Racism, Stereotypes, prejudices

[La Dame Du Lac]

Well, how do you react when you read a very close-minded author who writes racist, stereotyped and has prejudices against a group of people. I think it's really disgusting of an author to have such thoughts. I mean, an author often had higher education, and should more open than most of people, right? I think the books that promote racist/homophobic thoughts should not be written.

[Deleted]

As a Nazi, I am naturally very open-minded about such matters.

[Merlin]

How do you define racism in fiction?

[La Dame Du Lac]

For example, an author saying that "Blacks are Lazy" or clearly hates Asians when stating their opinions about the matter in the book.

[Merlin]

You mean expressing such views outside of their books or having every black/asian character be a horrible person?

[La Dame Du Lac]

Their black characters as lazy characters if they think "Blacks are lazy" and depicting their female characters as sluts if they think of them as such or having a character saying that "blacks are lazy" in a dialogue and it reflects the author's thoughts on the matter.

[Deleted]

Well, that's a narrowminded way to deal with it.

If you can't hear their voices, they're still there. Breaking their jaws and shattering their teeth just gives them more reason to think in lowly manner of a ethnicity/gender/orientation/fingernail length.

They should be free to speak- all or nothing. Otherwise you won't build no bridges.

[Maldeus]

Oi. Seriously? Is this a question? It's irksome, often times bad enough to ruin otherwise decent works. Duh.

[La Dame Du Lac]

Nov 19, 2010 18:53:54 GMT -8 Maldeus said:

Oi. Seriously? Is this a question? It's irksome, often times bad enough to ruin otherwise decent works. Duh.

You never know, some people may share these thoughts.

[Deleted]

Come on, Madleus. Consider the circumstances.

When the Inca (or Inuit... don't remember) first encountered white people, it was like "whoa scary". When the Egyptians first encountered the Nubians, it was like "whoa you're... darker". In situations where someone has no prior knowledge of someone existing, some mild apprehension is a little acceptable. Especially after something like the Trail of Tears, if a Native American child were to say "you know, I don't like those white devils much", it's understandable. Take it as a case-by-case thing.

Of course, when you take someone educated like Lovecraft and look at his racism (as in... "whoa black guy, I'm outta here"), then... yeah, not as acceptable. At all.

[La Dame Du Lac]

And you never know, some people may praise these authors because they are racists or homophobic themselves.

[Maldeus]

Why did you start this topic? Were you honestly expecting to run into a bunch of racists?

[La Dame Du Lac]

Because I've read such books myself. And I was bored.

[ladylillian]

Nov 19, 2010 16:49:17 GMT -8 @panzerschlag said:

As a Nazi, I am naturally very open-minded about such matters.

I'm curious. If you don't mind me asking, how are you a Nazi? Since it has such negative connotations in our society, it's interesting to see one so upfront about their views...whatever those views may be, xD

[Deleted]

Nov 19, 2010 19:25:59 GMT -8 @ladylillian said:

Nov 19, 2010 16:49:17 GMT -8 @panzerschlag said:

As a Nazi, I am naturally very open-minded about such matters.

I'm curious. If you don't mind me asking, how are you a Nazi? Since it has such negative connotations in our society, it's interesting to see one so upfront about their views...whatever those views may be, xD

Quite simply, I have a strong base of like-minded individuals.

[Deleted]

So... what's the point of this topic, again?

[La Dame Du Lac]

Nov 20, 2010 14:20:13 GMT -8 @disc said:

So... what's the point of this topic, again?

I was simply bored of course.

[nchaos]

(Feels like I'm putting too much thought into a 'bored' thread but I've got nothing better to do)

If it's part of a character/setting, it's obviously acceptable. It might agitate/offend/disgust you, but if that's part of the storytelling, it is what it is. If it's a character's personality to bitch about blacks/jews/whateverhave you, hate the character not the writer. Obviously, unless it's the protagonist or something, but that's a give-in (unless you're Panzer).

If every character of EVERY thing they right is a carbon-copy of the same ignorance, than yeah you're dealing with a dipshit of Pacione-esque proportions and shouldn't be reading their drivel in the first place. Copypasta sucks, end of story.

[Tim Willard]

Nov 20, 2010 15:39:18 GMT -8 @nchaos said:

dipshit of Pacione-esque proportions

Heh.



Am I a racist?

At times I let my life experiences shade how I view someone, but I do my best to be honest about it. I have a tendency to view Arabs badly, but as soon as I catch myself doing it, I do my best to correct my preconceptions and work to try to get over it.

I don't believe I'm a racist, because I actively work to eliminate that habit of smearing everyone with the thin segment I experienced. It's just difficult, but I will admit to it.

Because of that, and because I'm careful to make sure I don't fall prey to it, I'm very careful to doublecheck my writing to make sure I didn't allow that nasty little part of me to influence things.

I wish I didn't have that little part, and I try to get rid of it, but I will admit it is there.

It makes me sad.

[tldr]

It depends on how it's implemented.
There's controversy with the SciFi show V which is about aliens who come to Earth, claim to be peaceful, and slowly takeover the planet. Some people argue that it's xenophobic because the aliens which can represent aliens are taking over earth. But I found it pretty entertaining to watch and not all the viewers are going to watch it thinking it represents "immigrant takeover".

Sometimes writers will purposely write in a stereotype and then subvert it. Or the writers don't know much about a character's religion/nationality/race/ethnicity/ect and will just rely on stereotypes because they were too lazy to research.

If a writer is purposely trying to make a group look bad because of his/her own bigoted views, let them write. That way we can openly mock them for it.

[Demeter]

Didn't this same thread show up on the last forum?

[dictatorofengland]

I once wrote a character who was a bigoted religious fanatic and therefore could be seen as offensive to some because she was against other religions, homosexuality, etc. I however am pretty liberal and not very religious, it's just that character has those opinions...not me. She was not the main character nor was the reader meant to agree with her.

If the reader is using a character to make a hate statement it's one thing, but sometimes it's just meant to be a character who has bizzare radical views. With my character she ended up being a little more accepting even though she still disagreed with the things she felt were against her religion.

[Deleted]

Nov 20, 2010 15:39:18 GMT -8 @nchaos said:

(Feels like I'm putting too much thought into a 'bored' thread but I've got nothing better to do)

If it's part of a character/setting, it's obviously acceptable. It might agitate/offend/disgust you, but if that's part of the storytelling, it is what it is. If it's a character's personality to bitch about blacks/jews/whateverhave you, hate the character not the writer. Obviously, unless it's the protagonist or something, but that's a give-in (unless you're Panzer).

If every character of EVERY thing they right is a carbon-copy of the same ignorance, than yeah you're dealing with a dipshit of Pacione-esque proportions and shouldn't be reading their drivel in the first place. Copypasta sucks, end of story.

THIS.