, maybe we could pass on that from now on.)

*

-- Are they going to give Alex a verbal tongue bath every week? Because that'll get really tired really fast.

-- I like Robert, but he really needs to rein in the OMG SHOCKED faces.

-- Have I mentioned lately how much I love Kent? Big dorky flaily love. LOOK AT THAT IDIOT SWINGING HER AROUND THE STAGE. I DIG HIM. You know what he reminds me of? Remember when Dermot O'Leary was on NMTB, and he and Noel were talking about Jedward, and he said he'd say to them after being harshly judged, "Are you guys okay?" and they'd be all, "WE JUST MET THE SUGABABES!!! :D :D :D" and Dermot was like, "... yeah, they're fine." That is Kent in a nutshell.

-- I'm unsurprised Melinda has to dance, but I'll be sad if she has to go if only because I think she's the hottest girl. Yes, that is me being shallow.

-- I think Billy's personality is starting to bug me.

-- Ashley over Alexie? Really?

-- As someone said on the TWoP forums, it takes a lot to dance with Kathryn and have absolutely no chemistry whatsoever. Kathryn could have chemistry with a mailbox.

-- I am completely unsurprised that the bottom three are all girls. The girls this season kinda blow in comparison to the boys. They seem nondescript when you put them up against a group where the one with the least personality (Adechike, as far as I'm concerned) still has more personality than most of them.

-- Alexie? ALEXIE?! *headdesk*

*

This is the trailer for the CGI Smurfs movie.

NO. STOP THAT. BAD HOLLYWOOD.

*hits everyone involved on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper*

Comments

[agent-mimi.livejournal.com]

Holy cats, that wank just gave me a headache. They actually did the "you must be Jewish or have some other personal problem that's making you upset" thing. Unbelievable.

[spyderqueen.livejournal.com]

having just read this, I hate both people involved in this. Someone wrote an AU. Having a gigantic fucking fit over "OMG you made him catholic", in the POINT OF THE FUCKING AU, is remarkably stupid and overreacting.

However, the response is also reprehensible. Fuck both of them.


EDIT Corrected my quote marks because I'm an idiot.

[marag.livejournal.com]

::blinks:: You truly see absolutely nothing wrong in taking a real Jewish person and making them Catholic in a story?

I...I don't know quite how to respond to that. There's this whole minor matter of real Catholics through history persecuting Jews and stealing Jewish children and baptizing them and, y'know, stuff like that.

[writerrising.livejournal.com]

The authors replies do leave something(possibly a lot) to be desired, but at the same time, i feel like the wank that's going on lately is starting to fall into a territory that says, you're not allowed to write what you want if someone else doesn't like it.

All this "intent doesn't matter" stuff bugs me too. Intent does matter. It may not change the fact of what you did, or excuse it, but I think intent does matter. Those who don't have ill intent can learn and are often willing to.

[newredshoes]

...no.

That is so not the reason the OP or anyone else is upset.

The author wanted a priest kink fic. The person she used is, in real life, pretty super Jewish, as I understand it. His Jewishness was an inconvenience to her story, despite the fact that it's a huge part of his identity. That's called erasing. People have a long history of doing it, especially to Jews.

In short: not stupid or overreacting in the slightest.

[spyderqueen.livejournal.com]

For fuck's sake, it's FICTION.

[spyderqueen.livejournal.com]

Yes, THIS. This is why my roommate is cutting ties with all her fanfiction communities.

[newredshoes]

I don't think anyone is saying "you can't write this because somewhere out there someone might get offended."

I think what's going on is a push for people to be attentive and conscientious when they write, and to consider the implications of their content. I promise you, writing that takes the extra time to reflect real people is way more enjoyable. Life is too short for lazy writing -- and it is lazy, when someone decides that it's not worth their time to take facts into account.

[wrenlet.livejournal.com]

This isn't about stories that people "don't like," it's about stories that are actively hurtful to people.

And intent doesn't erase the hurt. "I didn't mean to," is a dodge and a cop-out, the thing to say is, "I'm sorry." Period.

[madripoor-rose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, fandom is thick with the fail this month.

As for that trailer....ow, my childhood! I collected those stupid plastic smurfs, and the puffy stickers...

[spyderqueen.livejournal.com]

It's not "erasing" it's a fucking ALTERNATE UNIVERSE. Is it my kink? No. Do I think there's better ways of handling it for a kink fic? Sure (see the above commenter about the history of raising jewish children catholic). But it's WHAT THE PERSON WANTED TO WRITE. BFD. There are still enough REAL problems in this world without focusing on this little shit.

[handyhunter.livejournal.com]

Anyone can write anything they want. But, by the same token, I can dislike and criticize what they write because I find it problematic.

