#racism against chinese

[thedreadvampy]

The thing is. Bad/gross food is rarely a DISH - when food is bad it's because it's been badly made, whether because of skills or available ingredients. but a dish p much only exists recognisably and has a name because someone likes at least one version of it.

which is to say. there isn't really a way of naming a dish, school of dishes or specific food culture and going EW ISN'T THIS DISH UNILATERALLY CONCEPTUALLY DISGUSTING without denigrating quite a lot of people.

like you don't have to like it in any form. but it's eaten and shared because it's good to a not insubstantial number of people when cooked right.

(and I don't really understand how you approach that with total incuriosity when it's a dish you haven't tried like. ARE rocky mountain oysters good? Maybe! I would very much eat some to find out!!!!)

this is actually something the British food poll did in a way the American ones I've seen haven't really - they described how the food they're imagining is, specifically, badly prepared (grey meat and veggies; unseasoned shepherd's pie). which is wildly tipping the scales by calling it British Food but. like. that is an on point definition of why that food is gross.

(this also applies to American chocolate, which like. Broad category but I think most of us understand this refers to low-cocoa high-sugar chocolate, probably with bucolic acid. so we are being invited to imagine Badly Made Chocolate not. the concept of chocolate)

personally I just think it's very rarely a good or funny idea to shittalk how gross any given food culture is. partly because food is important and culturally evocative for most people, partly because it's very...alienating? to be like WHO COULD EAT SUCH A THING? just because you wouldn't, and largely because to be frank it says more about you than about the food that you have so little imagination or curiosity that you can't imagine why a food might be enjoyable to folks who aren't you.

yes this includes jello salad, I would like to try it. ONCE. if it wasn't appealing to someone it wouldn't be so widespread.

#red said #like. as if talking shit about people for eating offal or offcuts particularly hasn't always been hugely loaded in race and class terms #ewww can you believe filipinos eat tripe. can you believe Chinese people eat pig feet? #YEAH I CAN AND YOU SHOULD TOO. Those are normal parts of an animal to eat and it's weird that you think it's weird #but it's also. a really common racist trope right? like. how often does racist rhetoric mention food being 'weird' or 'smelling bad'? #because shitting on someone's food and calling it gross is a really good shortcut to shitting on them and their cultures #implying they're dirty or animalistic or cruel or undiscerning or have bad taste #this isn't crying RACISM AGAINST WHITE PPL btw #just saying. maybe in general we should shut the fuck up about finding entire schools of cooking gross #and it's interesting you know. bc Americans in the notes of the American food posts recognise there are race and class sensitivities there #but not that there might be similar sensitivities around mocking another country's food

[niteshade925]

NOT ALL CHINESE PEOPLE HAVE THE SAME SKIN COLOR/FACIAL FEATURES/HAIR TYPE

STOP TRYING TO STEREOTYPE CHINESE PEOPLE AS ALL LOOKING THE SAME WAY (pale skin/straight black hair/slanted eyes) AS PART OF THIS "PUSH FOR DIVERSITY" AND THEN GET UPSET WHEN REALITY TURNS OUT TO BE DIFFERENT FROM YOUR EXPECTATIONS.

#:) #racism #chinese #sinophobia #diversity #really this is what the whole xinyan 'controversy' boils down to #just more racism but against Chinese people #真他妈的累

[birdmenmanga]

im just like hugo shinji murakami fr but I don't think it's a good thing...

