Cultural Appropriation and Celebration of Failure to Read the Screen

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andiwrite

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Historically, that's a fairly new standpoint, and it's still very privileged. A lot of the people who have had their stories and voices appropriated were not in a position to write, and if they were there was almost no chance their version would be preferred over the more privileged, louder, and yes, freer-to-write mob. Which has been traditionally, in my country at least, white, educated, middle-class and male.

That other voices have reached a position from which they can be heard demanding the right to reclaim their stories and voices might feel like a terrible injustice to some. It really isn't.

Yeah, I understand. It just worries me how extreme it's getting. Are we going to reach a point where authors will be shunned for writing POC characters? I never thought I would have to worry about having a black MC, and now with how touchy people are, I've at times felt tempted to cut those characters. It really upsets me because I love my POC characters and if I only wrote about white people, I feel people would say THAT was racist too.

I'm not trying to be argumentative or insensitive. I just don't get it. What IS an author supposed to do? I've seen just as many complaints that there are no POC main characters. So I started making an effort to put more POC in my books, and then I started seeing all these complaints about stealing stories and own voices, etc. It's really frustrating. I just want to tell stories. :(

A lot of my frustration and "write whatever the hell you want" response comes from having tried to be sensitive and it seeming like there is no way to please people. Eventually, I just gave up.
 
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mccardey

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Yeah, I understand. It just worries me how extreme it's getting. Are we going to reach a point where authors will be shunned for writing POC characters? I never thought I would have to worry about having a black MC, and now with how touchy people are, I've at times felt tempted to cut those characters. It really upsets me because I love my POC characters and if I only wrote about white people, I feel people would say THAT was racist too.

I'm not trying to be argumentative or insensitive. I just don't get it. What IS an author supposed to do? I've seen just as many complaints that there are no POC main characters. So I started making an effort to put more POC in my books, and then I started seeing all these complaints about stealing stories and own voices, etc. It's really frustrating. I just want to tell stories. :(

You're in a great position, then, to imagine how frustrating it would be if voicelessness had been the experience of everyone you know, going back generations.

ETA: And also - extreme? How extreme is it, really, to ask for a little respect and a bit of fairness?
 
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andiwrite

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You're in a great position, then, to imagine how frustrating it would be if voicelessness had been the experience of everyone you know, going back generations.

ETA: And also - extreme? How extreme is it, really, to ask for a little respect and a bit of fairness?

It's not. I think if you're going to write about a real group of people, you should absolutely do your research, talk with real members of the community, etc. I'm only talking about the people I've seen on twitter who suggest that writers should not be writing about POC at all. I've seen it. Many times. And that is way too far for me.
 

mccardey

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It's not. I think if you're going to write about a real group of people, you should absolutely do your research, talk with real members of the community, etc. I'm only talking about the people I've seen on twitter who suggest that writers should not be writing about POC at all. I've seen it. Many times. And that is way too far for me.

Two choices: signal-boost the Twitter-idea that white voices are being silenced and no-one will ever be able to write outside their narrow experience ever, ever again.

Or - think about how likely it is that this is going to happen, really. And having thought about, soothe the panic in the breasts of those terrified tweeters.
 

lizmonster

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Are we going to reach a point where authors will be shunned for writing POC characters?

As far as I can tell, this isn't happening. There's a lot of discussion about published books written by people outside of particular communities who handle characters from those communities badly, but I don't see blanket condemnation of white folks writing PoC and marginalized characters. It seems to me people are becoming worried and defensive about a far-fetched hypothetical.

No, you're not going to please everyone, ever. But I'll tell you, I've caught more s**t for having a romantic subplot without a HEA than I have for writing a diverse cast.
 

andiwrite

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Two choices: signal-boost the Twitter-idea that white voices are being silenced and no-one will ever be able to write outside their narrow experience ever, ever again.

Or - think about how likely it is that this is going to happen, really. And having thought about, soothe the panic in the breasts of those terrified tweeters.

Thanks for helping me with this. :)

- - - Updated - - -

As far as I can tell, this isn't happening. There's a lot of discussion about published books written by people outside of particular communities who handle characters from those communities badly, but I don't see blanket condemnation of white folks writing PoC and marginalized characters. It seems to me people are becoming worried and defensive about a far-fetched hypothetical.

No, you're not going to please everyone, ever. But I'll tell you, I've caught more s**t for having a romantic subplot without a HEA than I have for writing a diverse cast.

You're right. I let a few extremely negative people on Twitter get me all freaked out about this a few months back. It's been a sensitive topic ever since, but I am definitely overthinking it.
 

lizmonster

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You're right. I let a few extremely negative people on Twitter get me all freaked out about this a few months back. It's been a sensitive topic ever since, but I am definitely overthinking it.

I adore Twitter for how well it displays the always-fascinating variety of human thought and opinion. :)

I always write what I'm driven to write. I do my very best with characters who are not-me; when they're very not-me, I take the approach of learning what I can, and integrating that knowledge into the character. If I get feedback that I've put my foot in it, I listen, assess, and change where I feel it makes sense.

