Holy sh... Racism drama!

[beandelphiki]

WOW. SO MUCH DRAMA in lj-land last night. I didn't get any schoolin' done.

So...people outside of feminist have been complaining for ages that the community lets white privilege run unchecked, and that it's exclusionary to women of color. The mods decide to fix this.

welsey makes a mod post explaining the new rules.

Based on some feedback, here are definitions of racism and sexism as we are using them. We are aware of the dictionary definition; however, we have chosen to use this definition because it is commonly used in anti-racist and social justice communities, and we ask that you also use it while you are in our space. More clarification may be added later:
racism = prejudice + power
sexism = prejudice + power
We separate these things from prejudice because the implications of racism and sexism (as we define them) are so much more significant and powerful than those of prejudice.

[...]

Reverse racism is not a valid concept.


And feminist go BOOM.

People disagree, whine, complain, and just generally miss the entire point.

I replied, basically telling the mods pip-pip and good job, and I was sorry they were taking so much crap from the uninformed. I should have realized that would cause a shitload of drama, but didn't really. That also went BOOM.

(Can anybody tell that I have very, very little patience? Yeah. I think I really got off on the wrong foot with the "dingdingding" comment, but really...when someone says that OMG! You're calling all the [white, because that's what I meant] people who disagree with anti-racism rules racist! the snark just tends to come out.)

They're/we're up to 700 comments now. I started replying because I said that I did not want to leave the mods fighting this one alone. I am almost sorry at this point; my inbox is pleading with me to stop, so I'm mostly going to bow out and see how it plays.

Over on journalfen, OTF_Wank is having a real laugh at our expense.

(First comment: "beandelphiki is a moron." I think I also got called a "Feminazi," the logic of which makes my brain hurt. I thought that if I ever got called THAT, it would be for arguing hard-line pro-choice or something, not critical race theory. OKAY!)

More fallout:

blackfolk: Nice try guys, but you still SUCK.

sex_and_race/feminist_rage: See, this is why we're all in HERE, instead of over THERE. (Idiots.)

ap_racism: Okay, nothing yet, but I'm waiting on the "GAAAH!" reaction. SOMEBODY will say something, I'm sure.


*sits and looks at this mess*

You know, I think it's a good thing I will be busy working a lot during Christmas, and staying (for the most part) far away from lj. MY BRAIN.


Edit: Yes, I'm white. Jeebus. (And if you don't know why I added this, don't worry, just ignore.)

Comments

I have such a headache.

[i-dreamed-i-was.livejournal.com]

One guess where it came from.

I (or someone) will be on this in ap_racism soon. In the meantime, I posted a snark thread in dot_race_snark.

Re: I have such a headache.

[beandelphiki.livejournal.com]

Oooh! I was just going to add that one! I forgot it at first, cuz I'm not a member, and it's not yours.

Weirdly, the people in OTF_Wank are driving me the most nuts, although I specifically went there to find the mocking. It does not particularly bother me that they disagree - I knew that, kittie and I have had discussions with people in there before, and I know what the atmosphere is like.

It's that I am somehow the "wankiest," or close to, (out of 800 comments?) so I may not be able to post there for a while without getting some sort of snarky response to every other comment. That's happened to some people.

Then again, this could fade away into OTF_Wank obscurity, as so many things do, but I am annoyed by the possibility that I may spend the next several months fielding snide rimshots about how wrong I am that white people are racist.

I don't even want to go there...

[i-dreamed-i-was.livejournal.com]

with the OTF_wank. You know, you'd think there'd be more blackfolk stuff and such in some of these lj-drama-related places, but no one wants to publicize it when the POC are "winning."

Re: I don't even want to go there...

[beandelphiki.livejournal.com]

OH YES. I just KNOW there are anti-racists and POC in there who would post, say, things like the zra shit. (And I don't think that got posted. I could be wrong, maybe I missed it. I'll have to check.) But a lot of it would be a mess.

Not that the _wank people are idiots. In general, I've noticed that the wank communities tend to be left-leaning and to be slightly more up on things than the general lj population. And there's a couple of good points being made over there that I'm not addressing because I'd rather not stick my neck out anymore. But...just as much "not getting it." And misunderstanding of linguistics. And so on.

Re: I have such a headache.

[beandelphiki.livejournal.com]

Haha....did you see this?

Oh, and someone told me that I'm just a shit-stirrer, and "not a feminist." Holy crap, parts of this are ALMOST fun, but they are also mind-boggling.

*smh*

[i-dreamed-i-was.livejournal.com]

What a bunch of crap. Note that the "WOC" comm was "low activity," and they completely ignored sex_and_race. I don't know how anti-racist feminists could NOT know about it.

And yeah-- you're SO not a feminist. I saw that shit. *stabby*

Re: *smh*

[beandelphiki.livejournal.com]

I personally love the person in the comments section who posted a link to baft_rage, run by no other than ginmar herself, the reigning queen of "thou shalt not disagree with me, ever."

I wish anyone who defects to THERE real luck with that one. (True!: I originally had that as "defecates." Hello Freud...)

The "not a feminist" thing is going to be my WTF for the week.

Re: *smh*

[tikae.livejournal.com]

WOC *is* low-activity - the last post was almost three months ago. If that's because there are a lot of locked posts, that's one thing, but there's no way for a non-member to tell that.

Re: *smh*

[beandelphiki.livejournal.com]

Um, hello. *waves*

If that's because there are a lot of locked posts, that's one thing, but there's no way for a non-member to tell that.

I believe you can tell. Click "more details" at the bottom of the page. It'll tell you when the last post was made.

(It's telling me 7 weeks, so yeah - that's still pretty low-activity.)

Re: *smh*

[tikae.livejournal.com]

Ah, I always overlook the "more details" part. Will keep that in mind, thanks.

And I'm not trying to be creepy here on your journal or anything - just figured I'd look through the responses various people were posting in regards to all this, because apparently it's the LJ Event of the Decade.

Re: *smh*

[beandelphiki.livejournal.com]

Okay, that's fine. With people being so upset, I hope you can understand that I was just a touch wary.

But I'm sure a lot of people are doing the same thing (reading everyone else's reactions).

Okay...

[i-dreamed-i-was.livejournal.com]

What I'm saying is-- I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm saying that there's at least one comm for WOC (sex_and_race) that is NOT low-activity. Not at all. We're generally talking at least a post a day, which is pretty good for a smallish comm.

My point is that not listing it (when the mod is a member of feminist) tells me that the members of feminist are mostly unaware of the cogent feminist spaces for WOC on LJ. Just sayin'.

Re: Okay...

[tikae.livejournal.com]

Understood. I didn't list sex_and_race because the people who feel restricted by the changes and recent activity in feminist are unlikely to want to go there, and I am almost certain that the community doesn't want most of them there either.

Ah...

[i-dreamed-i-was.livejournal.com]

I forgot you were the OP. What you said makes sense to a point-- although I imagine that women who feel upset by the ridiculousness of many of the posters in that thread (as opposed to feeling restricted) might be interested in S&R. But whatever...