#just thinking thoughts... #sorry some of the stuff he said about japanese brazilians is exactly how I feel about taiwanese americans... #why do you guys get together like this. you dont speak japanese you only know like. jpop. what are you getting out of this #I wondered this myself at those taiwanese american dinner family-friend gatherings #it just felt like they were proud of their heritage because if they weren't they would be crushed and erased #but at the same time they're not willing to put in the effort to say #learn mandarin chinese #like I'm reading his words and it all seems very gatekeepery but also. I have also had those thoughts #I don't necessarily agree with all of it anymore but like. I get him. #my sister says it's impossible to date someone taiwanese because it's impossible for them to understand american politics #(like racism. I think racism against black people is especially hard to comprehend. like 'why don't they just x about it???' #(I don't think you understand what systemic means.) #but like. I dunno. I'm not sure I could date someone who isn't taiwanese. how would they ever understand THAT?? #you will never 'lose' american politics the way you can lose taiwanese culture... #uh like it sounds like she wants someone who understands her suffering. while I want someone to understand my ideals. you know

[animentality]

Don’t we literally boil lobsters and crabs. Isn’t that the exact same concept? It’s not inherently more cruel because it’s China. I don’t know how to say this without being a smug ass but please try and reflect on why you might be more angry about this than if Americans were doing the same thing

Who's we???

I don't eat lobster or crab. I never have. When the fuck have I ever said omg I love boiling lobsters alive.

I regularly eat raw mice and rabbits that I caught with my bare hands.

I live in the woods swallowing birds.

#like bitch are you joking i hate what people do to lobsters too #tf #by the way #the fucking OP even clarified that not all chinese people eat fish this way #its a rich person thing #and its not wrong to fucking criticize it #you jackass #this is not a racism thing this is an abuse against animals thing #am i not allowed to say fuck this particular practice #this is also a very east asian thing #with the obsession with raw food #boiling lobsters is fucked but at least americans have the general idea that maybe we should shove a pin or a knife in their head first #chinese values surrounding live food are different and theres no denying that #btw im fucking chinese you moron #even if i wasnt #id still condemn that shit and NOT because its chinese but because its fucking cruel #the same way i have condemned people who live boil anything #im also against fucking veal #is that racist too #think before you speak

[cicadangel]

one thing thats been getting on my nerves lately is 2 of my white friends acting so perfomatively concerned abt there "only being east asians" in the asian student union club im president of when a) that is not true more than half are NOT ea b) there is maybe 1 or 2 non ea or sea kids at our school stop complaining shutttt upppp oh my god.

#also like ppl decide if they join the club or not... it has nothing to do w me #THEYRE THE KINDS OF PPL WHO SAY NON CHINESE PPL CANT SAY THE C SLUR BC ITS NOT USED AGAINST THEM #which im not saying ppl should use the c slur at all but like. are you delusional are you actually dumb the c slur is used against #like all eas & seas... you do know that one of the main points of anti asian racism is that we all look alike...

[menotthatkindoforc]

why must Catholic families bury their dead at church cemeteries. what if i want to visit the resting places of my grandparents and not run into people that are probably going to judge the fuck out of me

#i think my uncle is a deacon at that church now #idk when me and my bf will venture that deep into Louisiana because it's 6 hours from here #but the thought of visiting that cemetery with my bf is a little intimidating #not sure how those ppl feel about an interracial gay couple #and there's like no chinese ppl there either... #anyway although my dad's parents had some views i strongly disagree with (namely the racism even tho one had kinda recent black ancestry) #they brought a lot to my life and I'd like to visit their graves sometime #and absolutely not visit any of my living family UNLESS it's to slap my aunt across the face #anyway my bf wants to go to lake charles sometime (which is 2 hours from here but 3 hours from the cemetery) #and the thought crossed my mind #but im not gonna make us do it on this trip whenever it may be #some damn good food in Louisiana tho.. #im sorry if you're Catholic I don't have anything specifically against you because ppl are allowed their faith #and i think religion on an individual level can be a really beautiful thing for ppl if it helps them get through life #but for me.. i never really felt it #and i also have issues with religion as a... institution

[hwei]

the urge to make my own league of legends skin reviews but from the perspective of someone who likes pretty and cute skins and knows the mythology/etc. design behind skins

#i hate being perceived however and people being mean on the internet are scary #also i dont wanna face the racism LMAO #but god the amount of times i feel like smacking my head against a wall because someone doesnt know a japanese or chinese myth like MANNNNN #my patience only goes so far.............. #agony. suffering. pain. #and also the perspective of someone who is the target audience of cute skinlines bc its like #i understand personal taste but like. if i gotta sit through another video of like #someone talking about cafe cuties/crystal rose not being their taste its like #OKAY ! !! OKAY ! ! !! ! LET ME (gay feminine man) TALK ABOUT IT AND GUSH OVER IT INSTEA D ! !! ! !! ! !

