Let me introduce you to Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist.
But scratch that. If you are an SF/F fan–which you probably are, reading this blog–you likely have heard of him before. Go over there and you’ll see endless splash banners advertising books or tie-in fiction. He’s basically a genre PR bot: all his content is little more than promotional material on top of promotional material, almost as though he is paid by publishing houses to fellate the latest-and-greatest grimdark neckbeard icon, which he might well be. Who knows.
And if you’ve read him for any length of time, you will probably have noticed that he’s a raging douche. I don’t just mean “douche” in a mild, non-specific way, oh no. We are talking about a grade-A sexist, racist fuckwad. The kind that should be put in a meat-grinder: there’d be about twenty people at the ready, vying to press the GRIND GRIND GRIND button. We’d press it until our fingers are raw and Pat nothing more than a memory of fat white meat.
He visited Thailand this one time: Bangkok: Sultry heat, temples, pollution, never-ending noise, and prostitutes. Off to a good start, and we aren’t even out of the subject line.
The upside: I have hundreds of girls after me. The downside: They’re all prostitutes! I mean, even though I knew what to expect, this goes beyond anything I could ever imagine. . .:\
I am amused that this is probably the only time in his life “hundreds of girls” would be after him in any fashion.
I got very close to punching one of them last night, but held off at the last second. You never know if the guy knows a bit of Thai boxing. And it would have done little to help me make my point if I had found myself flat on my back after a vicious kick I never saw coming, right?
I wish he had tried to punch someone and ended up knifed and bleeding from his guts in a dark corner somewhere. And nobody’d have given a shit, because this man’s douchiness is so evident it radiates off him in waves.
It’s like the jeans and T-shirt test for a girl. You know how any girl can look fantastic in a little black cocktail dress. I’ve always said that the true test is always to see her in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. If she looks good in those, she’ll look good in anything!=)
Annnnd we’re up to a sexist analogy!
To add insult to injury, I was forced to don long pants in order to visit Wat Phra Kaew, the Temple of the Emerald Buddah. The temple compound is absolutely gorgeous, but to force people to wear shoes and long pants in that kind of heat should be illegal!
Oh, no, not being expected to respect the local traditions! He is Whitey, he is Mighty, and he should be exempt from all rules and regulations!
It’s kind of odd that some aspects of Bangkok could put any Western city to shame, and all the while show you sides straight out of a Third World country when you turn around and face the other way
Fuck you, you smug little shit.
It’s kind of sad to see fat and old Western men walking hand in hand with pretty young Thai girls. They’re absolutely everywhere and not likely to go away. There are a couple of universities here, so hopefully there is a brighter future for many Thai young women.
Oh my god what the fuck. Thailand has tons of universities; Bangkok certainly has more than two and what the fuck is this patronizing bullshit.
Too bad. . . Thai girls have different facial traits than other Asian women. I can see the appeal, certainly. They are beautiful, as well as taller and more shapely than the more petite Asian girls from Japan, Korea, etc. So there will never be any shortage of horny old farts looking for cheap fucks with them. But Christ, when you can’t cross a street corner without having a group of them waving and calling out at you, well that’s a major problem. And the worst thing is that the Thai government doesn’t seem to have much of a problem with the situation. I guess that sex tourism brings in too much money.
YELLOW FEVER YELLOW FEVER RACIST LITTLE COCKSTAIN
God, honkies.
Next: Kuala Lumpur: Mixed Feelings
Poor Thai people. . . That’s the image they have of the West: Dirty old men there for the sex tourism and fucking hippies.
And you, fuckface.
We always seem to think that Asian people are very nice, polite, and reserved, so it’s nice to see them bitch about one another. Haven’t seen this in Thailand, but Malays have no qualms about it. We always see it in the West, with people bitching about Americans, Brits, French, etc. So I couldn’t help laughing when the staff at the hostel would shake their heads and mutter things like “Damned Chinese” or something like that.
Lookie! A white person celebrating Asian-vs-Asian prejudice. Awesome.
Although a Muslim regime
Oh my god what the fuck.
And anime fans, you won’t believe this. I stopped at no less than four anime stores, and NO ONE had ever heard of Makoto Shinkai (still looking for 5 cm per Second and The Place Promised in Our Early Days)!!! Are you kidding me??? I’m in Asia and no one knows shit??? Even worst, only one person knew Hayao Miyazaki!!! Who’s hiring these guys???
