Teleen's Journal

So about 18 months ago, I defended someone who was using a "Grammar Nazi" icon.  It was a shitty thing to do, I was rightly called out for it and since then I've become more aware of the word and have started calling people out when I see them using it to mean anything other than "people who support or supported Hitler". 

So now, 18 months later, someone's passing around a spelling meme on Facebook and captioned it, "For all you Grammar Nazis Out There".  I said something to the originator of the meme.  Was argued with.  Twice.  And so posted the following as my status:

Things that are Nazis: People who support or supported Hitler and his ideology.
Things that are not Nazis: Everyone else.
Please do not confuse one with the other. Thank you.

The following conversation ensued:

( Cut for length and epic stupidity. )( ETA: Random Commenter #2 )( Cut for length and epic stupidity. )


( ETA 2: The Jackass' response and more conversation. )
( ETA 3: Yet another response from the jackass and my response. )( ETA 4: Deep. Hurting. Yep, he responded again and derailed the conversation so far off the original point that I have no clue how to get it back on track. I tried, though. )
( ETA 5: Jackass: I understand that you're offended by me using the term "IT Nazi". Well, I am not going to change it. )

*************************************************

Here's the thing, 18 months ago, I was that jackass.

( Cut for length.  )
Warning: Possible triggers for slurs in both the comments and the post.  Also, general asshattery. 

Inspired by more than one comment on the post that this post links to, I'm finally going to weigh in on the whole anti-PC, thought-police, this-word-has-another-meaning-and-no-one-can-own-a-word, I-don't have-to-change-simply-because-you're-offended school of thought.

I'm going to begin by saying that I'm guilty of using pretty much every word that is at issue at one point or another, some as recently as last year, so I'm not saying that I'm not in a glass house here. 

However.

For those who are against changing their language to remove certain words from their vocabularies because another person is offended by it, I ask the following question:

Who does it hurt? 

Seriously, who does it hurt to make the effort not to use words that others have found offensive?  I know that it's an effort to do so, so I guess someone could argue that it's hurting them by virtue of the fact that changing one's vocabulary and deleting certain words is hella difficult...  Well, I have to say that it's more difficult in the offline world, but online?  It's as easy as being careful of what one types.  I realize that for some, who type as quickly as they think, that could be a challenge, but seriously?  Who does it hurt?  Why is it such a big deal to just not be an asshat when someone asks you to do so?

( Cut for possible triggers and an incomplete list of incredibly offensive slurs that everyone should know not to use. Ever.  )And because I've been educating myself a bunch lately, here are a bunch of links that all say all of this a lot better than I just did.

101 Primer

sparkindarkness' entire journal.

Read all of that and then come back to discuss, if you wish, :).

ETA: Proof that not being an asshat is an ongoing battle: Weak is ableist.  Thank you to 51stcenturyfox  for letting me know, :).

ETA 2: My comment thread on the post that started all of this is here. 

ETA 3: Drama communities are probably not the best place to start, lol, but if it were not for them I never would have found most of this stuff out, which is why I mentioned them.  The best place to start is with the 101 Primer and go from there, :).

This post has now been edited because my essential message was being lost and I was doing more harm than good by defending my position on one phrase.  Most of the comments regarding that phrase have now been screened.  I'm not a PoC, so my feelings on that phrase don't matter whatsoever and continuing to argue about it only detracts from the essential point of what I was trying to say. 

I apologize for the drama.

For the record I am US-born, white, queer though I easily pass for both female and straight, and able-bodied.  I have no personal experience with physical, racial or ethnic discrimination and I apologize for speaking for those groups as if I were personally invested in those particular slurs not being used.

The areas in which I have personal experience and/or a personal investment include: feminism/sexim, sex work, body image/food, sexual freedom, BGLTQP rights/homophobia, bullying, child abuse, the US foster care system, the US health care system, PTSD, anxiety, depression and mental health.  

Sarah Palin is a moron who doesn't study history and never considers her words before speaking.  She needs to sit the fuck down, shut the fuck up and go the fuck back to Alaska where she can cause as little damage as possible.  She makes me embarrassed to be a human being and I hope this puts the final nail in her political coffin.  Oh, anyone who even thinks of telling me that I'm somehow anti-feminist because I'm telling a woman to 'sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up', fuck you too.  I'm not telling her to STFU because she's female - I'm telling her to STFU because she's a dangerously stupid tool of the GOP who never needs to be heard from again.

You know, after what Jon Stewart said on Monday, I was ready to leave Mrs. Palin alone.  Now, not so much, sigh.

In her most recent video, she decided that 'blood libel' would be an appropriate way to describe the media's vilification of her after the AZ shootings.  Jewish leaders are understandably upset, which has caused Mrs. Palin to apologize and take down the video. 

Too little, too late.

She used a term without understanding what it meant and is apologizing after the fact.  Fuck her.  Fuck her apology.  Fuck her for not knowing the history.  Fuck her for now trying to find a "less offensive alternative."

To be 100% fair, I'd never heard the term 'blood libel' before Mrs. Palin used it today.  However, regardless of whether she knew the historical implications or not, using a term with the word 'blood' in it after a tragedy like this is the definition of missing the fucking point. 

She should have apologized for putting up the fucking crosshairs, but no, she had to turn people rightly criticizing her for that into 'blood libel'.  She couldn't just say, 'Sorry, that sort of imagery was inappropriate.  I shouldn't have called them bulleyes, nor should I have kept saying, 'Don't retreat, reload'."  No, that would have been an admission of guilt and one thing no one in the GOP can ever do is admit they're wrong.  

Fuck Sarah Palin.  Fuck her and the failboat she sailed in on. 

This is a signal boost for a recent Holocaust Fail that happened in a fic published yesterday in the MCR (I don't know what that stands for) fandom.

The full context is in this post by eumelia.

I have very little to add, as eumelia's post articulates the problems with the fic far better than I could, but I will say this:

There is nothing wrong with writing historical fiction in and of itself.  There is nothing wrong with using different settings for backdrops, so long as you're treating those backdrops with respect and showing that you understand the historical context of what you're writing.

Finally, if you see it as a backdrop, you're doing it wrong.  As with the recent SPN race!fail, there were other ways that the author could have told this story.  Hell, it was to fill the 'medical experiments' slot on her hc_bingo card and I can already think of a fic that did this concept a lot better, without having to resort to using the Holocaust as its setting.

G2 by the Caffiends - it's medical experiments by crazy people, but they were author-created and no actual history needed to be co-opted for the story.  

And finally, friends and neighbors, I've figured out where at least some of my outrage at both of these really comes from.  If the authors had just had a little bit more imagination, they wouldn't have needed to use the disaster in Haiti or the Holocaust as the settings for their fics.  They would have found other, more imaginative ways to write them instead of using the suffering of real human beings as merely a setting for beautiful men to fall in love.