privilege as a meme

http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2014/10/grayson-perry-rise-and-fall-default-man

I like the cover.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bza2okyCEAA_FYc.jpg

All the men I know are passing that link round going "wow, Grayson Perry is so amazing, this is mind-blowing stuff!"

And all the women I know are rolling their eyes and going "Grayson Perry repeats a bunch of stuff that feminists have been saying since the days of bell hooks, and now suddenly a successful white-male luvvy with a Turner Prize says it and they can hear it as if for the first time? Really?"

I mean, good on him for saying it in a ~tone~ you all can finally hear, but please, don't expect applause or feminist cookies.

I did love that comment (I know, I know..) that had somebody claiming that "Default Man" was actually created (or perpetuated) by all those Trophy Wives....

saw that article on twitter due to numerous women praising and RT'ing it

Oh, I'm sure you have! But it's funny that way, when I see people say "I've seen tons of women / black people / queer ppl etc retweeting this piece" it says quite a lot about the friends that you have self selected.

I'm sure the article is fine, and "Important" and worthy and all that.

But it's just that same thing again. Like what happened on (whichever one of the 8 billion "music journalism sucks" threads we have going at any time) earlier, like where the {straight, white male with a job at a national newspaper} was complaining of thinkpiece fatigue of having to read so many pieces about Miley-Rhianna-Lilly-Lorde-Beyonce-Whatever. But then he goes, "oh, wait, no, there was a good piece I read on it..." and just funnily enough, he picks out to laud the one piece by DL, y'know, the {straight, white male with a job at that national newspaper} and praises it for, I dunno, it was one of those weaselly words like "reportage" or something which is basically a synonym for "Objective" like, yes, it's funny, that. You have to have the straight white man with the same Background as you explain the issues before it stops being ~just noise~ and useless and starts being "Proper Reporting" and "Objective" and all that.

Greyson Perry said a thing. I'm sure it's great.

I can pretty easily mentally separate the friends I have on soc med who are likely to have already been having conversations about various things from the ones who will hear them from a mainstream outlet and repost them like the sun just came up. It's fine, it's what we want, right? For even suburban normals to care about equality issues? I'm usually just glad SOMETHING reaches the rah rah gun rights Middle America part of my fb feed when that happens.

The OH A MAN SAID SOMETHING ish is real though.

Branwell, have you heard this?

http://www.podcastone.com/pg/jsp/program/episode.jsp?programID=592&pid=448486

the LOOK A MAN SAID IT was particularly noticeable with this piece - i think in a lot of cases (see also russell brand) it's often because the White Man in question may essentially be regurgitating what hundreds of women and non-white ppl have been saying for years, but he'll do it in this incredibly (self-)important tone - very self-conscious Good Writing, aiming for that #longread credibility etc. (bc he's had the luxury to sit on the issue, to mull it over, to present it in that detached tone rather than having to constantly react to bullshit? or bc that's the language of the writing establishment in which he's been trained?)

i mean, the perry piece is very well-written and articulate and also manages to be incredibly long without alighting on a single thing i haven't read before

Branwell, I know you've all but forbidden me to address you on ILX so it would be great if you didn't trash me and then we could both carry on our merry ways.

I'll tell you what is sad and discouraging: that a "social justice warrior" is someone who objects to stereotyping in a first-world medium. It tells me that this is what the opposition pays attention to - not other, more urgent social justice issues like land use / rights, global health care issues, environmental justice, etc. Depressing.

One guy in my FB feed has lately taken to reporting stories - the common theme seems to be "stuff black people said and did." I only keep him around because 1) he's clearly suffering from dementia 2). it's so bad I can't look away.

First, I have literally no idea who you are, dude. Second, if you think that "straight white men have this tendency to prefer and privilege the opinions of other straight white men as 'more objective'" is "trashing" someone, wow, you have lived a pretty sheltered life. Have a nice day, whoever you are.

In the context of social media - esp. FB, where fellow churchgoers, high school friends, old neighbors, etc. "reunite", it's not merely a bias or prejudice - it's bad behavior. Those reposts or "likes" are being shared in a context of community, and when you're showing off your vacations abroad, your McMansion and your luxury car along with your ill-considered opinions, you're proclaiming your social status. Very rude, actually. Can't you do what some people do and link to a charity?

xp I'm DL and apart from this I am having a nice day.

