If you don't know what this refers to, read metafandom.

[nenena]

It literally took me until today to realize "Oh, that Will Shetterly."

Well, I guess he can go join Orson Scott Card, Anne McCaffrey, Anne Rice, and all of the other writers that I used to idolize in the Way to Fail Club.

Comments

[peachyindeed.livejournal.com]

My curiosity is piqued and it's... wow, 4AM here. Link me for later enlightenment? It's rare I learn about a writer's character flaws before reading their work.

Oh Anne McCaffrey, you and your careless statements on homosexuality.

[nenena.livejournal.com]

It's such a big mess, and still ongoing, that I'm not sure what really to link to. Also, there has been an issue with certain involved bloggers being flooded with trolls and internet abuse, so I'm double-squeamish about linking things right now. But a quick recap: Elizabeth Bear is a white SF/F writer and anti-racist ally who co-wrote Writing the Other and some LJ posts about how not to be all Cultural Appropriationpalooza in your writing. A couple of people of color pointed out some racist stereotypes in Bear's own writing, and laid out (very very very clear, coherent, and respectfully stated) criticisms of her advice. Bear initially posted an extremely gracious and humble response to this criticism. Then her friends showed up in the comments of that post, and started flinging racist shit at the Big PoC Meanines who were being so meeeeaaaaaaan to poor widdle Ms. Bear. (Despite the fact, that, you know, Bear had basically agreed to and accepted their criticisms.) Will Shetterly posted some unbelievably dense crap to his own livejournal account, then flounced and declared that he was leaving livejournal forever. A couple people asked Bear why she wasn't intervening in the over-500-comments racism fest that her infamous post had become. In response, this morning, she posted a livejournal shitfit.

And it's still going.

There's also an extra-layer of acawank. One blogger, Avalon's Willow, basically posted about how "this is why XXX character in one of Bear's books [and several other examples from pop culture] is racist." In response, Bear's friends declared that Willow's reaction to the text was invalid because she didn't have proper academic training, or some stupid shit. Willow and others called out this response for the racist bullshit that it was. Will Shetterly posted on his livejournal about how it's not fair to call someone racist just because they're more intelligent/educated than a person of color... Which is a huge freakin' strawman, as is every similar response in this wank, because "you're interrogating the text from the wrong perspective" always has been and always will be a way to dismiss someone else's argument without actually having to understand or engage in it. The acafen weren't being called racist for pulling out their academic credentials, they were being called racist for pulling out their academic credentials instead of actually responding to the very clear, succintly-stated arguments that Willow made.

Okay fine, I will link to Shetterly's jaw-dropping post (http://willshetterly.livejournal.com/224464.html). There are both very very good and very very bad comments there.

(Metafandom also has links to some of the better LJ discussions, but also some of the crap as well.)