Where is your line? (HP wankery)

I am using "wankery" specifically to refer to the DD mods and those who are defending them.

Coming in a little late, given that they finally apologized and retracted the tag, but I am feeling a desperate need to blow off steam.


A few more squares people have hit for White Liberal Bingo (caution, do not read if you want to keep your blood pressure down):

( Welcome to White Liberal Bingo! )

That aside, the real post I wanted to make was: Where is your line?

One of the things that was maddening about the DD mods' response was that they had had a discussion with the entire comm about it, and their decision to ignore witchqueen's request was backed by the comm. Furthermore, when this got out, you had people using all the above arguments in an attempt to say that the mods, the comm, and the mods' decision was not racist.

So I ask people, particularly those who stayed in the comm through all this, the people who joined the comm during this, and the people who defended it: where is your line when it comes to racism? And I am not asking this as a rhetorical question.

But seriously. When do you decide that you will not be complicit? And yes, by standing by and letting it happen, by actively supporting it in comments and posts, you are complicit. At what point do you start to feel hypocritical by saying you're not a racist when you let racial epithets slide by, when you excuse people for being well meaning, when the only time you speak up is to defend white privilege and argue with POC and allies, or when you ignore what POC and their allies are saying? When do you take a stand?

Are you only taking a stand when you have nothing to lose, personally? Will you do it with strangers, but not your friends? Will you sigh at the occasional newspaper report of a hate crime and then go back to ignoring it when it is right in your internet backyard? When does it become as much a part in your life as it is in mine?

This is in part an accusation; I have been sickened by how willingly people jumped to defend the DD mods given all the evidence at hand. This is also an exploration: I have my own lines. I will not, for example, argue racism or sexism or homophobism with my parents and the older generation of my family, not after so many failed attempts before. And every day I make the choice to continue to partake or not in media that ignores people like me or uses them only as stereotypical supporting characters. More often than not, I choose to partake because I still would like to be able to communicate with fandom at large.

But this is a choice. And while making this choice, I also choose to critique what I watch and what I read because even as I derive pleasure from reading and watching things, because without doing that, I feel like I am uncritically consuming and potentially implicitly supporting them.

Please note I am not saying that everyone has to do this. Sometimes I choose not to read about what's going in the anti-racist blogosphere because I cannot take being this angry all the time. I think allies and fen of color desperately need breaks from fighting this all the time. But the thing is, I am not seeing people consciously choosing to not engage so they can conserve energy for later. I am seeing people blindly react to something of theirs being taken away (the right to use racist words as long as no one means it, or no one knows).

Furthermore, I've seen the argument that the mods and the comm is not racist several times. To which I ask again: where is your line? If someone is using a racist term, ignoring POC and anti-racist allies, further claiming that they are enitrely justified, then continues to use the term, and that is not racist, then I ask, what is? And will you actually do something when it is? Or will you just sit by and say that the nooses on the tree were just a joke, and really it was the black kids' fault for sitting there anyway? Because no matter what the offense is, no matter how serious it is, I have seen people pass it off as a joke, pass it off as "Oh, they didn't mean it," pass it off as "You are too sensitive. You should forgive and forget."

I fully understand the need for discourse and how saying someone's actions are racist can be a way to make them listen more than saying they're a racist. But when people end up supporting racist actions and behaviors, condoning them behind the scenes, or actively work to uphold them, yes, they are racists. They are upholding the racial social order which keeps white people at the top; they are enforcing their own privilege.

ETA2: Also, I totally forgot because I was so mad! I wanted to thank my flist, people commenting here, and my friendsof-list for being sane and calling the DD mods and others on their stupidity and their racist behavior. You guys are awesome.