Because fandom doesn't need a gag rule.

[elspethdixon]

I don't have much useful to say about the continuing onslaught of OMGWTF coming out of professional SF circles (I thought the nastiness and threats had peaked at "nithing" and tnh's vague threats of industry retribution against fans of color. Alas, W!ll Sh!tterly and K@thryn Cr@mer have proven me wrong). Obviously, people have behaved horribly and there is something deeply wrong with the professional SF community, of which this whole ungodly mess is probably only a symptom (and by "people," I mean Elizabeth Bear's friends and professional colleagues. This "both sides behaved badly" rhetoric is obviously false given that only one side is going around outing people and tossing racial slurs about, and that one side clearly has more power and influence in the SF field than the other).

It reminds me a little of comics fandom, where writers like Ed Brubaker and Brian Michael Bendis, who understand the concept of Women In Refrigerators and would be amongst the first to point at the treatment of Stephanie Brown or Sue Dibney and say "Dude, not cool," still produce storylines like "Wanda Maximoff goes crazy and evil because her powers are Just Too Much for her to handle," and "Sharon Carter spends over a year of canon being pregnant and brainwashed." Or TV, where Joss Whedon self-identifies as feminist and really does try to offer female characters with depth and agency, and yet still produces stuff riddled with problematic gender issues, and Battlestar Galactica 2.0 gives us Rosslyn and Girl!Starbuck but also Dead Evil Lesbians and a 'verse where the bad guys are all evil fembots (because woman are a terrifying hive-minded Other, apparently). That's sexism, not racism, but it's still a case of someone grasping the need to Get It Right and thinking of themselves as an ally yet still sometimes failing to Get It Right themselves.

I was about to add that at least comics writers aren't attacking and insulting fans who criticize them on the internet, but then I remembered Peter David's less than stellar participation in this whole affaire, which isn't attacking, but is still not that great (also, regarding scans_daily: Yes, Mr. David, fans use the internet to tell each other plot points from newly published issues of X-Factor. So what? When did writers ever have a special right to never have spoilers for their work published anywhere? I grasp Marvel's copyright-related reasons for getting the comm shut down, even if I think they're shooting themselves in the foot by doing so, but "ZOMG how dare you give away the ending to my comic?" Dude, grow up).

The thing I want to write about is Elizabeth Bear's "cease-fire" post. I'm not even going to address the part where she openly admits that her cake is a lie, because other people have already done that much better (I especially recommend the last link, which places E. Bear's two letters side by side and highlights the hypocrisy for your convenience).

I'm going to talk about the "lets all calm down and not talk about this anymore because it's too inflammatory" part. Okay, just to make sure we're all on the same page about why the ability to walk away and stop dealing with race-related issues is a privilege that only white people have, I suggest that those of you who haven't already read boddymarmalade's Sees Fire post go and do so.

Okay, now that we've all read that, I'm going to drag my 19th century American history training into this, and bring up something called a Gag Rule. Because I can't contribute much of use on the treatment of PoC in sci-fi fandom that other, more knowledgeable, people couldn't say much better, but I might as well use all those American history classes I'm still paying off student loans for for something.

See, "let's all avoid this subject in order to maintain group harmony" is a tactic that has a very long history as a tool in the continued oppression of PoC in the U.S.

A gag rule is a rule that forbids member of a legislative body to raise or discuss a particular topic, be it Calvin's doctrine of predestination, resolutions to give federal funding to groups that advocate "family planning" (that's birth control and abortion, to those of you who aren't up on US political euphemisms), or, in what's probably the most infamous example of a gag rule, anti-slavery petitions.

In 1836, Congress passed what is known as the Pinckney Resolutions, the third of which automatically tabled every anti-slavery petition or resolution introduced in the House of Representatives (this basically kept them from being read on the House floor or discussed).* The gag rule had to be renewed during every session of Congress, and was gradually tightened, until it was replaced in 1840 by the more stringent Twenty-first Rule, which was a standing House rule that completed banned even the reception of anti-slavery petitions (not only could you not discuss them, you couldn't even mention them). It stayed in place until 1844.

The direct result of the Gag Rule was that angry Northern politicians wrote even more anti-slavery petitions, and the U.S. Government did basically nothing about slavery other than draft "let's make everyone happy" compromises that nobody liked, until ten years after said rule's repeal, people were hacking people to death with broadswords in Kansas and beating one another with sticks on the Senate floor (baseball bats, anyone?).

It was considered by many even at the time to be a stupid rule, including John Quincy Adams, who devoted considerable time and much procedural pwnage to getting around it and, eventually, getting rid of it. In response to one such attempt, in 1837, Congress decided that the petitions had been sent in by sockpuppets and officially declared Adams to be a troll. Also, he was being OMG mean and hurting Southerners' feelings.

No, seriously. And I quote:

"Resolved, That John Q. Adams, a member from the State of Massachusetts, by his attempt to introduce into this House a petition of slaves for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, committed an outrage on the rights and feelings of a large portion of the people of this Union,"

The SF establishment isn’t even being original.

Also: Mr. Sh!tterly, I see your "classism > racism" argument, call it, and raise you John Henry Hammond explaining that slavery is a good thing because it prevents Marxist-style class warfare -- using arguments about class to defend racism isn’t original, either.

And speaking of mudsill? tnh, if you're looking for a new insult for people that disagree with you now that "nithings" is off the menu, I think I've found it for you.


*John C. Calhoun tried to introduce a similar rule in the Senate in 1836. His attempt failed, so the Senate instead agreed that every time an anti-slavery petition was presented, the Senate would vote on whether or not it should be read -- this, thanks to the fact that the US government very deliberately made sure that there was an equal balance between slave and free states and that slave-owning states would always control half the Senate, effectively kept petitions from being read.

I use my fallen shield icon, because Captain America would very disappointed in us. Also, in a break with my usual journal policy, anonymous comments are being screened. Note: I welcome debate about my interpetation of US history, and am open to correction if I've gotten anything wrong, but I'm standing fast on the Elizabeth Bear screwed up front.