[zippers]

ugh i really hate this one volleyball commentator. he is announcing the game im watching (ukraine vs colombia) and he a) he is just so negative about all the plays and the players b) keeps singling out one of the Colombian players, Ana Karina, and while she isn't the only Black player she does have the darkest skin... it really feels like she has been targeted since the beginning. she is a heavy hitter who takes a lot of risks, sometimes they don't pay off but she is still one of the top scorers, but whenever she scores (and this is often over the replay of her epic point which just really makes it so jarring) he will say something like "earlier she was playing just foul volleyball, remember xyz failures, but here she actually scored, maybe she's finally woken up, but before she played very poorly, remember that?" and "i can't believe they managed to score a point despite that awful pass from Ana Karina" and just really focuses on her mistakes way more than the other players.

I feel like a different person would say something like "excellent comeback from a shaky start!" like her coach would have swapped her out by now if she was really that bad. And Colombia is losing where I'm at in the game but she is not the only one making errors but she is the one that is called out. Just the way he said her name when she was introduced made my uncomfortable, like i was only listening to the lineup but I noticed how he said it.

i already didnt like this guy, mostly bc of some faux pas that made me uncomfortable in other games that also had women commentators but on his own he is just so critical of these really impressive women, but especially singling out the player with the darkest skin always with something negative to say, and backhanded compliments if any!!

#maybe if i watched more of the tournament i would know more history but if he is announcing i wont #and sometimes in the insults he doesn't even use her name and just calls her ''her'' but he says it in a condescending way. so you know who #he's talking about even not watching. yes this just happened and yes i rewound and sure enough. he was talking about ana karina!!! #btw its also like this watching literally any team play china #china is my second fave team so i am always rooting for them (even playing the US i am fine when China wins its always a great game) and #almost always the commentary is biased against china esp if they are against a western team. tho one of the regular commentators also loves #my fave chinese players so at least there's that #racism

[roscoehamiltons]

since Martin Brundle is a hot topic in f1 atm, let’s not forget that he called Zhou Guanyu a slur on international tv and hasn’t apologized for it

#maybe he did apologize and I missed it but something tells me that didn’t happen #if he did then I stand corrected #but I’m so tired of racism against asians being swept under the rug in f1 #esp regarding chinese people #formula one #f1 #martin brundle #zhou guanyu #tw racism #tw sinophobia

[headspace-hotel]

What i've been learning thru my research is that Lawn Culture and laws against "weeds" in America are deeply connected to anxieties about "undesirable" people.

I read this essay called "Controlling the Weed Nuisance in Turn-of-the-century American Cities" by Zachary J. S. Falck and it discusses how the late 1800's and early 1900's created ideal habitats for weeds with urban expansion, railroads, the colonization of more territory, and the like.

Around this time, laws requiring the destruction of "weeds" were passed in many American cities. These weedy plants were viewed as "filth" and literally disease-causing—in the 1880's in St. Louis, a newspaper reported that weeds infected school children with typhoid, diphtheria, and scarlet fever.

Weeds were also seen as "conducive to immorality" by promoting the presence of "tramps and idlers." People thought wild growing plants would "shelter" threatening criminals. Weeds were heavily associated with poverty and immortality. Panic about them spiked strongly after malaria and typhoid outbreaks.

To make things even wilder, one of the main weeds the legal turmoil and public anxiety centered upon was actually the sunflower. Milkweed was also a major "undesirable" weed and a major target of laws mandating the destruction of weeds.

The major explosion in weed-control law being put forth and enforced happened around 1905-1910. And I formed a hypothesis—I had this abrupt remembrance of something I studied in a history class in college. I thought to myself, I bet this coincides with a major wave of immigration to the USA.

