My Rant

[moon_custafer]

 Andrew began reading a Facebook post to me, in which a writer (I didn't ask the name) began by complaining about how millennials misunderstand and overuse the term "arc" as well as "agency" and "trope," and keeping complaining about a character's arc being sexist or racist instead of just enjoying the story, and at that point I snapped SHUT UP! and he stopped.

I apologized, because I hadn't meant to yell at him, but at the person who'd made the post; and I explained that I'd just finished composing a reply to a *different* post in which I tried to suggest as gently as I could that no, cultural appropriation is a real problem and not just something the current generation has made up to stop artists from making art; and that I was consequently a bit short on patience. This is why I'd be terrible in any sort of face-to-face, real-time debate -- I need at least a few seconds to calm down and marshall my thoughts. I said that issues of social justice aside, some of us enjoy analyzing stories as part of reading, and a lot of people I know are writers, and why should stories be treated as just frivolous entertainment.

He understands, and says that he should of realized that the first three or four sentences would be triggering, although he says there was a later point in the post that he kind of agrees with (apparently the OP eventually oks analyzing the story, after initially reading it through and enjoying it on a superficial level). He said he was going to block the poster; I said he didn't have to, that I didn't want to control who he reads, but according to him the guy had already been on notice as far as he was concerned.

I still feel like I've somehow failed here, like for a moment I'd fulfilled the trope of the hysterical SJW that trolls are always claiming are out there; and I'm aware that I'm saying this as Mrs. Privileged from Privilegeville -- if I were black, LGBT, etc, I'd likely be having to defend these points nonstop, to much less sympathetic listeners, and remain calm the whole time so I couldn't be dismissed as loud and hysterical. I'm not sure why I'm so mad at myself, but I'm better at composing my thoughts in writing, so I told Andrew I'd make a post about it and maybe that will help me think.  

Comments

[sovay]

I'm not sure why I'm so mad at myself, but I'm better at composing my thoughts in writing, so I told Andrew I'd make a post about it and maybe that will help me think.

Did it work?

[moon_custafer]

I don't know. There's supposed to be a workshop coming up for volunteer legal observers (i.e. to keep an eye on things at protests); it might be worth taking it in order to have some "dealing with irritation" tips.