A little clean up from our last discussion on race.

[jlh]

Reminder to self to join deadbrowalking, bobthehaitian, and fanficofcolor after my HP hiatus.

First, great thanks to everyone who commented on my last post. You've given me hope and energy to keep posting about race as best I can, and see where it leads us. Particular thanks to those of you who are mixed race, because I feel more and more that being mixed is even it's own weird little bag, and also to all you PoC's who left messages of support.

Through the recent and excellent PoC SF Carnival #1, which I recommend to everyone, I found a link to a cartoon that is the story of my life: This Is Dedicated to That One Black Kid, by Keith Knight. Seriously, if one more person I don't know asks to touch my hair … never mind that it makes me sad to think that there ARE people saying that because they know me, they can't possibly be a racist. It makes me want to say, "I am not the black girl you're looking for."

In that last entry on race, many of you said that you hesitate in participating in race discussions because you feel that you don't have anything to say, don't know the right things to say, don't have enough knowledge, etc, and to you I replied, individually, that no one knows all the answers (certainly not me), that I will endeavor to make this LJ as safe a place as I can for the expression of ideas and questions though I am not your one-stop education on race, and that of course you have something to say, because you'd commented with something other than the expression of that thought.

I'm going to go one step further now: That post was the last time you can use that excuse. sixersfan's comment said this better than I could: your lack of experience and lack of knowledge about the subject is a benefit of the racist society we are discussing. If you are white and American, race effects your life. Go learn about it. It's your responsibility to seek it out, not mine to give you learning, but I can give you some links:

• Eric Foner's A Short History of Reconstruction.
  
• Patricia Nelson Limerick's The Legacy of Conquest, a groundbreaking history on how race worked in the American West.
  
• Solidarity Design's Suggested Reading (particularly the section on Becoming a Critical Ally)
  
• The Angry Black Woman's Required Reading.

Then start talking about it and see what happens. You won't be strung up at this LJ, though you might be asked to think about what you're saying in another way. But at least you won't still be naively relying on your privilege. This is how I approach heteronormativity—I reach out to my GLBT friends, sure, but I also feel that is up to me to educate myself, and that education is ongoing and never ending.

Simon Schama is doing a series called The Power of Art that's running on American public television now, and I was rewatching his piece on Picasso's Guernica this morning. I've wanted to have Schama's gap-toothed babies for a while now, but this struck a nerve with me this morning:

This, for me, is what all great art has to do: crash into our lazy routines. The routine that Guernica tears into is a sickness of our as well as Picasso's time—the habit of taking violent evil in our stride, the yawn at the massacre. Seen it before. Go away. Don't spoil the fun of art. But Guernica isn't with us for fun. It's there to rip away the scar tissue, to make us bleed, to rob us of our sleep. So, what can art do when the bombs start dropping? It can instruct us on the obligations of being human.

Now, I'm not saying that fanfiction is akin to Guernica, or should be. But something about that line, "Don't spoil the fun of art" reminded me of some responses to any conversation about race in fandom. "Don't spoil my fun with politics. Why should I have to think about this for my hobby?"

I've been thinking about this a lot, because lord knows I don't want to spoil anyone's fun, but Schama has given me an answer: Too Bad.

The only reason that being forced to think about race spoils your fun is because you are race privileged, and therefore you get to not have to think about race when you don't want to. I never get to not think about race. It's always there, in the back of my mind, and not because I'm fixated on it. It isn't even the first way I'd describe myself or my first filter on the world. It's there in the same way that most women can't forget they're women, or do to their peril.

So I'm insulted, really, that thinking about race would spoil your fun. Why would being respectful to others be a damper? Is there only fun in disrespect? Is there only fun in unthinkingly playing in the sandbox? Because that is what that phrase, "don't spoil our fun" implies, that thinking about race would wreck the good times.

Well, I'm here to lay down this gauntlet: We will stay stuck in the place we are in until all the race-privileged, wherever they are and however they are privileged, realize that race affects every single day of their life just as surely as it affects every day of my life, and until they lay down the privilege of not having to "think" about it. Until you are as aware of what you have and what you lack because of race, and until I can come to a clearer picture of what I have and what I lack because of race, we will never find a solution. Your wish to stick your head in the sand is not only holding us all back. It is, taking from Schama again, abdicating the obligations of being human.

I know that I remind everyone who knows me about race every time they see me. I know that I remind everyone who sees my entries and comments about race every time I use an icon of myself and show my skin color. I know that I certainly can remind everyone who reads this livejournal about race every time I talk about it, or just post a story about Dean. I don't get to forget, and neither should you.

