That's it, now I'm mad.
I imagine that a lot of people are already aware of this, but there's currently an antisemitism controversy over in the Harry Potter fandom. Check the recent entries at the lj metafandom for the full story, but it basically boils down to this: A group of HP fans started an RPG, and they had the brilliant idea to call it Kristallnacht. Yes, that Kristallnacht. You can see why this might be bad idea, right? Well, so did they. A part of their FAQ basically boils down to, "We know that this is offensive, but we don't care." Surprisingly enough, some Jewish people found that bothersome. When they mentioned this, the RPGers quickly sank to calling people "cunts." Now there are many posts expressing outrage over the whole situation, from Jews, to non-Jewish Germans, to people who are neither.
Well, today somebody made a post decrying fandom "witch hunts," and how they disapproved of "dogpiling." I had some issues with this, even besides whole "Don't be mean to the poor anti-semites!" implications. my reply was:
First off, I have to say that this is not a witch hunt. These aren't innocent people being singled out for something that they didn't do. No one is specifically seeking them out for them. The people making the angry posts are not looking to be offended, but they will speak up when they are.
These people are not just clueless. Clueless would be simply having a dumb name for their RPG. Thoughtless was saying, essentially, "We know that this is offensive, but we don't care." They went past that when they started calling people cunts and continuing to ignore the very valid point, instead complaining that mean Jews were looking to be offending and that everyone should just get over the Holocaust. That's nasty and despicable, and I see no reason why they shouldn't be called out on it. If a lot of people are making posts, then that means that a lot of people were upset. A live journal can function perfectly well as a place to rant when you're hurt or offended. Why shouldn't people use it as such just because there's a risk of hurting the feelings of people who have proven that they have no consideration for the feelings of others? Especially considering that all the anger is perfectly valid.
You know what's important? Stopping bigotry. You know what the first step is? Speaking up.
Speak the fuck up.
Oh, I see that the "dogpile" person just replied to me and was totally dismissive. Man, why do I even try using logic and sense on the internet? How often does it work?
Well, today somebody made a post decrying fandom "witch hunts," and how they disapproved of "dogpiling." I had some issues with this, even besides whole "Don't be mean to the poor anti-semites!" implications. my reply was:
First off, I have to say that this is not a witch hunt. These aren't innocent people being singled out for something that they didn't do. No one is specifically seeking them out for them. The people making the angry posts are not looking to be offended, but they will speak up when they are.
These people are not just clueless. Clueless would be simply having a dumb name for their RPG. Thoughtless was saying, essentially, "We know that this is offensive, but we don't care." They went past that when they started calling people cunts and continuing to ignore the very valid point, instead complaining that mean Jews were looking to be offending and that everyone should just get over the Holocaust. That's nasty and despicable, and I see no reason why they shouldn't be called out on it. If a lot of people are making posts, then that means that a lot of people were upset. A live journal can function perfectly well as a place to rant when you're hurt or offended. Why shouldn't people use it as such just because there's a risk of hurting the feelings of people who have proven that they have no consideration for the feelings of others? Especially considering that all the anger is perfectly valid.
You know what's important? Stopping bigotry. You know what the first step is? Speaking up.
Speak the fuck up.
Oh, I see that the "dogpile" person just replied to me and was totally dismissive. Man, why do I even try using logic and sense on the internet? How often does it work?