Bingo. 1907 was the peak of European immigration. We must keep in mind that these people were not "white" in the exact way that is recognized today. From what I remember from my history classes, Eastern European people were very much feared as criminals and potential communists. Wikipedia elaborates that the Immigration Act of 1924 was meant to restrict Jewish, Slavic, and Italian people from entering the country, and that the major wave of immigration among them began in the 1890s. Almost perfectly coinciding with the "weed nuisance" panic. (The Immigration Act of 1917 also banned intellectually disabled people, gay people, anarchists, and people from Asia, except for Chinese people...who were only excluded because they were already banned since 1880.)

From this evidence, I would guess that our aesthetics and views about "weeds" emerged from the convergence of two things:

First, we were obliterating native ecosystems by colonizing them and violently displacing their caretakers, then running roughshod over them with poorly informed agricultural and horticultural techniques, as well as constructing lots of cities and railroads, creating the ideal circumstances for weeds.

Second, lots of immigrants were entering the country, and xenophobia and racism lent itself to fears of "criminals" "tramps" and other "undesirable" people, leading to a desire to forcefully impose order and push out the "Other." I am not inventing a connection—undesirable people and undesirable weeds were frequently compared in these times.

And this was at the very beginnings of the eugenics movement, wherein supposedly "inferior" and poor or racialized people were described in a manner much the same as "weeds," particularly supposedly "breeding" much faster than other people.

There is another connection that the essay doesn't bring up, but that is very clear to me. Weeds are in fact plants of the poor and of immigrants, because they are often medicinal and food plants for people on the margins, hanging out around human habitation like semi-domesticated cats around granaries in the ancient Near East.

My Appalachian ancestors ate pokeweed, Phytolacca americana. The plant is toxic, but poor people in the South would gather the plant's young leaves and boil them three times to get the poison out, then eat them as "poke salad." Pokeweed is a weed that grows readily on roadsides and in vacant lots.

In some parts of the world, it is grown as an ornamental plant for its huge, tropical-looking leaves and magenta stems. But my mom hates the stuff. "Cut that down," she says, "it makes us look like rednecks."

#plants #ecology #usa ecology #history #american history #lawn #anti lawn

[slyandthefamilybook]

so this is something that's been on my mind for a while. I wish I could make a big magnum opus post on it but I don't have the energy

I've noticed in my travels that antisemitism seems to be one of the only forms of bigotry that's not self-evidently wrong. People may think they think it is, but I don't think they do. Every time antisemitism comes up as a topic, I see Jews sharing posts with twin explanations: one on why something is antisemitic, and one on why that's a bad thing

I've seen this a lot, and have fallen into it myself, although recently I've been trying to stop. On a post about Bibi changing his last name to "sound more indigenous": "Imagine if someone said this about Black people". On a post blaming Jews for what Israel does: "Imagine if someone said this about Chinese people". On a post accusing Jews of owning too many industries: "Imagine if someone said this about Asian people".

There was a post that went around claiming the IDF harvested the organs of Palestinians with very little evidence. (There are some great posts debunking that but that's not what this post is about.) I remember looking through the comments and one of them stuck out to me. I can't remember the wording exactly, but it went something like: "Israel heard about blood libel and thought why don't we just do that?". Ignoring the fact that blood libel is about the accuser, not the accused, this comment played over and over in my head. I thought about it as I went to sleep that night. Here was a person admitting that the thing they were saying has a strong resemblance to blood libel, but saying it anyway. It struck me that the underlying thought here was "it's not blood libel if it's true".

Once I realized that, I was stunned. I suddenly heard right-wingers in my head saying "it's not racist, it's just a fact that on average Black people have a lower I.Q.". And suddenly everything clicked into place. I know it might seem like an elementary idea, but it genuinely had never occurred to me

In the eyes of bigots, racism protects power. Antisemitism protects truth.

