Onward, upward, thruward

Following from a comment on Dude, What Were You Expecting?.
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If my part in your proposed conversation could be played by a sexy lamp with a post-it note stuck on, I'm not interested in having that conversation with you.

That is, if you are initiating a conversation with me based on my appearance, and your expectations for the conversation could still be fulfilled if I were replaced by a simple preprogrammed inanimate object, you're not actually looking to have a conversation with me as a person in my own right, and I'm not interested in indulging you.

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Note the - shall we say revealing - phrasing at play in the following NYT Breaking News Alert quote:

Taliban Signal Readiness for Peace Talks

[...]

It would be the first time that the antagonists in the Afghanistan war have undertaken peace negotiations to end a conflict that has encumbered the United States since 2001, when American forces entered the country to rout Al Qaeda.

stultiloquentia: Conference Panel Report: Clash Zones: Identities in (R)evolution

Thanks go to haddayr for passing it along.

The Invisible Backpack of Able-Bodied Privilege Checklist:

There are a couple of these already online, but they are written by able-bodied people, and seem to miss some major points of privilege. I decided to write my own.

[...]

2. If I am in the company of people that make me uncomfortable, I can easily choose to move elsewhere.

[...]

6. I am not called upon to speak as the token person for people of my mobility level

7. I can advocate for my children in their schools without my ability level being blamed for my children’s performance or behaviour.

[...]

19. I can choose to share my life with someone without it being seen as a disadvantage to them

[...]

If reading any of these items (there are twenty-one on the full list) makes you feel uncomfortable because you never though about it before, go read, reflect, and realize the degree of your privilege -- and print out or bookmark the list, because change doesn't happen overnight and it takes conscious work to make this stuff sink into your head when you don't have similar experiences of your own. It's not enough to want to understand or to want to help; this is an area where not being informed means that your efforts at being helpful can be distinctly unhelpful or even dangerous if you aren't taking cues from the person to whom you're trying to helpful. (And that's putting aside the hugely important of whether that person needs or wants help in the first place or whether you just made a whole bunch of assumptions of the type that make asses.)

If you're able-bodied, that list should make you uncomfortable because it brings home the implications of social and institutional failures re: accessibility. I hope it does make you want to do something, to reduce the structural violence, to ameliorate the harm. I'm not trying to throw water on that instinct, but it's really, really important that you start by listening and learning and paying attention to what's actually needed and effective ways to meet those needs.

Further resources on Dreamwidth (general disability/accessibility):

accessibility_win has posts by people with disabilities "giving tips about the day-to-day accessibility improvements people can do for each other"; accessibility_fail is a safe place for snark and venting, i.e. "Chronicling accessibility failures, one asshat at a time". The former is a good place to ask questions, the latter a good place to shut up and listen, really listen. Both are an education. I highly recommend subscribing to access_fandom even if you aren't fannishly inclined -- it's been around for years and tends toward posts with links to meta discussions where experienced, insightful people tackle accessibility issues big and small; fans as a whole tend to be passionate, committed people, and this particular subset of fandom takes accessibility very seriously (and creatively).

These are worth their own entry:

elf has put together a truly epic linkspam of posts discussing the 'EMoon' debacle. Go check it out, though bear in mind that there are no filters for content: a small percentage of the links may make your head explode.

fight_derailing's most recent post details a general summary, more links, and a call for submissions to Apex magazine by editor yuki_onna; the November issue will be an "entirely Arab/Muslim issue" in response.

It will be a small thing, in the grand scheme. It will not save the world. But it will exist, and perhaps in its own way can stand beside the recent ugliness in the SFF world as something bright and good.

ETA: more links added to deepad's Dirt I Can Lay Claim To.

And the other WisCon 35 GoH, Nisi Shawl, engages and puts it all into perspective. Definitely read this one, folks, especially if you don't have the time to read any others. And not just because of the vuvuzelas reference.

We encounter each other in words, words
spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed,
words to consider, reconsider.