ASIANS SHOULD ALL KNOW ABOUT ANIMEEEE. Weeaboos, my friends.
Next, some run-of-the-mill sexism: The Privilege of the Sword. Now I think Ellen Kushner’s writing–what I’ve read of it, being Swordpoint–is shit, boring, and about as clever as cat litter, but…
I am acutely aware that some will grill me for saying this, but Ellen Kushner’s The Privilege of the Sword is, in my humble opinion (which doesn’t count for much, as some will surely point out!), fantasy chick lit.
Chick lit it really isn’t. I mean does he just think anything with a woman on the cover, written by a woman, is…
I’m all for strong and genuine female protagonists, yet this is one of the “girliest” novels I’ve ever read.
OH NOES NOT THE GIRL COOTIES.
I refer to this book as fantasy chick lit because it contains several elements that are associated with “chick lit.” There’s a very “girly” approach to the narrative. It focuses on undying/forbidden love, corny romance, flowers, jewelry, gowns, fabrics, and an inordinate amount of emo moments. For crying out loud, the characters shed more tears in this book than bridesmaids at a wedding! There is only so much crying one can take, after all. In addition, the emo male characters are not authentic.
No comment needed. Cooooooties.
Remember the Elizabeth Moon blow-up? As in, Moon was an Islamophobe and got her con invite rescinded? Well Pat has something to say about that too! Charmingly titled “Islam and Soft-Left Intellectuals: 1 Free Speech: 0.”
WTF??? It’s nice to see that in this soft-Left Obama era, democratic values such as free speech remain the cornerstone of our society. . .
This, of course, comes in response to Elizabeth Moon’s post on Islam. I also picked up the story last month in this post.
Like a fucking caricature, except dead serious. He thinks, of course, that the only people who could possibly take offense at Moon’s xenophobic fuckwaddery can only be “ultra-soft leftists.” Really, just do a search on his blog for “Islam” in general.
Last but not least: “Girls of Geek” calendar. +++++gross.
Dude also thinks Christwire is for real, citing an article by one “Susan B. Xenu” as evidence of everything wrong with America’s xtian fundies. :’)
Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist is a very popular genre blog. What does that say about the SF/F genre? Exactly.
We were talking about starting up a kickstarter project for that Pat-specific meatgrinder, by the way. Who wants to chip in?
EDIT: for posterity, first-world white people’s tears. I’m entirely unsurprised that Amanda Rutter edits YA books. Clutch those pearls harder, honkies.
Alex D MacFarlane (@foxtailedgirl)
/ January 27, 2012In addition, the emo male characters are not authentic.
BRB LOLING FOREVER. His poor masculinity, so terribly maligned!
Ria (@bibliotropic)
/ January 28, 2012“Anime fans, I’m in a country that isn’t the centre of anime and manga creation, but dammit, how can they not know animated characters from shows that may never have watched!” *facepalm*
Though I admit, I had to chuckle a little bit at his comment about fat old western guys walking hand-in-hand with young Thai girls, mostly because he could have been describing my middle-aged father and his new Thai wife.
I used to read Pat’s blog, but he pissed me off one too many times. The final straw was over the Elizabeth Moon Islam debacle, if I recall. Just not worth it.
shardbaenre
/ January 28, 2012I had heard of this guy in passing and seen a sampling of his disgusting thoughts, but wasn’t really familiar with him. He’s gross. Why would you go somewhere just to denigrate it? Massive privilege here. Also, he does realize that those girls might probably think he’s an easy mark and that he looks like the typical douche they come across anyway?
Also, what does he mean by emo male characters? That’s pretty much all of what anime is. Pretty, often shockingly effeminate, emotional emo characters. Especially if they involve mecha. And I’m sorry, but Dresden is emo and so are the principals in most of these neckbeard icons. All of them complaining about how they don’t feel like they’re appreciated or how awesome people should think they are or something. It’s what poorly written books are all about to be honest: some maligned character that sees no or superficial character growth.
acrackedmoon
/ January 28, 2012I’m convinced that he and people like him travel to places specifically so they can feel superior about themselves–never mind that I, personally, think the US for example is a vast yawning shithole… but that’s neither here nor there.
Bingo. But Dresden and similar characters are emo in a way Pat and his ilk can identify with, see, so it’s okay.