I've often said that all conspiracy theories eventually lead back to the Jews, and this newfound realization fit in nicely. A popular neo-Nazi slogan I've seen recently is "the goyim know". This idea that Jews have something to hide has saturated the political spectrum

Antisemitism is itself a conspiracy theory.

I realize that makes it sound like I don't think antisemitism is real. That's not what I'm saying, it absolutely is. But the way people talk about it is unlike how they talk about any other form of racism. The Jews are a shadowy cabal, who meet in secret to deplatform people who dare speak out against them. This is something we see on the right and the left, from Kanye accusing the Jews of destroying his career, to leftists accusing the "Zionists" of controlling social media.

Spouting antisemitism now becomes a moral good, a political necessity. It's the most important thing in the fight for truth

I understood then, why people on the left are so comfortable calling out accusations of antisemitism as "frivolous", "unserious", "over-used". How they think people are using antisemitism to silence them. You can't just say something is antisemitic and walk away. It won't stick. You also have to sit there on your computer for the next 2 hours, looking up sources to debunk their claims. You have to appeal to the truth. With any other form of bigotry, it's understood by leftists that whatever the facts may be, they don't excuse racism. The number of Black Americans who commit crimes doesn't justify saying Black people are all criminals. The number of First Nations people who own casinos doesn't justify playing off that stereotype. But when it comes to the Jews, it's open season. You can say anything you like about the Jews, as long as you think it's true. Being told that it's antisemitic isn't enough.

This is a great example of just that. "Yes it's antisemitic, but it's also true." The accusation of antisemitism becomes an accusation against the truth. So when it comes to people who really believe in what they're saying, it all just bounces off. This is why people never seem to learn. They hop from conspiracy theory to conspiracy theory. As long as someone assures them it's all true, the bigotry doesn't really factor. They apologize not when confronted with their own racism, but when confronted with the facts.

In this way, antisemitism has become baked into society, especially Christian societies. Because why wouldn't it? Yes, the Jew is greedy, yes the Jew is sneaky, yes the Jew is bloodthirsty. But the Jew is above all a liar. They lie about their names, their culture, their history, their victories, their defeats

I wish I knew how to end this post. Some sort of call to action, some idea of how to fix this going forward. But I have no idea. I suspect if I did, we might not all be quite where we are right now

#atlas entry #jew #jewish #judaism #jumblr #antisemitism #bigotry

[johnnygsanto]

Racism Against Chinese Australians Is Being Made Worse by Anti-China Election Rhetoric - msnNOW

Racism Against Chinese Australians Is Being Made Worse by Anti-China Election Rhetoric  msnNOW Racism Against Chinese Australians Is Being Made Worse by Anti-China Election Rhetoric - msnNOW

#Spliced Feed 3 (Johny Santo) #Racism Against Chinese Australians Is Being Made Worse by Anti-China E

[yourtongzhihazel]

thoughts on anarchism?

The anarchists I've met IRL, especially while organizing, have been some of the most wonderful comrades and I wouldn't hesitate to work with them again. I'm sure there's many online too who're just like them. I do admire how quickly they are willing to use direct action, even if it's not the best tactic to be used or the only means to an end. Some anarchist ideas, while not necessarily achievable on a large scale, are certainly is very helpful for short term, small scale survival, like mutual aid for example.

Anarchism as an ideology though, I do have strong disagreements with. When I was first dipping my toes into studying political-economy, I had a very brief time where I was following both anarchist and marxist accounts and forums. And often, when I asked the marxists a question about how things would or potentially could work, they could point to real examples as much as they could theoretical ones, and they could point out the pros and cons of their own systems. But when I asked anarchists similar questions, there was generally a kind of hesitancy or wishy-washiness or vagueness which I really didn't get from the marxists. As a poc, I remember a black man had asked anarchists what the solution to a group of racist factory workers voting him out of their work force was and no one had any answers beyond, "well at that stage you really wouldn't expect racism on that level". But the marxists would say racism is a social ill that takes time to combat, even after the revolution thus the proletarian state exists to ensure cases like that are investigated and corrected. A more poignant example would be like the Chinese trans woman who sued her former place of work for firing her for being trans and the state sided with and supported her rights. In some ways, I think I was always inevitably going to go down the marxist route given my family background, but that's not to say I didn't give anarchism a fair shot in the beginning.