Comments

[mahoni.livejournal.com]

Can I link to/quote from this at my LJ?

[mahoni.livejournal.com]

(I forgot to say, this is a great post. I want to comment more later. But I really have to get off the internets and do work instead of being a bad procrastinator, so cannot comment further now...)

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Absolutely! Just be sure to attribute where I'm quoting others. And, thanks, I'm glad you liked it!

[longtimegone]

Oh man, such a good post and at a good time. There is a huge race discussion going on in the Doctor Who fandom right, with plenty of "OMG UR HARSHING MY SQUEE" and "I had no idea this was racist" and plenty of foot in mouth, and in between (and most likely because of) all that, there's some excellent discussion going on. It's awkward and touchy and absolutely fascinating.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

That's the whole Martha and Rose thing, right? I saw some of those posts and it was breathtaking the way that folks will cling to ANY excuse to have it NOT be about race, because if it's about race then like, everyone is Hitler or something? I don't really get it. Pointing out how something CAN look doesn't assign blame (except to the larger society) or imply motivation; it just talks about how something can look, and a note that possibly they should have thought about that earlier. And I loved the point that it probably wouldn't matter if there had been a long history of all these blackfolks on Dr Who, but there isn't. A hugely important point. I look at those discussions and they are so frustrating because it really seems that people are so afraid of really looking at it that they'll blind themselves lest they see.

[longtimegone]

Martha, Rose, a bit of Mickey (Rose's ex, who was black), and Russell T Davies previous projects and his handling of POC within those projects.

Fortunately, there are a lot of very patient people who have taken the time to go through things and some good discussion has come from it, even if there's some initial defensiveness.

It's definitely given me a lot of food for thought, and has stayed in my brain these past three weeks. There was initially some "if you don't see it this way, then you are willfully blind/racist/not critically examining the text and subtext". Which isn't necessarily true or really any more productive than "why do you have to ruin my gorgeous finale with your talk of realities of race relations in society?"...I'd go more for, as you said, white privilege and/or pure ignorance. Which isn't any better, but at least there's room to grow from that, if one is willing.

I know I didn't think of any of the events of the DW finale as a race issue initially, though clearly I probably should have. It wasn't that I didn't think it was there or that I didn't care. I knew, obviously, that Martha is black. But the knee jerk reaction (and a lack of familiarity with RTD prior projects) wasn't related to race at all.

I do have several posts to catch up on. Thank goodness for bookmarks. :))

[mistress-mab.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm here to lay down this gauntlet: We will stay stuck in the place we are in until all the race-privileged, wherever they are and however they are privileged, realize that race affects every single day of their life just as surely as it affects every day of my life, and until they lay down the privilege of not having to "think" about it. Until you are as aware of what you have and what you lack because of race, and until I can come to a clearer picture of what I have and what I lack because of race, we will never find a solution. Your wish to stick your head in the sand is not only holding us all back. It is, taking from Schama again, abdicating the obligations of being human.

Bingo.

Thank you for this post. I know that I'm white and privileged, but I appreciate your lack of generalization. It's something I've found lacking in other such discussions.

Your point of view is always something I look forward to reading.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

One thing I've learned is that there are places—the UK for example—where you can be white and still not be privileged. And certainly there are places where you can be of color and still privileged. I want the conversation to be as open as possible.

[dizzledee.livejournal.com]

There is so much to say about this. it's seriously invading people's comfort zones to have open discussions like this one. Sometimes I'm sympathetic to people who squirm in discomfort and sometimes I want to kick them. Hard.

Ugh, I'm not real coherent. I'll have to remind myself to email you later...Such a good post...

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I agree. I want to give them like, tough love, like "I know it's hard but you still have to do it." We all have to do it.

[mmichelle.livejournal.com]

I find race discussions really fascinating, probably because of the group of friends I hang out with. We're quite diverse in terms of race, religion, and sexual orientation, and I think the reason that a large portion of our group is irreverent to the point of offensiveness (let's just say that I didn't find anything in Borat to be offensive or shocking) is because we're so diverse that we feel like nothing's really off-limits. But what I find really interesting is, when we do offend, how it becomes so uncomfortable for everyone involved. One of the girls in the group, who happens to be one of my closest friends, is dating another friend who is Japanese (the girl is white). And so we were all carving pumpkins last Halloween and one of the more offensive group members made one too many Japanese jokes, and the boyfriend basically left the gathering in a huff. After he left, there came the inevitable "He's being way too sensitive!" protests from the offender.

