don't be surprised if somebody shoves back

[cimorene]

We've finally reached a point in the racefail where all some people can do is stare in shock and feebly say things like "Duuuuuude."

vito_excalibur, in a comment here, sums up the "dude"ness handily with

John Ringo never acted like this! I was going to put my OH JOHN RINGO NO tag on my last post, and then refrained, because I didn't want to associate John Ringo with this behavior.

Scroll down in that post for links to Elizabeth Bear's try at crashing the helicopter of egomania, alight with the flames of self-pity, into the fail cruiseliner at the exact moment that it sailed over the edge of the Waterfall of Condescension at the end of the Racist River. Also for delux_vivens's bottle of White Woman's Tears.

Rydra Wong, the queen of link collectors, summarises the entire imbroglio from its January inception here, because tl;dr shouldn't be an excuse.

There's that whole tone argument again that people like Elizabeth Bear keep tirelessly bringing up, no matter how many times it's dissected, explained, logically demolished and placed in its historical context. (Let me apologise in advance for the dumbness of this metaphor. I know it's dumb; I just don't have a better parable to hand. Feel free to correct me.)

When I was in kindergarten I had hair long enough to sit on that I wore to school in a braid most days. Little Timmy thought it was hilarious to pull my braid because he was an asshole. I told the teacher, but she first told me that she couldn't do anything if she didn't catch him in the act, and then she said "You take care of you, and I'll take care of Little Timmy." Nevermind that the only reason I was concerned with Little Timmy was that he was sneaking up behind me while I was trying to learn to read and pulling my hair - I was expected to mind my own business and presumably just shave my head. I cried to my mom. An authority figure had betrayed me: I didn't know what to do. "Handle it yourself," said my mom. "The next time he does it, step on his foot hard. He'll listen to you, anyway, when he wouldn't listen to the teacher." I was shocked because at the age of five I was already convinced that violence was bad, but the next time he came up and pulled my hair I was having a bad day. I turned around and stomped on his foot. He told the teacher, and instead of telling him to mind his own business, she told me not to do it again. But that's okay: I didn't have to. He never pulled my hair again.

Now, in the world of race debates, it doesn't work like that. Institutionalised racism is pelting people of colour with slings and arrows, sand in the face, foot-stomps, jostles, discrimination, violence, and a corrupt justice system all the time. As we've seen, calling racism out and meeting it head-on doesn't make it withdraw. For everyone who might see a glimmer of perspective, three more will jump in and accuse anti-racists of being emotional and savage or cowardly and nonexistent (yes, both at once - you wanted logic?). But you know what really doesn't work in the world of race debates either, Elizabeth Bear?

Cease-fire.

If fans of colour stop talking about race, that's saying: "Go ahead. Pull my hair."

Comments

[cimness.livejournal.com]

The idea that ignoring dissent is somehow a good or moral position for them is definitely out there: even when they acknowledge their opponents are not just trolls, someone can always talk as if stopping the discussion (so we can all "calm down", of course!) is somehow a virtue. It's the other side of the tone argument and one of the most poisonous parts of the privilege we've seen here - trying to make the people who disagree with them disappear, which is what this is all about, of course, at bottom. I bet they were patting themselves on the back for ignoring you instead of engaging in pointless debate or encouraging these people, or however they characterise it in their minds. It's really sickening.