More theoretically, the roots of anarchism has always been deeply entwined with petite bourgeois ideology. Similar to liberalism, it supposes that the liberation of the collective comes from the liberation of the self. That's not to say anarchists are liberals (well, actual anarchists anyway), but rather, has been influenced by a deeply individualistic ideology like liberalism. The reason we marxists tend to call anarchists idealists can mainly stem from our biggest disagreement, which is the utilization of the state. It's unreasonable to destroy the greatest tool a class has in the class war once that class gets its hands on it, especially since the bourgeoisie have no qualms about using it as a bludgeon against the proletariat. The state has always been used as a mediator for class warfare and whichever class controls it controls the arbitration on class conflict. Like it or not, revolution, just like the construction of socialism, will come at different times with different arising conditions for every country. It's simply not enough to rely on hopes of either a total revolution or to defend your own revolution without the tools provided by a state. After the October Revolution, the nascent USSR was invaded by over 20 foreign countries and they threw them all out. During the second world war, more than 4 million fascists were killed on the eastern front and the Red Army marched into Berlin in the end. Both feats would be impossible without strong state apparatuses. There's more to it than just this, of course. If you want, you can read a (admittedly, pretty scathing) critique by J.V. Stalin, Anarchism or Socialism?, for some more detailed information.

My last point is that in many online spaces, there's no doubt a big overlap between radlibs and anarchism or at the very least, anarchist aesthetics. I can't tell you how many times I've been called some slur or 'tankie' or some variation of the two by someone presenting themselves to be anarchist who then turn around and say the most unbelievably liberal talking points. I've now come to realize that the reason for this overlap is two-fold. The first is that in liberal democracies, where individualism is extremely strong and thus anarchism, as a more individualistic ideology, appeals more to radlibs. The second is that anarchism is very easily marketable, even more so than marxism. These two kind of go hand-in-hand as well.

In the west and usamerica in particular, we don't have much of a choice in regards to who we side with and I would actually take an anarchist comrade over the "queering the MIC" libs in the DSA or whatever. I'll still jest about about anarchism tho.

#hazel's press releases

[pumpkinpaix]

Regarding #EndOTWRacism’s summaries of 2023 OTW Board election candidate positions

Before I begin, let me say now that while I am a volunteer with the OTW, my views are personal and should not be taken as any kind of official statement from the org, its leadership, or other volunteers, especially not the candidates in question. My focus here is on the Asian candidates for obvious reasons, but this post is not meant as endorsement or disavowal of any of the candidates, whose bios and platforms can all be read here.

Do not take this as an excuse harass the mods running EOTWR. I cannot make myself clearer.

--

I am making this post to express my extreme disappointment with End OTW Racism’s post purporting to summarize the platforms of the candidates for the upcoming Board elections. It is no longer rebloggable, but can be read here.

The way that the candidates with Asian names were spoken of is deeply insulting when compared with how candidates with English-language names were discussed. Asian candidates had their platforms misrepresented, their expertise downplayed, and their lived experiences reduced down to “bringing an international presence” to the board, which was then further caveated with, “diversity alone is not going to solve the issue of racist harassment currently allowed in the OTW’s policies and enforcement practice”. While it is true that diversity alone is not a solution, it’s pretty offensive to essentially have “remember! Just because they aren’t white doesn’t mean you should vote for them!” tacked on to one of the Asian candidates’ platforms. 