See, that was where the situation got really interesting. Because, to my mind, if you're going to be like, "Okay, we accept all people, we're comfortable enough to joke about it, with the common knowledge that we don't really mean the shit we're saying," then you also have to have a basic understanding of why, when a joke really really offends, it's so offensive. It's all well and good to be like, "even playing field! Equal opportunity insulting!" but I don't think you can really do that until you can also be like, "I accept that while I may be kidding, there are a shitload of people out there who aren't kidding when they make comments like that, and I need to be sensitive to that." We've had similar conflicts with a black member of the group hearing one too many apartheid jokes, and I do think it's sort of served to open the eyes of those involved, which is good.

But even with these conflicts, I'd much rather take the friends I have, politically incorrect and all, but knowing that we are all, in fact, different, and coming to accept this, than be in a group of all-white friends who never talk about race or social class (because GOD, I hate when people pretend those issues don't exist) and don't mingle with people who are different from them, but then claim to be open-minded and accepting of all people! It's such bull.

I don't know if this is really relative to what you were talking about, but it's just that this is the context in which I've dealt with the subject of race over the past four years or so, and so it's from this context that I'm comfortable offering an opinion.

Thanks for your posts, though. I find them refreshing.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking a lot about what you said here—and thank you so much for commenting with such an interesting story—and I think that while you can say that there's an "even playing field" while everyone is within the safety of your group of friends, you have to know that outside of that group there isn't one. I think that's part of privilege, to not recognize the way that the rest of the world works because it isn't working against you, and we all do it. So that said, it's unsurprising that the boyfriend got offended. He hasn't been in the group long enough to understand the ground rules, and I'm sure he got the worse of it in that boy-hazing sort of way.

But I agree that it's better to be in a place where people are actually trying to deal with it, rather than pretend it isn't happening. Being friends with people who are different is hard, which is why so many people don't do it. Hard, but rewarding.

[mmichelle.livejournal.com]

I think that while you can say that there's an "even playing field" while everyone is within the safety of your group of friends, you have to know that outside of that group there isn't one.

Yes, I agree. I'm always really careful about what I say when I'm outside that circle of friends, because I am completely aware of how offensive the stuff we say is, and I am so scared of people I don't know hearing it because a) I obviously don't want to offend anyone, and b) I don't want anyone to hear it and agree with me and then I'll be stuck going "OMG ACK GET AWAY FROM ME."

And my friend is interning at a dentist's office this summer and she called me the other day and was like, "I had to leave work early today, because they were being so politically incorrect. I know that's funny, considering the things we say, but these people were actually serious and it honestly made me sick to my stomach."

And I was like, "Let me guess -- they started the sentence off with, 'I'm not racist, but...'?"

And she was like, "Yeah. Grrr."

And I honestly think that anything that starts off with that disclaimer should not be said. Because even if you're NOT actually racist, then you clearly don't know the people you're talking to well enough to be joking about anything like that.

Keep posting about this, I'm really finding the different perspectives interesting!

[wordplay.livejournal.com]

There's more here to respond to after I've chewed on it, but about the Schama stuff:

(1) We're Tivo'ing to DVD on that but I haven't seen any of it. Marc has such an intellectual crush on him, though, and we both loved the History of Britain series, so we'll see it eventually. Glad to know that it's good!

(2) To make it all a little bit more relevant, Michael Eric Dyson seems to be making a v. similar point about hip-hop in his new book - that sometimes art is SUPPOSED to make us uncomfortable.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I adore Schama. I have a whole, when Schama taught at my college and some paintings were stolen story. I haven't watched this week's ep about Rothko because he's my favorite painter and I haven't been in the mindset to really pay attention, or to hear about Rothko and his depression, but I'll probably look at it tonight. Also, yeah, I want that DVD!

The whole white-affluent-boomer-hating-on-hip hop thing was for me the reason I couldn't deal with that stupid Diane Keaton/Jack Nicholson movie. Hip hop just seemed to be the signifier for his sexism, whereas for me it was a signifier of how deeply out of touch that movie was.

