A Thought that I'm Pondering...

[bcholmes]

During one of the Class, Racism and the Singularity panels, there was some discussion about the singularity being a fannish escapist fantasy in which the problems of race, class and other identity politics are solved without the solution requiring messiness. Ian H. went further: he asserted that the narrative of a race-free future world is, itself, a racist narrative.

I've been thinking about this question: I've read a lot of talk, both in the lead-up to panels, and at the con, about how to prevent derailing. One panel asserted something that I liked: the idea that the goal is not to have a fail-free universe. The goal is to have the tools and skills to confront fail. Is the question, "how can we prevent fail?" a question that can only have meaning in escapist fantasy? Does it presuppose a future in which our understand of race or class or whatever is so simple that it never leads to conflict of assumptions?

Similarly, is the question, "how can I talk to trans people without ever getting pronouns wrong?" a cissexual-normative question?

Comments

Re: A Thought that I'm Pondering...

[bibliofile]

yes, it'll never be done, but that's ok because that's life.

Yes! And that's also why we need tools, and lots of practice -- recognizing typical derailment, and dealing with it.

Brilliant, BC. Thanks.