Skim Until Offended!

[agilebrit]

The handsome and hard-working Larry Correia has a handy Internet Arguing Checklist, which I just saw a beautiful example of. The blogger will remain nameless, as will the person he was "replying" to (or past, really), but damn if he didn't hit 1, 2, 4, and 7 on the list without even trying.

The "inconvenient fact" that he (and by extension, the rest of his side of the cohort in this absolutely ridiculous argument we seem to be having) is ignoring is this: His side does not wish to engage the other side. His side wishes to either silence or assimilate the other side. His side assiduously wishes that the other side would just go away. And so whining that the other side has finally thrown up its hands and said "How the hell do you even engage in a dialogue with people like this? It's useless to even try!" is disingenous.

I'm sorry, I'm not going to just stand here while you berate me. You've put me in a no-win situation. If I yell back, then I'm a bully and mean and how dare I. If I walk away, then I'm unwilling to engage. Any disagreement is seen as badthink, because you are by-God right and so anyone who has a different opinion (even if that person is squarely in the demographic of the Marginalized that you are attempting, however poorly, to "defend") is now in a Burn The Witch situation.

You know what? How about we all write what we want to write and read what we want to read and let the marketplace decide. Considering the fact that self-pubbing is no longer the Kiss of Death it was even five years ago, the market is certainly open enough that we can all do what we bloody well wish. If you want to write QUILTBAG Check-Box Message Fic, have a party. If I want to write my Kick-Ass Heteronormative Hero Who Badly Fails the Bechdel Test, I should be permitted to have a similar party.

Because guess what? This place really is big enough for the two of us--and all the Us in between. And "diversity" (a) should be more than skin deep; and (b) shouldn't mean that one side is silenced forever.

Comments

[fierynotes.livejournal.com]

I'm torn as hell here.

On one hand, I'm a mostly-sane liberal, and I've seen most of the tactics he described used by shit-flingers on the opposite side of me. (I can't say how often my team does it, as that raises the subject of confirmation bias.) I'm also a member of a group that certain vocal conservatives attack regularly, for what I consider stupid reasons. (If I seem angry at times, this is one of the reasons for it. These days, my anger issues and depression are muted considerably by the sudden lack of a crippling vitamin D deficiency, but they haven't entirely gone away.)

That said, he strikes me as a mostly-sane conservative who's had QUITE enough of this shit, and I sympathize with the position. I wonder what he'd think of the SJWs on tumblr, if he ever encountered them. If he were to write about them, I'd want all the popcorn I'm North America while I watched.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

At this point, Larry is mostly pointing and laughing, because this has been ongoing for weeks now and we're all sick to death of it. I don't even know if he's seen either the original post that spawned the response (I'm betting he has), or the response (iffier), or my response to the response (probably not).

Both sides are talking past each other now. And I've got friends on both sides being mean to each other while I sit on the sidelines figuring that neither side wants to hear from me--the one side because I'm an icky girl getting my icky girl cooties in SF (although the whole thing about that is not something I'm actually hearing from anyone; my people are all "Hey, the water's fine, come on in," but apparently some people in some circles are hearing it? IDK), and the other side because I'm an icky conservative Christian who should be Down With The Struggle because I'm a woman, dammit, and how can I not walk in lockstep with the groupthink?

So. Meh. Whatever. I should just write my own fiction (which has deadlines, dammit) and ignore these ridiculous shenanigans. It would be better for my blood pressure.

Because it's crazy. My people (all of My People) have lost their collective minds.

[fierynotes.livejournal.com]

If I weren't so busy stabbing babies*, I'd ask you for links, and I'd use an icon with Data from ST:NG to do it. "Could you please link me to the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing."

* -- Note to anyone on agilebrit's f-list who might be alarmed by this comment: I'm a phlebotomist, and about three months ago, I graduated to drawing blood from infants. I don't go around, you know, stabbing babies.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

Oh, God, Brent Spiner is going to be in SLC next month for the FanX and I am postively giddy--mainly because he's the face of one of Ben's friends in this massive roleplay world mainly populated by characters created by a friend and me. Which makes me weird, and I will cop to that.

There are so many links, and this thing has metastasized completely out of control. It started with a kerfuffle within SFWA and controversy over a cover on the bulletin and an article by a couple of old dudes that apparently bunched some panties, was piled on by someone else declaring that she wanted to actually end (not mitigate, end) binary gender roles in SFF, and some people going "what a good idea" and others going "how the hell would that even work"--and now it's everyone bitchfacing at everyone else.

It's a mess. Can't we all just get along without crapping on what other people enjoy?