Captain Falcon (@psychoxnino)
/ January 28, 2012That travel post was painful to read.
“And anime fans, you won’t believe this. I stopped at no less than four anime stores, and NO ONE had ever heard of Makoto Shinkai (still looking for 5 cm per Second and The Place Promised in Our Early Days)!!! Are you kidding me??? I’m in Asia and no one knows shit??? Even worst, only one person knew Hayao Miyazaki!!! Who’s hiring these guys???”
Yeah, okay, Pat. Pop quiz, hotshot. Who is the current head of state of Malaysia? Or Thailand? Ten to one odds, say that you don’t have a clue.
acrackedmoon
/ January 28, 2012What, do you reckon he even knows who the head of state is in any given European country? Exactly.
Somhairle Kelly (@Eithin)
/ January 28, 2012“It focuses on undying/forbidden love, corny romance, flowers, jewelry, gowns, fabrics, and an inordinate amount of emo moments.” – but that’s enough about Robert Jordan.
acrackedmoon
/ January 28, 2012And here I thought for a moment he was talking about David Eddings, too.
Zach Rosenberg
/ January 28, 2012One little pet peeve I has as a law student? The idiocy of a great many of my countrymen on freedom of speech. You can say whatever you want without legal repercussion. It doesn’t mean a group like a con can’t decide to do something if they find you reprehensible.
I want to tell them to call their boss a stupid fuck and when real consequences occur, claim ‘freedom of speech.’ See how far it gets them.
In other words, it’s a way for the stupid and ignorant to try to avoid consequences they earned
Gourmet Neurovore
/ January 29, 2012Also, it should be remembered that freedom of speech is primarily a US legal concept. The ‘net is international.
Next Friday
/ January 30, 2012Freedom of speech as an amendment might be a US legal concept, but it doesn’t mean that is not seen as a value across the world. However when this concept is thrown around during the heated internet discussions about third-rate fantasy books, it trivializes the experiences of people who have faced non-illusionary problems due to the lack of the said freedom.
Emil Söderman
/ January 28, 2012I think his comment was meant less as “People in asia don’t know Makoto Shinkai?” as much as “People running anime stores don’t know about Makoto Shinkai?” Which is a bit more reasonable (although not all that much, american comic-book shops tends to have a distinct lack of Hergé, Goscinny & Uderzo, etc. while any european dito lacking Tintin or Asterix would be considered odd at the very least)
Did you mention the way Pat advertises his blog? IE: by spamming threads linking to it everywhere and everytime for no reason whatsoever? Because that’s kind of annoying too.
Zach Rosenberg
/ January 28, 2012Are there any other incidents of him being a sexist or racist? I tend to tune him out on boards when I see him, so I admit I’m rather behind the loop.
acrackedmoon
/ January 28, 2012I understand that all you need to do is search his blog for “Islam.”
Zach Rosenberg
/ January 28, 2012I can see a lot of him being…well, moronic on the subject, but nothing quite on the level of this opening post. I might be REAL desensitized to Islamophobia by virtue of the current political climate, I confess
Captain Falcon (@psychoxnino)
/ January 29, 2012“I understand that all you need to do is search his blog for “Islam.””
Why the fuck did I do that to myself?
From the post on Saladin Ahmed’s criticism of Muslim characters in videogames:
“Problem is, I can already see people throw their hands up in the air and scoff at Saladin’s article. I’m afraid that one of the comment will also be echoed by many readers: “maybe if moderate muslims took a more front and center position against extremists, and took back your religion from facists that seek to define it and jihad as some war against non believers, instead of the internal struggle with faith.”"
Passive aggressively implying that he holds that view.
Yes, because it’s clearly the other side’s responsibility to correct your misconceptions. Because it’s easy to stand up to extremists in areas where radical Islamic attacks target and kill more Muslims than non-Muslims. Because even if they did (and I’m not saying they don’t), you’d totally take notice and be there to have their backs. Maybe if moderate Americans took a more front and center position against extremists and took back our country from facists who seek to define it and freedom as some war against everyfuckingone else, instead of the pretty little catchphrase that it is. *deaded by NDAA*
Zach Rosenberg
/ January 29, 2012It also ignores that there IS a great issue with Islamic extremists by moderate Muslims. You’d simply be hard pressed to see that with American media. Of course, many will ignore the vast majority of Muslims are very content to live and let live. Hell, a lot of them probably think most of the world’s Muslims live in the Middle East and ignore places like Indonesia, Turkey, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India, the United States, etc. With large Muslim populations. I’m certainly not a fan of any overtly religious state (much more a secular government person myself), but a good deal of complaints can easily be made at the US for its constant struggle with Christian fundamentalists who seek to undermine the country at the federal and state level.