When I sit in this place, here, and create words that you can read, there, without me, we are separated not just by physical distance but by the silencing of our bodies. You cannot read my clothing or my skin, my sweat or my hands, my hair or my posture. I cannot infuse my words with voice-tells. You must read it all just through these written words, and the places where I put them.

I cannot escape responsibility for knowing this, even as my own mistakes condition me to forgive others easily for not thinking before they write, even as I want to claim authority over how others interpret my words. This level of scrutiny on one's words is uncomfortable, because it is revealing; powerful, because it is rare; draining, because it demands reciprocal attention to the crafting of one's words.

None of us can be careful with our spoken or written words all the time, unless we silence ourselves most of the time. Yet we remember most vividly what we craft ourselves, or what we actively digest with others; ( it is natural, then, to seek out spaces where we can speak most easily without fear of harm to others or to ourselves. )

I didn't go out to work in a homeless shelter today, or paint a house, or do any physical action that could be contributed to me. My act of public service today consisted of wading back into a very heated discussion* occurring near my corner of the blogosphere about cultural appropriation and racism that grew out of certain published authors blogging about their thoughts on 'writing the other.'

Some of the commentators on both sides have gotten very nasty. Some people I really respect have said some pretty blatantly outrageous things, and are too busy defending themselves and jumping unasked to the defense of others who were willing to say, 'you're right, I'm sorry, you're right and I was wrong,' to wake up and hear themselves.

I believe these conversations are important to have. I believe that participating them in a patient, polite, open way without compromising one's essential values is vitally important, and that too many people refuse to talk at all, or agree to disagree too fast, on controversial issues. I believe that part of what went so wrong in the past eight years is that people put their heads down rather than stir the pot among their families, their friends, and their communities, local and national. Argument for the sake of argument, and controversy for the sake of controversy is generally obnoxious, but change won't come without a little civic engagement.

I think I've done my part today with words.** In the future, I'll try to make sure all my words are matched with actions, but I think the words are important too. As coffeeandink wisely said in one of the innumerable threads I've been reading, the stories we tell ourselves in our fiction are the stories we tell in our blogs, our newspapers, our public conversations. Words have power. They have the power to change how we see the world, or to reinforce our perspectives, and we in turn have the power to shape the world with which we interact.

Not being sensitized to the implications of how certain words and actions might fit into broader social trends is a privilege. Unless society changes, that privilege won't go away no matter what you personally do. But the privilege that comes with being a thoughtful human being who cares about whether her words might hurt other people is that you can learn how not to exercise the privileges that automatically come with being white or high caste or whatever other characteristics to which your privileges are tied.

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( The footnotes )

( Re: PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION )

Now, as to the increasingly ugly fallout of Prop 8:

Linkspam on Prop 8, courtesy of rydra_wong .

My personal thoughts [repost from my comment on darkrosetiger 's journal]:
The rush to pin the blame on a particular subset of voters [i.e. that a higher turnout of black voters in CA is somehow responsible for the passage of Prop 8] is not only divisive and discriminatory, but also distracts from the very real failures of the 'No on Prop 8' campaign.

I've also been feeling very frustrated with how Obama's election in general has been spun as 'only' possible because of the huge mess with the economy 'shifting' the country a 'few points' to the left. It obscures how effective his campaign was on the ground, and all the incredible work and organizing that went into each and every state by hundreds and hundreds of thousands of volunteers. What would the map have looked like with a more conventional Democratic candidate like Sen. Hilary Clinton?

The lesson I take from the passage of Prop 8 is how important community organizing and inter-group outreach is, and just how much work is still to be done to combat entrenched stereotypes and mistrust of 'other' in this country.

Thoughts?



EDIT: 11/6, 5:41: Holy cow. He was actually serious. That was fast.

Curious as to what Pres-elect Obama's doing right now to get ready for the transition? Got opinions on what should happen next? Mosey over to change.gov.