stupid, STUPID HP fandom

[rm]

I have by and large dealt with all the wank in the HP fandom with vague amusement, studious disinterest and occassionally outrage that was so convoluted it seemed best to keep it to myself.

However, there is this: http://asylums.insanejournal.com/asylum_promo/409406.html

(for those who missed it, the game was originally called Kristallnacht and that was the obvious and understandable subject of the uproar)

Which is just one more iteration of someone does something really anti-Semetic in this fandom and says it doesn't matter either because they don't know any Jewish people, don't know anything about 20th century history or just don't give a damn (and are proud of it).

I am the last person on earth to tell a person what they should and should not find hot, compelling, intersting or whatever. For one thing, I almost always write from the point of view of the people who are entirely in the wrong but with the perspective that their wrongness has reasons that seem justifiable to them (that is how these things happen, after all -- no one really wakes up in the morning and says "hey, let's be evil"). For another, the Nazi's had the best uniforms; yeah, I get it. But some shit, you need to keep to yourself.

And if you don't, you need to accept you're going to offend the fuck out of the majority of thinking people, often n very personal ways that cut deep, at which point you can either take the time to listen, get educated, apologize for your actions and fix what you can or you can keep running your mouth that somehow you're the wronged party while everyone else swiftly goes from labelling your ill-advised actions lazy and ignorant to just downright bigotted.

Also, seriously? I know I'm not the only Jew in this fandom, but the number of times I've had to actually explain totally remedial facts about WWII to people in this fandom is rather deeply upsetting.

Update: After a lot of ugly stubborness the people running the game got a clue and changed the damn name, but that still doesn't change the fact that this issue comes up in this fandom over and over and over again and that's a scary, bad thing.

Comments

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Sometimes it takes a village to raise an adult.

I'm mildly amused that they kept the nacht suffix. I was mulling about what else they might call it, and came up with Grindelnacht.

[roadnotes.livejournal.com]

It does seem to be a remarkably dense-about-racism fandom, perhaps moreso because of some of the subtexts in the books.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I know! I've seen race wanks in other fandoms, but they've usually been at least marginally more complex. I mean, this sort of stuff would be bad enough, but the Blaise Zabini thing? Oi.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

I noticed it hit wank_report but not fandom_wank yet. *eyeroll*

[copperwise.livejournal.com]

I don't follow fandom often, but I did take notice of this. I don't have a problem with anyone exploring what they see as parallel themes, but the idiocy and insensitivity of the naming of it paired with some of the comments I read when I looked into it...just gah.

[christinenorris.livejournal.com]

I'm not surprised. The last book, after all, DID have a very WWII feel to it. The slow takeover of the goverment, persecution of individuals by that government once it was taken over, and the desire by that government to eliminate a group of people (namely Muggles and Muggle-born wizards). The desire for "pure blood" is eerily similar to Nazi Germany, yes? That was one thing that struck me during Deathly Hallows - how much it felt like that era. So it was only a matter of time before someone made the leap and took that step.

Not that it couldn't be done in a sensitive way; but some people really just don't care. And you're right, the lack of historical knowledge by the common people is appalling. Most know more about what Britney/Paris/Lindsey did last night. Sad.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

Ah, I didn't check that one. I don't have it on my flist at JF. I should add it.

[ithinkitisayit.livejournal.com]

Even sadder? I learned a fuckload of what I know about the Holocaust from Wikipedia, and I can say that school didn't tell me everything.

School left out that 17 million people altogether died, and only 6 million of them were Jewish. School left out that Hitler didn't plan the Concentration/Death camps, Himmler did (hell, School didn't even mention anyone besides Hitler). School didn't mention that Goebbles (I think that's how you spell his name) handed Germany's ass over to USSR/Russia, and then Russia lied to us about Hitler's existence (of course, we didn't find out until the 1980s or so that Hitler was dead, but I thought it was pretty obvious. It maybe wasn't so much at the time, though. Hindsight is a funny, funny thing).

School never mentioned how much 1984's Big Brother was a shout out to how well Hitler ran Germany's media. It might not have been intended as such (I believe it was designed to be a shout out to the USSR/Mussilini), but it helps show how things work "behind the scenes" so to speak.