Jonathan McCalmont
/ January 29, 2012Well said.
The bigotry, stupidity and moral imbecility of Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist are almost legendary and it is always good to have someone write something pointing out quite how terrible a blog it is. Of course, it doesn’t surprise me at all that someone with ties to the publishing industry should be outraged at your anger. Pointing out the racism and sexism of a PR blog gets in the way of selling books and squeeing over press releases.
acrackedmoon
/ January 29, 2012The amusing thing is that I didn’t even think this post would get much attention; I only ran it up after the latest round of “oh, wow, Pat is quite a dick isn’t he?” and I was reminded of the Thailand post.
DR
/ January 29, 2012Pat is an odd mixture of punching bag and golden boy around the community. There are going to be those of us who read this and think that it is quite right and well-deserved, but there’s a good amount of people who somehow like Pat’s god-awful reviews and inane content (which best describes Rutter’s blog before she was handed an editorship) that’ll come out the woodwork to defend him and it. So, it doesn’t surprise me if this post gets a bit more attention than you expected.
acrackedmoon
/ January 29, 2012What puzzled me about Rutter is that she went from “teehee! I’m enjoying all this attention, also basking in my white first-world supremacy!” to “oh my god I don’t want people to think I’m racist what will I do” fauxpologies so quick I’m surprised she didn’t get whiplash.
naishee
/ January 29, 2012“So far out of line, I do believe it’s considered slander and is likely illegal.”
What…? So many levels of “What…?”
acrackedmoon
/ January 29, 2012American, at a guess.
rizzrustbolt
/ January 31, 2012“Slander is spoken. In print it’s called ‘Libel’.”
faustusnotes
/ January 29, 2012American comic book stores don’t have Asterix? Or Tintin? Wtf?
angelrenoir
/ January 30, 2012At the very least I know it’s hard to find Asterix and Tintin in regular bookstores here in my town. I’ve only gone to, like, ONE comic book specialist store and all they’ve got are the stuff like Marvel and DC and a few manga, but not Asterix or Tintin.
Emil Söderman
/ January 30, 2012^^ More likely british. American slander laws are pretty much nonexistent.
I’d be more worried about being charged with threatening someone with murder, though.
^ Some do, but a lot of them don’t. There’s apparently americans (and not even a rare thing or anything) who have never even heard of Tintin.
Em Edwards
/ January 30, 2012Silent but Deadly
There are quite a few ways to recognize a racist tirade as it explodes in a self-imolating fireball on the internet. And to recognize racists in general. In hard-right politics, in kooky Christian sects, among men with shaven heads and dubious taste in Nazi tattoos, or those who like to sex-ation in foreign lands, identification isn’t rocket science.
Harder to identify but no less noisome are other variants. Some hang in the room invisibly polluting it. Ranking high among these in terms of both subscription and damage done on a global scale, is racism by proxy – racism by consent.
Chances are good that if you live in a Western democracy, are not a person of colour, or a member of a zealously persecuted fringe demographic* – you’re a stealth racist. A silent but deadly, closeted white person. A person who when push comes to shove, knows where they stand. In the circle which clearly states “not a racist, really!”
[* In case you think that being a geek or a Jedi or some other whimsy on your local census makes you part of a persecuted demographic, you're not. You're just a moron. Being poor doesn't count either. There are still more poor people in the world who don't look like you, than do, and until that equation capsizes, you're not adding to the debate by noting that poor people suffer no matter what the colour of their skin or presence or absence of testicles. ]
People however, are rubbish at self-recognition so it is not surprising that many of those elbowing their way into the centre of the circle are in fact proxy racists. I know it sounds bad and the numbers are depressing. But stay with me. Choke back the impulse for indignation. Have another latte, breath, b̶r̶a̶y̶ pray, and let’s calmly talk about it.
