#where it feels very much like it's constantly trying to make white and/or cishet audiences feel included in the joke or the action

[immortalconclusions]

This incomprehensible post from @0junemeatcleaver0 was brought to my attention. Like ok first of all, this post was so embarrassing it gave me full body cringe. This is like a badly written high school English essay from someone who didn’t read the book. If you know you know.

And look, I usually try not to be controversial on the internet. I try to stay away from drama. Frankly I am too busy in my real life and I don’t have the time or emotional energy. But even though I am not the target audience of this post and it doesn’t mention me, and it's kinda old news by now, I felt I had to say something in particular because it goes after my brilliant co-writer, who is a WOC. Did you know that? I can’t really let that slide, sorry June. Also, the racism in this fandom is getting worse and becoming impossible to ignore. While I can assure you I am very much not a “cishet white man”, I am not an expert or authority on this topic by any means—I am also constantly learning. But I work as hard as I can to do my part to support my BIPOC siblings both in real life and online.

So I’m gonna get right into it. First of all, you referenced a couple of handy dandy lists from dosomething.org:

Prepare For The Conversation

Understand why white people should have conversations with one another

Think about why you want to have this conversation.

Choose who you want to talk to and how

Establish goals for the conversation

Set expectations for yourself and your conversation partner

And

Have The Conversation

1. DO start the conversation from a place of curiosity and care

2. DO lead with “I” statements

3. DO ask open ended questions

4. DON’T end the conversation at the first sign of discomfort

5. DO stay on topic

6. DON’T think you have to do this alone (IE: bring resources)

7. DO consider taking a pause and returning to the conversation at a different time if you feel like the conversation is moving more towards conflict and away from conversation.

Y’all need to learn basic ass communication skills that you should have learned as a child? How to not be a dick? Shame on you, that’s embarrassing AF, and also kind of hilarious? (Ohhh but I’m *insert neurodivergent acronym here* I refer you to these articles, and these ones too. Please don’t weaponize your fragility and incompetence in a situation where it is hardly relevant).

Not to mention all the ways your post contradicts many of these points. There are just too many to name, and I don’t have the time to go through and name them all. Plus they’re all super obvious if you have more than one brain cell. But, you know, I’m willing to roll with you here in the spirit of logical positivism. Let’s work with your model. Just gotta mention a few because they made me laugh out loud.

To wit, let’s look at the third resource you referenced from guidetoallyship.com. It’s actually pretty good, definitely the best of the three. Good job there! But—oh wait, did you actually follow any of these yourself? Hmm let’s see:

To Be An Ally Is To…

Take on the struggle as your own

Transfer the benefits of your privilege to those who lack it

Amplify voices of the oppressed before your own

Acknowledge that even though you feel pain, the conversation is not about you

Stand up, even when you feel scared

Own your mistakes and de-center yourself

Understand that your education is up to you and no one else

You wrote: “Anti-racist work looks just the same in fandom as out of it. The mechanics are the same. He could have asked Google this question instead of asking fans of color.”

From your checklist:

“Choose who you want to talk to and how”

“Amplify voices of the oppressed before your own”

What happened to amplifying voices of marginalized people? Idk man I don’t really put much stock in these generic basic af wonder bread articles written by other white people (see the first two lists). Like if you were gonna cite some sources….at least make them good ones? You might have to *gasp* click on the second page of Google search results, but I believe in you baby, you can do it. (Since I know we’re all learning, and learning is a process, if you want a reading list I can share mine with you. Feel free to DM.)

You wrote: ““A lot of white people are afraid to talk about racial issues & that’s why this shit keeps happening.” (First line of the first paragraph of that post). From what I’ve seen through my research the reason white folks in the Tumblr VC fandom were beginning to become afraid of discussing race (and racism in Anne’s work and racism in fandom or the implications inherent in narrative choices the showrunners were rumored to be making) was that he was insinuating anyone who didn’t agree with his thoughts on the choices the showrunners were making were all covert racists. He actively made this stuff difficult to talk about. Which is not the role of an ally.”

From your checklist:

“Take on the struggle as your own”

“Acknowledge that even though you feel pain, the conversation is not about you”

“Stand up, even when you feel scared”

“Own your mistakes and de-center yourself”

...omg UWU we white people cant talk about w-wacism because we’re scared, because other people are so m-mean to us T_T and make it hard for us to talk about. I’m sorry what? I have no sympathy for white fragility lmao.

Attention White People: If someone calls you a racist, you should consider the possibility that you actually are. Just by chance of sheer probability. Think about that for a second. No really, use your brains. I know it’s hard. I promise you won’t vaporize on the spot. If you find out that you are, nobody is going to eat you. You just learn and get better. It’s a process, it doesn’t hurt all that bad.

You wrote: “This is not someone who needs to be doing this work.” Says you? Uhm, ok. Didn’t realize it was up to you, but go off ig. Seems to me like the more people the better.

And finally, this gem:

You wrote: “Do you think you know better about racism than a WOC?”

Hey, June.

Do YOU?