[calloocallay.livejournal.com]

So! I recently read Bornstein's Material Modernism which has a whole section about an anthology called The New Negro: An Interpretation, which was edited by Alain Locke. Well, the first edition was illustrated heavily by Winold Reiss, who also supplied a frontispiece of a black woman cuddling a black baby. The publishers were Albert and Charles Boni. Reiss and the Boni brothers were white, and the title page - proclaiming their involvement in big fonts, made the anthology a collaboration between black and white authors, artists, and business folks. In later editions, Reiss's name had been removed from the title page, his illustration no longer was used as a frontispiece, and of course the new publishers were no longer really collaborators in bringing the project to fruition, since it was a reprint. Bornstein posits that these later editions erased the white folks, ignoring the interracial teamwork that originally went into the book.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

That's really interesting—does Borstein have any thoughts as to why? I know that there were a lot of movements later of wanting black folks to have created things on their own. Were the later reprints done by black publishers? Did the later editions keep any of Reiss's other illustrations?

I love the whole "New Negro" thing. Though I also have a whole thing for "negro", as it sounds like getting scolded by your aunt: "What on earth were you thinking, negro?"

[calloocallay.livejournal.com]

The reprints were NOT by black publishers, they were like, by academic publishers. Bornstein doesn't really discuss motivations, just effects, but I, personally, see it as a kind of stodgy gesture. The Harlem Renaissance produced this, which we have stripped to make it scholarly. Sometimes an edition includes a few of the Reiss pictures inside, but with no information about the artist, and you KNOW including some, but not all, of the original illustrations is anathama to me.

[kaalee.livejournal.com]

Where I used to teach, we actually had Affinity Groups (self affiliated) that we met in every other week, based on the idea that it is not the job of a (for lack of a better word) marginalized community to educate the priveleged community. There is an article that I reread probably once a year that really helps re-frame my lens as a member of the culture of power. It's Unpacking the White Knapsack and is a few page article written by a white woman who is examining many of the things that those of us in the US take for granted simply because of the privelege we receive based on the color of our skin.

I want to talk more about this, so I'll come back soon. Also, think I missed the other post you referred to. I'll peruse that one as well.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I think the reason I keep saying that I'm not here to educate in this context isn't just because I want to goad people into action, or even that it's omg tiring, though those things are true. It's also because I don't want anyone to think that their racial education can begin and end with this journal. One of my high school friends went to rural North Carolina with Teach for America and when I saw her that first Christmas she said, "Wow, not all black people are like you!" and I was like, "Um, no, they're not." But it was understandable; I was the only black person she knew. (She went to Dartmouth, which is not exactly crawling with black folks.) I can only talk about the things that occur to me, but just because something doesn't offend me doesn't mean that it won't piss off someone else.

Thanks for this comment!

[amyamy.livejournal.com]

Definitely a lot of food for thought in those assorted articles (and currently my brain's trying to shut down from information overload, so will be going back to the one's I didn't get to). Definitely had an "ohhhh, I see" moment, though. Or, well, series of moments.

One of the big issues here in JP is over what is an isn't taught in class about WWII and the things which happened in Korea, Manchuria, Okinawa and so on. A lot of the time it's just not talked about and, in fact, if current legislation passes those topics will become even more off limits. And the thing is, I've always known the teaching of history in the states was also pretty damn biased but the list in Tim Wise's article definitely managed to beat me over the head with the point that I'd largely lost/forgotten while getting caught up in the Japanese version of the same damn problem. In a way, and I don't know that this is better or worse, just different, but in a way, the Japanese government's much more straightforward about this sort of thing. Abe and the Education Ministry coming out and saying "no, we're not going to talk about the comfort women anymore" is incredibly scummy and infuriating, but at least they're up front about it. Japanese instutionalized racism is out there for everybody in the international community to see and go "tsk tsk" over, and I think in the states it's much more insiduous. Covert, but no less devistatingly effective.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Something I hadn't really thought about before I started school was how endlessly political the teaching of history is. I'm putting together my syllabus and it's hard not to see some of my choices as political choices. Of course I have a particular way of seeing the history of my country, and a particular way of wanting to teach it, and particular things that I want the students to get from it. I want to be balanced, but I also have to tell the truth as I see it, and let them make up their own minds, and challenge me on some of it.

It's hard because history has always been seeing as the grand narrative of the state, a story that is told mostly to justify whatever the state is doing, and the academy has only been able to move away from that in the last, oh, 80 years or so. It's why while I would love to go into public history, I can't imagine anything more nightmarish than trying to put together museum exhibits and having people freak out over them.