Racism isn’t just a fear of the other, or a habit of using pejorative ethnic epithets. You can have “no problem with those people” and still be a racist so-and-so. Because even if you’re not actively, monstrously racist, your elected national government and prevailing culture are hard at work being so on your behalf.
We can look at a few handy identifiers, and because everyone loves a list.
If you would like…
* Cheaper prices on petrol or coffee
*The banks and financial markets to get back to being less scary
*English/French/German et al. preserved as your official language on all signage
*Your national flag proudly displayed at sporting functions
*Sane limits placed on immigration
*People to be nicer on your blog
*To pay less taxes this year
*A cat/dog or other common household pet which you were denied as a small child
*Someone to keep those bastards in Iran from developing nuclear weapons
If you can check off any or all of these points then you’re a strong candidate for this sort of racism. Even if you can’t, this list is just the tip of the melting ice-berg. There are thousands more like them, and like you, each is white, pristine, and uniquely special.
Anyway, I’m sure you have your reasons, just like your mom did when she told you that you couldn’t have a turtle for your eighth birthday, but it mostly boils down to this racism by proxy. You of course, not your mother. Who knows why she didn’t let you have the goddam turtle.
As for the rest, countries don’t go around the world doing nice things and not expecting a higher than average return on their investment. It is impossible to unravel Western humanitarian programs and the tendrils of national & commercial interests. Colonialism has always intermingled conquest and providing a cultural ‘uplift.’ It is a sure vaccination against self-sufficiency and dogged independence.
And it works, even where it fails. By both seizing valuable resources and dictating the emergent narrative in formerly colonized regions, the West has made a killing exploiting this latent and not-so-latent racism. Much of the success and many of the advancements which supposedly elevate the West over the barbarous other, not to mention the soft Western lifestyle still enjoyed by a large percentage of its population, have come through this appropriation.
Other places can’t be trusted to vote in free elections. Which is funny, because no elections are free in the West. They cost millions and only millionaires for the most part are elected. And of course, no one ever cheats, uses their influence or millions improperly, and no one, certainly no one, is purposely disenfranchised out of their vote. This is why, at least in part, we want to invade your country. To share all this goodness.
Other reasons include the fact that ‘you’ can’t be trusted to possess enriched plutonium. Or horde all o̶u̶r̶ your oil, bitches. You certainly can’t refuse to let us lease permanent military bases within a handy distance of China. Nor can you be left to mismanage your own finances and loan repayments – especially since we know they’re made on terms which all but guarantee you’ll default on them within the first three years. Not like our own banks, our unshakable, transparent, financial industry, and scores of wealthy off-shore loving citizens.
Of course, if you are like us and are lucky enough to live in a Western democracy, chances are also good that you have already ‘freely’ elected a bunch of wealthy, w̶h̶i̶t̶e̶, middle-aged, Christian males – both as CEOs and as Supreme Commanding Officers. They know this, you know this, and a couple of token people of colour or the female sex let in here and there hardly constitute a statistically valid sample which bucks the general trend.
In exchange, you have only first world problems.
This is a sweet deal and proxy racists have no interest in upsetting the banana boat. God knows you’ve got it hard enough as it is with a retracting economy.
Sure, you’d never shout abuse at your Peruvian office cleaner or your eastern-European au-pair. For one thing, you’re a little hazy about their exact immigration status but more importantly, because you’re not a racist. But you’re not going to sell your house (not that you could, seeing how the bank owns it) and move to some third world, war torn shithole either – where finding a supply of clean water and not getting gang raped on a daily basis is a more dominant concern.
And you’re not, absolutely not going to deny yourself what flows to you freely, by dint of your position, privilege, and skin colour. Though you will deny that it makes you anything but fully conscious of how hard it is for women to get an education in Afghanistan.
Thanks. That’s very white of you. I’m sure they’re all glad you noticed.
Of course the world, even the one out there, is more complicated than this. Safer and more capable of making its way without Western supernannies patrolling its borders with unmanned predator drones raining down death. It is rich and diverse with its own problems, the roots of which reach back through the three to six thousands years of continuous human habitation, deeply intertwined with the bottomless culture which has informed the regions which we most like to wipe the shit off our boots on. But they’re all very glad you’ve stopped by to express your first world concerns about fraudulent voting.