Ex: when white guys with fat retirements told jokes to my dad about "black athletes who can't speak English". My dad had black friends - incl. a Harlem Globetrotter, we grew up watching black athletes, it hurt my feelings. Like, " my money bought me the privilege to make you feel less worthy with my thoughtless comments."

I might make a 'social justice warrior' shirt, though it seems like it would need some kind of logo...

The twitter bird standing upright, chest puffed out, ready for a battle

Isn't some of this stuff kind of like, "now that grandpa is on FB, let's send him 'social justice warrior', 'feminazi' and 'political correctness run amok' scare stories"! Some of this is so "old white man discovers Internet."

bothers me that grayson perry continues to refer to himself as a "tranny" in his recent spate of interviews

What is going on with Grayson's opening para:

Paddle your canoe up the River Thames and you will come round the bend and see a forest of huge totems jutting into the sky. Great shiny monoliths in various phallic shapes, they are the wondrous cultural artefacts of a remarkable tribe. We all know someone from this powerful tribe but we very rarely, if ever, ascribe their power to the fact that they have a particular tribal identity.

Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Tokyo etc. Was this really a good opening example?

I think the business suit is a better example eg...no matter where you go in the world, people have abandoned their own often colourful and relaxed - clothing and embraced the business suit.. that drab uniform and cultural artefact that instantly communicates subscription to a range of values and a dull seriousness.

"SJW" was first used against black feminists, some of whom are now pissed about white mainstream feminists trying to reclaim that title when it wasn't them that it was originally coined to hurt. See @dtwps' #SJWhistory tag: https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=%23sjwhistory&src=typd

There was also a lot more related stuff buried in @dtwps' feed that they didn't tag so it's kind of hard to get to now.

^^yes

didn't know about that

I didn't know that either and I'm sure a lot of people who use SJW don't. I didn't use it much or think about its roots particularly but as soon as I saw it used as an insult in gamergate I realised it had been twisted too far to be used in anything other than a toxic way.

could've sworn i saw "social justice warrior" in tumblr about-me paragraphs before all that happened but i'm probably misremembering

i've followed r!ley since 2009 and remember when "SJW" started sprouting up, wasn't under the impression it was limited to those specific events but it wouldn't surprise me. r/TumblrInAction ("TIA") was basically reddit's introduction to That Side of tumblr (and by extension the livejournal communities that had been doing "SJ" for years ignored) and that group of black writers would get attacked there more than anyone else.

would it be callous of me to ask who r!ley is? serious q because they seem to be an important person?

i haven't followed any of this and am trying to make sense of it all but it's honestly quite confusing
what i have gathered is that "sjw" = "social justice warrior" and this is now considered an insult
beyond that idgi :-/

xp it isn't weird for you not to know. a v central figure in "SJ" tumblr before it became as huge as it is now, originally called their blog "dumbth!ngswhitepeoplesay". posted a zillion times a day and faced a lot of harassment and was unwilling to back down from a lot of opposition. posted a lot of really good dessert recipes. feel weird saying more than that about someone who isn't like... a public figure.

Cover looks kinda... I dunno? different when accompanied by list of contributors (and especially who gets top billing)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bzl5m-XIQAAjjOi.jpg

Your satire is rather blunted when you repeat the same trope you're supposedly criticising.

that's hilarious

face of horror at the idea of that martin amis piece

There's got to be some kind of word for the level of not even satire hypocrisy involved with something like that.

Christ.

They forgot scatological porn and hating the proles.

Quite tempted to poll the worst white man on that cover.

had to be all white men including the 'with' section to pull that off

how to look like the ruling elf

ugh mary beard

surely baddiel worst but never read amis

SJW replaced with skeletons

http://i.imgur.com/WZmTgrH.png

where does that come from, any idea

ILAFL it looks like

x-posts: check out #SJW if you want to peep at what the "enemy" is up to. It's more entertaining than feeling like you're eavesdropping on some little twitter. WHAT is "gamer gate"?

how the fuck do we have 4 different threads featuring people asking "what is gamer gate" rn

i mean i get it and thats no shots at u I M Losted its just frustrating that their garbaggio is in half my tabs right now and all i am is a witness, can't imagine being a target

here's a primer: http://deadspin.com/the-future-of-the-culture-wars-is-here-and-its-gamerga-1646145844

#NotYourGoogle

Thanks, I was investiGATing this point as you were typing. A few observations:

-are gamers worth my time?
-weird Randoid Slavic libertarianism
is bringing out the "nativist" in me.
It's so in-American, it's turning me into a flag-waver