Meta: It's Not Quite Derailing

[chasingtides]

I tried to host a conversation about Glee here earlier this week that I believe was mostly successful. Around the same time, I tried to participate in conversations elsewhere about the show (note: I would count myself among the detractors of the show; see my previous entry).

I saw people saying something to me. I saw people saying it to other detractors of the show - and fans of the show who have issues with some parts. I also realised that I've seen this technique elsewhere. Sometimes, I saw it in Racefail, but I've seen it in feminist discussions of Supernatural. I've seen it in race discussions of Joss Whedon's work. I've actually seen it in a lot of places and this isn't the first time it's been pushed on me. And it's a great way to shut down a dissenting voice.

Even though I risk hurt feelings, I will quote from one of my discussions last week, when I mentioned that I was particularly bothered by a bit of violence in Glee because of my position as a survivor.

You're too black/disabled/female/have a history with this topic, so you can't objectively talk about this issue/understand this issue.

This seems like a common argument and, to me, a really bizarre one. You're too black to discuss racism. You're too disabled to discuss ablism. You're too female to discuss sexism. You're too queer to discuss homophobia. You're a soldier, so you can't discuss war. You're a survivor of violence, so you can't discuss it. Ever.

It boils down to - essentially - only the privileged can discuss the problems of the world. If you've experienced the Bad Stuff in the world, then you're not allowed to discuss how that Bad Stuff is thrown back at you in the media of the world and how that hurts.

I can think up two reasons people use this argument. I prefer the first.

The Person loves Writer McWordsmith and all of McWordsmith's work. Person has been writing fanfic and meta and sharing the works of McWordsmith with everyone they love. Being told that there are Problems with McWordsmith's work feels like we're taking away their teddy bear. Maybe it feels like we're saying they are racist/ablist/sexist/transphobic because they like the works of McWordsmith.

It's easier to tell us that we're wrong and blind to the wonders of McWordsmith than to understand that, yeah, we'd love to love the works of McWordsmith. We want to love them too! But it hurts us - it's stealing our teddy bear away - when McWordsmith throws the same old oppression back in our faces.

On the other hand, they could actually believe that we should never, ever suggest that media in any way reflects the oppression of the world and that that could ever possibly be a problem for groups who want to enjoy said media. These people could honestly think that disabled bloggers should never, ever say that it's wrong to suggest that schoolchildren should pay for their own ramps, that bloggers of color should never want awesome stories with heroes of color, that feminist bloggers should never talk about wanting feminist storylines in public.

If the last part is true, I would probably cry into my Cheerios. And then, I could make some angry posts about how I'm not going to shut up and I will do my best to ask for and produce positive media. Because I patently do not believe that only the privileged have the right to discuss media or pop culture.

Comments

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

I don't know if that's odd really. The problem with shows like Glee is that you're not actually being overtly drawn into questioning things about abuse or racism - and so the abuse and racism happens subtly. I honestly didn't think of the scene between Will and Terri as domestic abuse (despite having lived through it for most of my life) until you said so, and then I was like 'oh my god, she's RIGHT.'

Shows like Dexter don't pretend. If there's abuse - it's abuse. If there's a serial killer doing someone in, that's what's happening. Dollhouse is so overt it hurts my brain.

But Glee? No. Glee sneaks in under the radar with all its fun songs and brilliant one-liners, and that might be why you notice it all. Because it's sneakier. Probably not deliberately. But you might be more finely tuned to that kind of stuff. *shrugs* That just might be something you get faster than other people (like myself) do.

[chasingtides.livejournal.com]

When it's in-my-face and clearly supposed to be bad, I'm okay. (I was one of the only female-bodied people in my class who sat through the original Last House on the Left. It was upsetting, but clearly designed to horrify you. I was in sync with the purpose of the film - much as I was fine reading American Psycho because I wasn't in any way supposed to say that what was happening is okay.)

It's when I'm told that this bad shit is okay that I get upset. And honestly, Wheels bothers me more, now that I have distance, than Mattress does. Because what the hell was going on there?

[eternalpegasus.livejournal.com]

"When it's in-my-face and clearly supposed to be bad, I'm okay."

That's a good way of putting it. I guess I had previously viewed Glee as fitting in this category, and that's why I was ok with it. The discrimination seemed very in-my-face to me, and I assumed that it was supposed to be viewed as clearly bad. (that's I was trying to say in my last entry in my journal)

After reading the discussions here and in my own journal, I've started to reassess whether in fact the show was in fact condoning and not condemning the bad shit that was happening, and if so then it is perhaps just as bad as you've been saying all along.