End OTW Racism seems more concerned with whether or not candidates used the buzzwords they wanted to hear rather than with how racism is discussed holistically within the statements. While I can appreciate that EOTWR has a specific agenda, to say things like, “[s]he does not mention racism, racist harassment, or hiring a DEI consultant in her platform, so outside the outreach and support she mentions, there is not enough for us to conclude that these would be priorities for her” regarding Zixin Z.’s position, directly following the statement, “[s]he also mentions the need for outreach towards non-English-speaking fans and has a desire to provide support to volunteers from minority groups” is fucking laughable, especially after the initial mistake of stating that Zixin Z. only wanted to do more outreach to Chinese-speaking fans. Again, I understand that people make mistakes and that this mistake has since been corrected, but I hope it prompts some reflection on the sort of biases that would lead to such a mistake in the first place. It may have been completely innocuous, but in charged discussions about racism, please understand that it gives an impression that is difficult to shake. I do thank you for not trying to hide that this happened. 

Why is Anh P.’s lack of discussion on TOS/PAC a point against her, while Zixin Z.’s years of experience on PAC, her role as a mod on Weibo, and her background in nonprofits don’t even warrant a mention? For that matter, why did none of the Asian candidates’ skills or experience warrant mention? Qiao C. and Zixin Z. have both been volunteers with the organization for several years now, and Anh P. has years of moderation and volunteer experience elsewhere prior to her work with the OTW.

It is so fucking frustrating that despite each one of these candidates specifically talking about the need for diverse voices, they had their platforms essentially passed over because they didn’t use the right words, and it is particularly fucking aggravating to see that EOTWR will use Chinese issues as props when trying to press OTW leadership on the racism that occurs within the org, but then completely fail to connect the dots on why these candidates are running because the wrong language was used. Zixin Z. is one of the Weibo mods, for fuck’s sake. 

The entire post feels like an exercise in virtue signalling, from every time it was brought up that a candidate did not provide pronouns in their platform statements, despite every one of them having pronouns provided in their bios (why mention this detail at all? You could have simply used the pronouns), to what felt like willful obliviousness to the anti-racism stances in the Asian candidates’ platforms. It feels like the concern starts and ends with racism in Anglophone terms, on Anglophone terms.

I can respect the driving ideas behind EOTWR, even if I disagree with the way that EOTWR pursues their goals. I do believe that we want the same things in the end, and therefore chose not to interact with the many posts I have seen about the protest. However, I saw the summary post and could not let it pass without speaking.

For a protest group supposedly dedicated to ending racism in the OTW, this felt incredibly hypocritical, conscious bias or not. In my most charitable frame of mind, I can see this as misjudging and overcorrecting to ensure that there was no favoritism shown to the obvious non-white candidates lest EOTWR be accused of tokenizing– again, it is true, that diversity in and of itself is not a solution to racism. 

In my least charitable and most bitter frame of mind, I feel inclined to wonder if EOTWR, much like the OTW itself, is uncomfortable with the lack of influence they could exude over an international candidate. It would be much, much easier to push their agenda forward with more culturally familiar candidates, particularly white ones. Guilt and public scrutiny are powerful weapons and easy to wield against those with perceived privilege in our current atmosphere, often to the detriment of the actual discussion at hand in my experience. I know that’s cynical. It’s hard not to be. (For clarity's sake: I do not know the other candidates' races. This is a hypothetical.)

This isn’t a demand for an apology. I think we fetishize the capital-A Apology to the point where I find them sort of meaningless unless they are given freely. I don’t need EOTWR to agree with me, and I don’t really want to keep talking about it. Rather, I would prefer that EOTWR take action to do better as they continue in their campaign. What that action is is their decision. If they truly mean to stand against racism in the OTW, then I’d like them to demonstrate it.

--

DO NOT HARASS EOTWR MODS. I AM FUCKING SERIOUS ABOUT THIS.

#endotwracism #votetoendotwracism #organization for transformative works #otw #ao3 #archive of our own #fandom #otw board #otw elections #discourse #racism #end otw racism #i'm so so sorry everyone #but i'm upset i really am. #mine #mymeta #i guess. #i mean it i don't really want to talk more about it okay. i will probably mute this post #even if i reblog it a few times #long post #statistically average