I think the international community tsks over US racism, too, because it flares up and because we do talk about it. The places where I worry over it, to be honest, are mostly in Europe, where there isn't a tradition of difference, but rather a tradition of ethnic similarity similar to Japan, plus a welfare state that is jealously guarded. Like, don't look at me, Sweden.

Thanks so much for your thoughtful comments on these posts!

[mmichelle.livejournal.com]

I think the international community tsks over US racism, too, because it flares up and because we do talk about it.

Okay, my best friend is British, and she's told me, "You know, in England race isn't even an issue. No one cares."

And I'm like, okay, first of all, that's not entirely true -- look at the underlying issues with the sector of their population who's immigrated from the Middle East. And second of all, no offense or anything, but dude, the U.S. is a hell of a lot bigger than England, and a lot more diverse. So duh it's going to be a bigger issue here.

Like, I love her to death, but I know a lot of people from all over the world and a lot of Europeans I know have this -- I don't want to call it a superiority complex, but I don't know what exactly it is -- about their attitudes toward race, and I just want to scream, "Dude, I think the Algerians in France would beg to differ!" Like, if you go somewhere like -- to use your example -- Sweden, duh there's not going to be a bunch of racial issues, because look at how homogeneous the population is!

So yeah. I'm not saying we're doing to well over here, but hey, it's a bit more of an issue here than it is in a lot of places.

/ramble

[buddleia.livejournal.com]

*drive-by, sorry to jump in*
Okay, my best friend is British, and she's told me, "You know, in England race isn't even an issue. No one cares." I'm guessing your British friend is white, then? No offence to her, but that's crap. We have a million and twelve race issues. We have a huge shitty colonial past to deal with, just for starters. I do see some Brits/Europeans get a bit arsey about race debates on lj and they come off badly if they don't think carefully before they post. Issues here are very much present, but they are different. Sometimes, I think, internet=USA assumptions make non-US readers take very dodgy positions just to step back from those assumptions. It's dumb, but I understand the impulse.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Seriously, if one more person I don't know asks to touch my hair …

It's never occurred to me to want to touch anyone's hair, really, but now that you wrote that I'm like, "What is special to the touch about Clio's hair? Now I want to touch it and know the secret!!!"

Now, I'm not saying that fanfiction is akin to Guernica, or should be. But something about that line, "Don't spoil the fun of art" reminded me of some responses to any conversation about race in fandom. "Don't spoil my fun with politics. Why should I have to think about this for my hobby?"

This sort of reminds me of that thing people sometimes say about movies or whatever, that they don't want to "think" at the movies, they just want fun movies. And it's not like I don't enjoy movies that would probably be classed as the ones that are just fun. But why would thinking be the opposite of fun? Why would a story or a discussion that made you think about race be automatically not fun for you.

I mean, this weekend I watched "Southern Comfort," a documentary about a transsexual who died of ovarian cancer. And I admit there were things that surprised me. Specifically, that this man went to something like 30 doctors and was refused treatment. Cynically, it shouldn't have surprised me, but I admit it was hard to believe that someone could walk into a doctor's office, a doctor who treated their disease, and would be turned away because their body wasn't the same as everyone else's. And I bring that up just to say that maybe that kind of thinking wasn't particularly fun. I much prefer to think that you go to a doctor and the doctor treats you; you don't go to the doctor, get judged unworthy of living and sent away.

Which is just adding insult to injury, if I consider that my right. Not only does this man have to die without care, but he shouldn't talk about it to me because that bums me out. It basically seems like the same thing with race. I remember reading a thing once about Gone with the Wind and this person said that as a story it just didn't work because once you have slavery in the story, that was the story. Like, you couldn't care about these peoples' romantic troubles or war troubles when there were these other people actually enslaved running around.

I disagreed with that position and still do, because I think stories can come from any group--you could have a story set in a concentration that was about the Nazis, stories about men who oppress and abuse women etc. They can be important stories that even say something about the people being oppressed. But still I do see the truth in what the person was saying. The slaves were *part* of the story of GWTW, and they're not a pretty part. It's not just "spoiling the story" to think about things from their pov or just ask: And why should we care whether Scarlet loses Tara when so much more is denied these other people? It goes beyond even just not talking about race but saying that if race issues are being romanticized that shouldn't be challenged.

That was kind of OT, but yeah--I just think whatever someone's genuine reaction to something is, that's a valid thing to talk about. And if one person always notices something that another person overlooks, that doesn't always mean the first person has an agenda.

I know that I remind everyone who knows me about race every time they see me. I know that I remind everyone who sees my entries and comments about race every time I use an icon of myself and show my skin color.

