Thorns

My list of links to post was getting ridiculous, so I have come up with a hopefully more workable system, and will try to divide the backlog into digestible chunks.

"Current" here means, uh, 2017 in some cases >.>
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(I wanted to argue with someone on twitter and this is way too complex for 140 characters)

A hole a lot of activists seem to fall into is thinking that the axis of oppression they're fighting is the central oppression, the one from all others flow. If people just put their energy into this, the REAL fight, all the others would fall like dominos.

I have seen people argue this about ecomonic inequality, sexism, homophobia, ableism, racism (both in general and against specific ethnic groups), everything. I once read a very compelling argument by bell hooks that the Real Underlying Oppression is against children.

In every case the argument is (a) if you fight X, all the others improve and (b) There is an underlying element of X to all oppressions.

Which is true! But it's true for all of them. Everything is connected. It's all the same struggle. If you battle one, you battle them all. If one becomes worse, all the others become worse too.
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Disability:
Boundaries, limitations, and the hell that is other people.

Gender:
The view that computers are technology but sewing isn't is a sexist stitch-up

Race and culture:
A few disjointed thoughts on other cultures and diversity in SFF
how to follow an eclectic path, minus the cultural appropriation (about paganism)
Why I prefer "black" from "rantings of an aboriginal feminist"

Australian politics:
GetUp! and wave at ‘hot’ climate catastrophe
NICE ONE GEORGE (on the human rights commisioner)

Class:
Cyberlibertarians’ Digital Deletion of the Left (Did I post this already?)
Why we should give free money to everyone
In the Name of Love on "loving what you do"

Disability:
Alt text

I'm listening to the audiobook of "Debt, the first 5000 years" by David Graeber while I play video games and it's fantastic, exactly the modern left wing exporation of economics I've been wanting, and legally available for free.

My dodgy take on some interesting ideas so far (up to chapter 3):
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Bullying & Goodreads I found this interesting because it's such a blatant example of people using "bullying" (aka criticism) as an excuse to be actual bullies.

On being considered a Fake Geek Girl I like this in particular (as opposed to various other similar essays by geekier women, which make different but equally valid points) because she really ISN'T a "real" geek by some definitions, but that doesn't mean she's fake. She's just who she is, with the interests she has (which are kind of geeky and kind of not), and she can't help it if people insist on a false Geek/Mundane dichotomy and then complain when she doesn't fit.

In general I've been thinking about "real fans". And as much as part of me kicks and screams that they are Not Real Fans and Don't Love Canon Like It Deserves, I think I have to accept that people who are only into (a)Jane Austen through the adaptations or (b)That Popular Thing I Love (Homestuck, for example) for the generic slash are totally justified in their tastes. Especially since there are plenty of books I'm only into from the adaptations, and canons where I vastly prefer the OOC schmoopy fanfic (sometimes even the juggernaut slash pairing! I find fanon John/Rodney way more entertaining than Stargate Atlantis the actual show, for example. YES, I KNOW, I AM PART OF THE PROBLEM) How the different forms of fannishness can coexist without stomping all over each other quite so much I am less sure.

The golden age Interesting take on how to head towards a truly equal society. I think that even if we ignore global warming and other similar practical hurdles, it glosses over how and why public attitudes have changed worldwide, it's not ALL The Capitalist Conspiracy brainwashing us with Fox News etc, and also seems focused on the abstract instead of looking at various approaches to social democracy worldwide (OUTSIDE EUROPE/THE US EVEN OMG). He does update with, for example, an acknowledgement that childcare is work too, but I think a more thorough analysis of disability theory etc would greatly benefit the analysis. One thing I've heard is that a more heterogeneous society erodes public support for egalitarianism, because people think "I'm ok supporting people like me, but not people like them" Not sure how to combat that, beyond trying to fight racism etc (which are obviously good goals regardless :)) Still, becoming disabled has really made me notice and question the emphasis on "being productive".

I'm currently reading "The Making of the English Working Class" by E. P. Thompson. I'm almost certainly not going to finish it all 800+ pages before I have to return it to the library, but what I've read has been interesting. I keep finding parallels with the current situation. Reading #OccupyOz captures the mood, but its critics are too busy demanding the possible to be realistic and Occupy Australia and the Antipodean “bubble”, which criticise criticisms from the Left of the Occupy movement within Australia, there is a common paradox: that the most effective way for those outside the ruling class to effect change is to join the ruling class, and that this is used a carrot to get people to focus on being upwardly mobile and just trust that those in power have their best interests at heart.

Reading 17th century politicians arguing that property owners are the only people sufficiently invested in the country to be able to vote responsibly reminds me rather of certain modern Republicans :/

Two half finished thoughts:
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Evicting rioters' families from their homes? There's a horrible logic to it

I hate this pattern of punishing people for behaviours associated with poverty by making them more poor. I'm not saying the rioters were blameless political dissidents fighting for freedom or whatever, but the economic situation was obviously related to them feeling like rioting was a reasonable action (Although David Cameron disagrees), and I can't see how pushing their entire family onto the street is going to help matters. See also the the Australian government's tendency to cut people off welfare for sneezing in the wrong direction.

Cleaning out my "ready to post" folder, I wrote this ages ago but I can see it being useful to link to at some point.

I just saw Pretty Woman for the first time. MY GOD SO CREEPY. It's one long male power fantasy of having enough money to make a pretty, sweet natured lower class girl fall in love with you, and do and be whatever you want without once having to make a commitment or say "I love you" (seriously, never. Not even at the end). Because you see she's a sex worker, so her standards are so low that not being a complete douchebag all the time is more than she would ever expect! You don't need to show her respect or care about her feelings, as long as you give her enough gifts and say the odd nice thing from time to time she will be blissfully happy.
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One of the characters in the upcoming Dragon Age game has been significantly lightened in promotional material. On the plus side all the comments last I checked were angry about it, yay for a fandom I'm in not being angrymaking :) (Also, totally shallow, but I am SO impatient for DA2 to come out, and am glad the companions seem slightly more diverse this time, even if the PR department disagrees)


After my post about class in speculative fic I've been pondering more lefty fantasy, and today remembered Maid Marian and her Merry Men, a humourous 80s/90s kids show written by Tony Robinson which retold the Robin Hood legend with Maid Marian in the lead as a working class freedom fighter. It's sometimes painfully dorky and not always exactly deep, but it was fun for what it was and had some clever social commentary every now and then.

I have actual coherent thought I was hoping to make into a post but whenever I try I fall asleep. So! Links.

On generous listening I have linked to my reply which has some of my thoughts on the topic. (And when I am less sleepy, I will reply to her reply!)

Dirty Girls and Bad Feminists: A Few Thoughts on “I Love Dick”

This is an old post but it connects with some stuff I've been thinking about. I've been thinking about which criticisms of social justice activism etc I find helpful, and I think saying "What I/we should do.." rather than "What they should do.." is a big part of it.

On note of Classism trumping Racism A nice rebuttal to a point of view one encounters in various places.

Why Accuracy in Historical M/M Romance Matters This is similar to my approach to historical f/f and m/f etc. I have a niggling feeling that I'd disagree with some of it if I was more awake, though.