I’m not here to offer a solution. I’m a proxy racist. But I’m clear about it. And what you really don’t want to do is go off on the interwebs insisting you’ve been subject to the same persecution as people who have to deal with racism of this sort or any of the many other types currently in circulation. Thank fuck you’ve shown restraint, because after all (as if we didn’t know this), the law – that colour blind institution – is on your side.
You don’t want to witter on that you’ve lived in Japan, or had a holiday on Hawaii and someone called you a haole. Don’t tell people you know what it is like, or worse, that it isn’t an issue anymore in your circles and people shouldn’t be called out on such things when they’re just saying what’s borderline normal among progressive white folk. You’ve all been to the same meetings, and agreed on this shit. Didn’t the rest of the world get the memo?
And most of all, you don’t want to compare their suffering with yours because your mother didn’t love you enough to buy you a turtle. I’m sure that your mother was right and that you were a precocious little shit at eight and likely didn’t deserve one.
—————————————————————————————————-
E. M. Edwards is a white, middle aged, semi-straight, low-fat, chai-latte drinking proxy racist. He has had the boundless good fortune purchased by his ancestors’ canny slaughter of the ancestors of other less fortunate people, and whose ill-gotten fruit he has prodigally squandered. And it is true, he never got a turtle.
——————————————————————————————————
saajanpatel
/ January 31, 2012Great post Em Edwards.
“Chances are good that if you live in a Western democracy, are not a person of colour, or a member of a zealously persecuted fringe demographic* – you’re a stealth racist.”
In America, at least, being a minority doesn’t stop you from being a racist though not necessarily a stealth one. The minor benefits of positive racism are likely to pale against the negative stereotypes.
“Being poor doesn’t count either. There are still more poor people in the world who don’t look like you, than do, and until that equation capsizes, you’re not adding to the debate by noting that poor people suffer no matter what the colour of their skin or presence or absence of testicles.”
I’m curious about this statement, because I think class is a major factor in today’s world, and I’m curious how it would, statistically, stack up against other prejudices as a variable in probability of whatever we’d define as success.
Next Friday
/ February 1, 2012I’ve noticed that class as a factor is generally downplayed in America, or is reduced to just having money vs.not having money. Even in Writing the Other by Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward class was glossed over and dismissed as insignificant. While it’s true that in America everyone is basically watches the same crap and shares the same mainstream cultural references, in other cultures it could be a gap that is impossible to cross, with or without money. And perhaps everywhere having class privilege while growing up would help you to bounce in case of a setback while someone without this privilege would have a much harder time to move up.
saajanpatel
/ February 1, 2012I can attest, and having had discussions with my friends, that our definitions of “hard work” and “challenge” have been filtered/diluted by the privileges we had as members of America’s upper middle class.
I did okay for myself, but looking back I can attest that my work ethic wouldn’t have gotten me very far without the varied benefits of class privilege.
There’s a whole plethora of fail among this group from my experiences and my own continually corrected behaviors/opinions, and I didn’t feel like race or gender was a factor when it came to understanding class.
creepyhomeless
/ January 31, 2012Carry on being awesome. All I can add is:
One is as stupid as it can get, the other doesn’t screen the comments: together they embarrass themselves. They are Pat The Farang and The Hunted Witch Of The West! Treat them with care: they cry a lot. And keep this in mind: thick-skinned they are not.
I bet he has never left the Aryan Nations, assuming he has ever left his room. He’s just trying too hard to impress other ignorant, sheltered whiteys. The part about women throwing themselves at him is particularly suspicious, especially assuming he looks like the typical gritty grimdark fanturd.
British tourists who visit my country have the same entitled, colonialistic, bitchy attitude. Not bothering trying to speak the local language: check. Acting like they own the fucking place: check. Old fucks hitting on girls who are a quarter their age: check. Pissing in the middle of the street: check. Expecting special treatment in supermarkets, restaurants and whatnot: check. When called out on their jerkass behavior, they cry “racism”. Sound familiar?
acrackedmoon
/ January 31, 2012It’s simple: they are a hivemind!
That Luke (@lukeandetc)
/ January 31, 2012Totally agree about Pat: raging douche, ignorant, opinionated, entitled, vacuous blog, etc.