School never helped explain why everyone believed Hitler. School didn't explain how the brainwashing worked, or anything like that. School also left out the fact that everywhere was still antisemitic after WW2, and the Jews still got treated like shit (although, they were "allowed" to live, they still weren't treated very fairly).

School never mentioned the US and Canada using involuntary sterilization, only to realize how unjust it was after hearing about Germany forcing involuntary sterilizations as well.

School also never mentioned how the CIA could've easily been classified as terrorists in the 1970s. Again, I had to find that out on Wikipedia.

In conclusion, school either doesn't teach enough about these subjects (at least, not enough for people to realize that it's a sensitive and touchy subject you should approach with caution), or school doesn't teach people the act of humility and humanity.

[christinenorris.livejournal.com]

Well, I took AP History, so the causes of WWII were part of the curriculum. It's kind of weird, but the way the US feels right now - recession, panic, government incompetence - coulf very well have been the same atmosphere in Germany just before Hitler came along. Imagine if someone told you, right now, that you're losing your homes and jobs and your country is going down the toilet because of an ethnic group? Without the global world we have now, would we be any different? We can say we would, but would we really?

[ithinkitisayit.livejournal.com]

Imagine if someone told you, right now, that you're losing your homes and jobs and your country is going down the toilet because of an ethnic group?
Aren't we already being told this? As far as I know, we're being told to hate the immigrants for stealing our jobs (the immigrants in this case being mostly Mexican).

Personally, I don't buy into that bullshit because I know that the US has used different ethnic groups as scapegoats since it first came around. Back in the days of the Eerie Canal being built, it was the Irish immigrants who were "stealing" our jobs.

Personally, I welcome any and all immigrants, so long as they're willing to pay taxes. I feel the government should allow them an opportunity to become a legal citizen, and punish anyone that allows said immigrants to work under the table. I think allowing more people into our workforce is a great way to continue social security.

As for the global world, a lot of people don't use the computer to talk to anyone that they don't know. The majority of Americans (I can't speak for any other country, but I'm guessing it's the same for all the others as well) aren't very computer savvy, and only use it to read and write email, do online shopping and perhaps look up things through google every now and again. Ergo, we're not as connected as we could be. A lot of people buy into the "don't talk to strangers on the Internet because they're sexual predators!" bullshit. They also buy into the idea that someone can find out where you live just because you said "Hi" to them. I imagine these are the same people who aren't very tech savvy, because those of us computer nerds (myself included) know better.

Of course, I could be taking your "global world" phrase and running with it in a way you didn't intend. I'm not sure. I was merely guessing that's what you were talking about.

[ithinkitisayit.livejournal.com]

PS: We also used to be told by the media that anyone Middle Eastern sounding/looking is an obvious terrorist and will kill us. I'm not sure if the media is still using that specific group for fear mongering, or if it all moved onto the poor Mexicans (poor as in "I sympathize with them" kind of poor, and not "I have no money" kind of poor).

[magnetgirl.livejournal.com]

This whole thing was just jaw dropping.

"I have Jewish friends who have moved on and gotten over it [meaning being touchy about the Holocaust and when and how it's name is invoked]"

"I watched videos at 10 about the Holocaust and I was scarred by them"

As if this qualifies you to understand the uproar over your stupid little game and you naming it after one of the great horror stories of our modern history...idiots. JUST IDIOTS. I love the person who was like "scarred by FUCKING VIDEOS? How about scarred by seeing concentration camp tattoos on Grandpa??!??!?" or something like that.

I didn't think I could still be shocked by stupidity, but there you are. Sometimes it's really true, living in Manhattan you're really sheltered. I've never heard anyone be so flippant about the Holocaust.

[christinenorris.livejournal.com]

I meant 'global' in that we're aware of what's going on all over the world almost instantly. Back in WWII, news took days to weeks. Rumors were more easily spread, because there was no way to check them. The world is so much smaller than it was back then.

I agree, we're almost being fed the same lines -either immigrants or terrorists. Let's hope we've learned our lessons well.