courtesy would demand....

[rm]

http://community.livejournal.com/innocence_jihad/194527.html?thread=3153375#t3153375

Man, these people are all so lucky I don't eat gluten anymore and am not pulling out the Snape lecturing factor on all of them.

Comments

[rm.livejournal.com]

You and that program are actually doing remarkably well.

A lot of the dialogue I've been having with Rachel (who is talking to several other people at least, but I don't know who) has been me saying "I'm not saying LJ is being racist, sexist and homophobic, but that's what it looks like. Here's why. For people to believe you when you say you're not, you need to understand where this perception is coming from and not say its absurd. We're opperating in a different culture."

I've also talked a lot abut how fandom is no longer a ghetto. That things like HP and Lord of the Rings and Stardust and even shows like Lost and Heroes puts people who love speculative and fantasy stuff squarely in the mainstream and that many of the people who feel threatened by this situation are both peopel with good, normal corporate jobs as well as people who are professional artists and writers -- folks who create cultural capital, not just obsess on it.

[winterknight.livejournal.com]

You know, the original fandom went through a period of what you might call emergence when zines and cons brought people together and when fan writers began achieving publication. I'm just thinking of who I would call the old-school fans who are in their 50s and up. I think anyone who assumes that fandom has ever been off in a corner is mistaken because fans come from so many different places. Acknowledgment of the subculture has not been so easy but that has definitely changed.

Sexually explicit literature and art has also -- possibly more so than fandom -- emerged from the shadows lately. I think the extensive involvement of women in the production of that art and literature is particularly significant. My knowledge of historical examples of something similar is extremely scanty.

Going back to the issue of the ghettoization of fandom, I do think that the Internet probably contributed to isolating fandom more than it had been. Or at least in providing a private playground for fans in which it became easy to lose touch with the larger world. I would have to talk to some older fans to get a better sense of it but that might be interesting to pursue an intellectual sense.

Good lord, I've gotten verbose since I stopped having to use my hands. Funnily enough, when the windows are open and my allergies take hold my dictation goes right down the drain. Decongestants are my friend. :) I don't know what it says about me that one of the first things I figured out was how to make my kind of smilies. ;)

[graene.livejournal.com]

"people who love speculative and fantasy stuff squarely in the mainstream"

Did they really not know this? That just left a hole in my stomach for some reason. They really couldn't correlate best seller/box office/ratings numbers with general population statistics? *none* of their employees with a voice has admitted to being part of any fandom? I'm rather glad I'm already lying down.