This is actually something I always think is good about the 'net. It bothers me when sometimes I don't remember what peoples' races are if they've mentioned it, because I make an effort to remember it. Because I know that if left to myself, I *will* see everybody as white by default. And this is a good opportunity to be dealing with somebody on one level without race, because we can't see the person, while still being aware of that. It kind of automatically breaks down some of the issues, I think.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

My hair is the fountain of youth. Actually, people are fascinated by the curly and like to sproing it, etc.

I'm reminded of that episode of Daria where the former football hero died and everyone came to Daria to talk about it, and Daria complaned to Jane, who said that most people don't want to think, but the death had made them think, which confused their little minds, so they came to talk to Daria because she thinks all the time. It's hard when you are a thoughtful, curious person to understand how deeply some people wish to have a life where they only have to think when they're getting paid to do so, never have to make decisions, never have to change or face change or anything unpleasant. They happily accept a very limited life for the ability to not have to think about anything. And that includes wanting fiction that has one very uncomplicated clear message, so they can read and not have to think.

I think it's very good to be able to form one's first impression of another person through their words before you apply whatever your own identity baggage is (because we all have it) to them. But I'm not sure all the identity baggage is bad, really, because while we say "oh, on the internet everyone is just words so it's neutral" what that means in practice is "on the internet everyone is just words so they are all privileged until they point out otherwise." Not just in terms of race, and of course not at all in terms of gender, but sexuality, disability, all of that sort of thing.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

But I'm not sure all the identity baggage is bad, really, because while we say "oh, on the internet everyone is just words so it's neutral" what that means in practice is "on the internet everyone is just words so they are all privileged until they point out otherwise." Not just in terms of race, and of course not at all in terms of gender, but sexuality, disability, all of that sort of thing.

Oh yeah, I agree. It gives you this space where everyone is neutral, but then suddenly you have the baggage and it forces you to think about how that changes or doesn't change things. And also I think we really do take in *a lot* based on what we see in person, even if it's unconscious. You make a lot of assumptions you might not even be aware of.

[brownbetty]

So, I was linked to this and was all “man, this is an awesome post, I'd comment, but it's all old!” and then I realized it's like, all of two weeks old. So! This is an awesome post, and I will try to expose people to it. Because yes.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate that.

May I ask who linked you? Because yes, my ego is that big, and I'd just like to thank them.

[brownbetty]

I'm terribly sorry. I think it may perhaps have come up in a comment I read while following links from metafandom, but I can't really remember any further. *facepalm*

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

You are *fantastic*. Thank you for writing this, for trying to get people to understand. You show a lot more patience than I do on the subject. Bravo.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I try not to post, actually, when I'm feeling impatient and angry because it doesn't make me feel better to vent so publicly (I vent to my friends in chat, more) and then you have to deal with the aftermath of people commenting and being upset and it's just not worth it, for me. So it's not that I'm actually more patient, but that I only try to engage when I'm feeling at least a little bit patient.

Thanks again!

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

No problem. Thank you for posting!

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

This was linked to in the context of the most recent wank over fandom and racism, and I wanted to thank you for writing it.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate that, you have no idea. May I ask where you saw it?

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

*facepalm* Goodness, I unfortunately do not remember. Somewhere amidst all the posts.

[ethrosdemon.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure I got here through my delicious network, but I have so many tabs open, I'm not sure now.

1. Back off Simon if you don't want to lose an eye.

2. This piece is so calm and rational that I just wanted to chime in and say YAY to you for maintaining your cool when sometimes that's nearly impossible.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

1. When I got the email with this comment I had forgotten that I was talking about Schama in this post so when you said "Simon" I thought, "I talked about Simon Cowell in that entry? Really?" Since, like, um, the RPS. Yeah, anyway.

2. Thank you so much! I try very hard not to post when I'm angry as it doesn't even help me, never mind other people. But I support other people's right to do otherwise. Me, I rant in chat, so my poor friends get the brunt of it.

And thanks for letting me know where you found this. When there's a sudden influx one is always like, where did that come from?

[ethrosdemon.livejournal.com]

Incidentally, my decision to friend you was tipped by the fact the buttons on your journal are Crowded House songs.

[vass]

This is an awesome post. Thank you for writing it.

(I got here through brown_betty's link.)

[buddleia.livejournal.com]

Following brown_betty, thank you for a really interesting post.

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Linked from Brown_Betty. Awesome post.