(no subject)

[exsequar]

SPN fandom is at it again, but this time in a truly horrifying way that is hard to even comprehend.

Someone has written a J2 AU Bigbang set in post-earthquake Haiti. She uses the setting of a massive (RECENT) disaster that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Haitians as a prop and a background for a love story between two white men.

....

Better people than I have said many things about this, and they are all worth reading. There is nothing that ISN'T wrong about this, including the author's reactions to criticisms falling back on the old "I didn't MEAN to" trope. We know this fandom often fails, but this is a particularly pungent brand of privilege and racism that turns my stomach.

Please read about it and say something, as the OP at that link says.

Comments

[ladyflowdi.livejournal.com]

Sweet Jesus, that's a bag of fail right there. WHAT WAS SHE THINKING. How did her betas not stop her??? Are you telling me they all feel the same way she does -- that it's absolutely okay to have a major disaster that happened yesterday be the back drop to your fucking slash fic?

Her "I didn't mean to" is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Of course she meant to. She wrote 20k of it, didn't she?

[exsequar.livejournal.com]

By "I didn't mean to", what she was saying was "I didn't MEAN to take advantage of a horrible tragedy for my own wish-fulfillment colonial narrative! I MEANT to deal with it sensitively [hint: unpossible] and I think I did a good job at it". Hint #2: YOU DIDN'T. BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T.

>:(

[ladyflowdi.livejournal.com]

"I didn't MEAN to take advantage of a horrible tragedy for my own wish-fulfillment colonial narrative! I MEANT to deal with it sensitively [hint: unpossible] and I think I did a good job at it". Hint #2: YOU DIDN'T. BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T.

I just. This reminds me a little of that 1920 mentality about people (read: rich white people) trekking off to the furthest reaches of the planet to bring civilization to uncouth barbarians in loincloths. I mean, her Haitian character speaks pidgin English -- so you tell me. My inner anthropology nerd cringes in horror at this entire failboat.

What gets me is that she could have written this an entirely different way -- she could have researched the disaster, and brought a lot of the issues and problems facing Haiti today out into the fandom forum to be discussed. If she felt she really, really had to write this fic, she should have written it with decency and respect, and as a means to open a discussion about the socioeconomic and cultural ramifications facing the region in the next few years. What the disaster in Haiti should NOT have been is a backdrop for her fucking love story.

This burns of white privilege so hard I'm surprised the internet didn't go up in flames.

[himhilien.livejournal.com]

My inner anthropology nerd cringes in horror at this entire failboat.

Me too.

What gets me is that she could have written this an entirely different way -- she could have researched the disaster, and brought a lot of the issues and problems facing Haiti today out into the fandom forum to be discussed.

But doing research and actually respecting the people and the country they live in would be so much work! IT'S ALL ABOUT THE GHEY SEX. >:| >:| >:|