I had one idea last year for a story I'd love to read, but I won't write it, because it involves a community and a time period that I would almost certainly get wrong, no matter how much research I did. I'm hoping, with the current push for diverse voices, that someone qualified will write it, and I'll have the pleasure of reading it done properly.
 

Jan74

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There's a great saying.
You are free to chose, but you are not free from the consequences of your choice.
I love this saying, I saw it on facebook (a place I visit less and less) but I saw this and I thought how bang on is that. Yep we have the right and the law on our side as writers(at least in Canada, I found it and read all about our laws on cultural appropriation) even though the law is behind me on my "right" to write my book, it doesn't mean I should write it.
 

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Is U.S. PC? *frets*

I'm so terribly sorry if you're fretting. Try violin.

I generally spend my time writing, not pissing around on web sites trying to memorize the latest acronym for the XYZ groupe du jour.
 

RightHoJeeves

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The only thing more tiresome than excessive political correctness is people banging on about how the world is too politically correct.

OP - in regards to your original comment that because you're white you may as well give up, and that "PC law" dictates what you can and can't say... I'll refer to your comment to mccardey a few posts up. I'm terribly sorry you're fretting, and tiny violin.

You're obviously free to write whatever you want and hold whatever opinions. People are just as free to ignore or disregard them.
 
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Underdawg47

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Yeah, I understand. It just worries me how extreme it's getting. Are we going to reach a point where authors will be shunned for writing POC characters? I never thought I would have to worry about having a black MC, and now with how touchy people are, I've at times felt tempted to cut those characters. It really upsets me because I love my POC characters and if I only wrote about white people, I feel people would say THAT was racist too.

I'm not trying to be argumentative or insensitive. I just don't get it. What IS an author supposed to do? I've seen just as many complaints that there are no POC main characters. So I started making an effort to put more POC in my books, and then I started seeing all these complaints about stealing stories and own voices, etc. It's really frustrating. I just want to tell stories. :(

A lot of my frustration and "write whatever the hell you want" response comes from having tried to be sensitive and it seeming like there is no way to please people. Eventually, I just gave up.


Walking on eggshells is what I call political correctness. Being afraid to ruffle anyone's feather for fear of being insensitive. No matter what you do you will either insult someone's religion, culture, heritage, race, sexuality, political affiliation, etc. If I wrote in fear of people being insulted because I depicted my diverse characters, religions, cultures in any sort of negative way, then all my characters would be exactly like me. But we don't live in a world like that. I think that as long as you realize that everyone shares certain things in common like wanting to practice your particular religious belief without retribution, having the ability to provide your families, the ability to love who you choose to love, the ability to have autonomy over your own body, and writing these diverse characters as if you yourself happened to find yourself as a different sex, race, religion, culture, or time period and treat your characters as if they have real fleshed out lives with purpose and goals instead of being a cliche, a tool, a prop, or a decoration.
 

WriterDude

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I see political correctness as a force for good, but like any force for good, its corrupted in the hands of morons and the inept, and abused by the devious.

I doubt any religion was offended by Christmas, but that didn't stop the likes of Birmingham City Council renaming the festive period 'the winterval' just incase. What about offending Christians by hijacking and deleting one of their biggest annual events?

Or the recent case of Oxford Uni issuing guidelines that suggest that avoiding eye contact is a sign of racism. Erm, yeah.

Political correctness is about being sensitive, but what I often feel is forgotten is the right to be offended, and the right to challenge views and attitudes.

I steer clear, best I can, of cultural references and minority groups and religions because I am afraid, not that I'll genuinely offend, but that I'll commit some minor faux pas and incite unexpected twitter paroxysms and facebook polemics that I haven't the strength of will to handle.

I once faced an online tirade for using the term train station instead of Railway station. To some people, that matters, a lot.

It is a form of censorship, but theres more than enough material in the anglosphere to inspire me for decades, and for the time being, I am happy to stick with what I know and what I know well.
 

mccardey

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I doubt any religion was offended by Christmas, but that didn't stop the likes of Birmingham City Council renaming the festive period 'the winterval' just incase. What about offending Christians by hijacking and deleting one of their biggest annual events?.

This, again?
In 1997 Mike Chubb was working for Birmingham city council during the rejuvenation of the city centre. As the council's head of events he and his team were charged with creating a marketing strategy to cover: "41 days and nights of activity that ranged from BBC Children in Need, to the Christmas Lights Switch On, to a Frankfurt Christmas Market, outdoor ice rink, Aston Hall by Candlelight, Diwali, shopping at Christmas, world class theatre and arts plus, of course, New Year's Eve with its massive 100,000 audience."


Chubb realised that with so many events competing for visitors, marketing them as individual occasions would be expensive, time-consuming and ineffective in acquiring sponsorship or funding. What the events needed, he decided, was a "generic banner under which they could all sit". His team settled on "Winterval" – a portmanteau of "winter" and "festival".
Little did he or anyone else on the events team realise that this name was to found one of the most persistent urban myths of modern times, and that 11 years later he would be writing an article explaining – again – what the event was and how it was never about renaming or banning Christmas.

1997.

I'm just saying.
 
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