As for intent, it's great that someone has the best of intentions and doesn't mean to be anti-Semitic or racist or harmful in other ways, but not intending harm is not the same as not actually causing harm. I recommend reading Intent! It's fucking magic!

Those who don't have ill intent can learn and are often willing to.

Then I wish they would, instead of being defensive (or more offensive) and faux!apologizing. Or bringing out the tone argument. Or other derailing tactics ("It's only fiction!", etc).

[newredshoes]

Can I ask why you're so threatened by the idea of not causing harm through stories? You seem genuinely frazzled by the idea that an author could do a lot of good by respecting her subjects and her audience, despite dismissing fiction as something not worth thinking about.

I would also like to state that probably 99% of the "real" problems in the world are related to someone learning to not think of someone else as important enough to frame truthfully. Your proposal that fiction is harmless has, in the "real" world, disproved itself over and over and over again.

[spyderqueen.livejournal.com]

Sure, it's a great idea of not causing harm through stories. It's also a better idea to not work up to the level of Personal Offense over what someone said over the internet of all places. And when you do, you just stir up unecessary drama that serves only to drive people from fandom. You're not changing the world, you're not a great champion of Human rights.

You know what most people do if they don't like or are upset with a story? They hit the back button and leave. It's that simple. Do I get annoyed because a character may have been feminized in a m/m slashfic? Or, to address more personally, when someone writes a fic like if bisexuals don't exist or just are people who can't make up their mind? Hell yes, I do. What do I do? I just quit reading that author.

[writerrising.livejournal.com]

Okay, so someone who genuinely means to put down a race or religion isn't worse? I'm sorry, I don't really think so. I didn't say they shouldn't stop the behavior, but I think a genuine part of an apology can be saying, I screwed up. I didn't mean to, but I did. Do words need to also be followed by actions for a sincere apology? Yes. But intent does matter. Because somebody with good intent will sincerely apologize. Somebody with ill intent will fake apologize.

[writerrising.livejournal.com]

I think some people are saying that. Even more aren't saying it directly, but that's what it comes down to. People becoming afraid to write even remotely close to a sensitive topic because it could become the next big wank.

You are right that there is a push for people to be more attentive and conscientious and I think that's a good thing, but some people just attack when wank starts versus something that could be helpful.

[newredshoes]

What's had a greater effect on your life, a book that inspired you or a speech given at the UN?

See, the thing is, there's a lot of fic I don't read. I know what I don't like and I spend my time on fic I do like. But when someone says that I am not worth the time it takes to write "rabbi" instead of "priest," when someone says my friend or a complete stranger is not worth the time to portray as a human being, when those things become patterns that people think are real, I feel I have a responsibility to say that shit isn't cool. The internet is an appropriate venue for these conversations, because, yeah, the words that appear on your screen? Those come from people.

I'm done. You may not agree with me, but I hope you'll consider why someone might bother speaking up about these things. I honestly have better things to do that looking for things to get offended about. It's not a matter of being sensitive. It's a matter of not liking being punched in the face.

[agent-mimi.livejournal.com]

That's a lot of words for "I don't think it's important so no one else is allowed to, either."

P.S. Your first comment about "overreacting" is pretty fucking funny in context.

[newredshoes]

"Some people" aren't always right. We can't control what anybody else does or thinks, especially in situations like this, so we might as well just focus on doing the best we can. That's my thinking.

[writerrising.livejournal.com]

I replied about how I feel about intent below.

[vampychick.livejournal.com]

I'm giving Robert a huge pass on the faces, because he's so much younger than he looks. I'm not sure if he's even twenty yet, and he looks like a hot twenty-five. Great when he's trying to get into bars and/or pick up girls/boys, problematic on reality television, because the sort of big expression that from, say, Kent, is considered kind of adorable comes off as young and annoying from Robert, and that's not fair. He's still a kid, too.

Plus, when he pulls the shocked face, his eyebrows get really pointy and it amuses me.

[writerrising.livejournal.com]

I'd also like to say that I'm not talking about this author in particular. I have no idea what her intent was or is. I'm just talking about how I feel about intent in general, in this case concerning writing.

[ethrosdemon.livejournal.com]

Uh, no. You are really expressing some ignorant beliefs here. Not all AU concepts are equal, and claiming so is an argument fallacy. Erasing someone's minority status to facilitate your pornography is not acceptable.

Please see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marrano

[spyderqueen.livejournal.com]

Sure, but it's less stressful than "I care, therefore everybody MUST."

[ethrosdemon.livejournal.com]

You have hit so many derailing rungs I think you might be a noob.

Look, bottom line: do I care if someone this ignorant leaves fandom because she was called out on writing something so offensive I wanted to pull her braids? No. Please take the next exit. You can go with her.