On the other hand–I wouldn’t say his popularity says anything about the SF/F genre, so much as it does the populist, young, web-savvy core of SF/F fandom.
saajanpatel
/ February 3, 2012One thing I think is lost on Americans, upon reflection, is this fictional separation between the industries of prostitution and porn. As ‘They Shoot Porn Stars Don’t They?’ shows, this fictional blurring creates an illusion about sex trafficking in the US vs. elsewhere:
http://theyshootstars.com/
WARNING: Sexual blackmail/degradation, rape, abuse. But note this isn’t her attempting to report in a titillating fashion IMHO, but rather frank depiction of the problem.
Zach Rosenberg
/ February 3, 2012Being fair, Saajan, there are a lot of people who’ve pointed that out in the US, and have brought up issues in the porn industry like its well documented exploitation of young, off the bus women, common HIV flareups, nonexistent worker protection…a lot of porn companies boast about their rigorous testing schedules, but the day I trust self regulation is the day I vote Republican, deny global warming, and scream about immigrants taking my job.
It’s pretty shameful how some things are treated in the US. Inroads to improvement, however, have begun, with new regulations passed and proposed, and how law enforcement is treating people forced into sex trafficking as victims instead of criminals more often now.
saajanpatel
/ February 3, 2012Zach – Thanks, definitely good to know this.
Just to clarify, my point wasn’t that nothing is being done to acknowledge issues in the porn industry, but rather the ignorance of people who’d bemoan prostitution in Thailand while legalized sex trafficking goes on in the Western World.
(Note I’m not making a statement about erotica in general, but the actual conditions and practices in at least a subset of American produced pornography.)
Zach Rosenberg
/ February 3, 2012No, I certainly understand and it’s a valid critique. It’s probably a case of intentional blindness and partially that admitting to be a porn aficionado doesn’t really HAPPEN much, so nobody really comes out and says they researched this or they’ve noticed it and gets widespread coverage.
I believe sex trafficking is certainly terrible in other parts of the world. I know people who have done work with the Helena Bamber Foundation that have helped prostitutes and former prostitutes in Thailand, all over eastern Europe, areas of Africa, etc. It’s definitely a big problem elsewhere too. I think the big issue in the US is pretending it basically doesn’t exist in our own backyard
Em Edwards
/ February 3, 2012I’m not interested in commenting here on minority vs minority prejudice. It exists, but isn’t relevant to the discussion.
Again, I’m in agreement that the perpetual struggle between poor and rich and the effects of class systems are “major factor(s) in today’s world.” They have been major factors in most historical periods, and will continue to be so I suspect, for some if not all time to come.
But global poverty is still not equally spread. Even within the West, minorities suffer a larger percentage of endemic poverty than do whites by percentage of population. And they have had the hardest time recently. They are the most threatened by a wide range of future calamities.
In America, minority groups as a whole have experienced less economic growth prior to 2007, with pre-existing higher unemployment, lower wages, lower per capita household earnings, and overall higher poverty rates. They are also less likely to possess the same level of job security, access to quality childcare, and health care as enjoyed by their white peers.
During economic instability and recession, these levels have continued their downward trend, and have dropped faster than among whites. So, with less to start, fewer individuals and groups benefiting from economic boom times, a smaller pool of entrenched wealth and social position with which to weather adverse conditions, not surprisingly, most minorities have been affected more quickly and more deeply by the affects of local and world wide economic catastrophe and cuts in government spending.
Globally, the figures remain depressing. Poverty and the affects of climate change and other detrimental factors such as war and natural disasters have keep levels of poverty still very high in comparison to Western nations, and despite the boost provided by powerhouses such as India and China.
Add to this that much of the economic inequality we have and continue to see is inextricably bound up with both past policies of colonialism and the current pursuit of national interests on behalf of Western countries and Western multinationals, it is safe to say that poverty and racism continue to be linked. As is its unfair distribution outside “first world” nations.
With a bit of searching, I’m sure you can come up with more exact figures, but I’d be greatly surprised if they refute any of these general trends.
In short, if you were poor and a minority before, you are likely to be even more poor and disadvantaged by current conditions than if you were poor and white. Especially if you are living outside the first world. This is not to make light of the plight of millions of poor whites who are suffering globally, but their existence hardly negates the gross inequality suffered alongside poverty by the other.
saajanpatel
/ February 4, 2012Thanks Em Edwards – another great post.
As a member of a racial minority (in the US at least), but one who acknowledges their class privilege, I do worry about the effects of class and if it is a force more pernicious than racism.
As you point out, the issues are not so cut and dry as that.