Fun Stuff > CHATTER
POINTLESS THREAD III: ESCAPE FROM RAPTOR MOUNTAIN AGAIN
Sorflakne:
I dunno, pic looks pretty legit to me. I mean, a Polish unit trained a bear to carry ammo crates, drink beer and smoke cigarettes in WWII, so anything's possible.
But yeah, it's weird that the sci fi community is like that, when if anything, most science fiction is the opposite (unless I've completely misunderstood it all these years).
LTK:
The bear is there, the fire is not.
Also, I thought this was a similar gaffe to 'curved yellow fruit', but apparently this is a real kind of potato.
Jimor:
Re: SFWA and SF fandom in general, there's really never been a problem of acceptance of anybody into the group. In fact I'd say that over history, the SF/F world has typically been about 2 or 3 decades ahead of the rest of society when it comes to questions of race or gender issues. But for some reason, the actual demographics have stubbornly remained predominantly white, though with the wider acceptance of sci-fi/fantasy in media beyond books, that's finally changing. There is, however, a very small and very vocal group who get as worked up as the video Hitler about it all.
I think the only significant divide among the vast majority of people in the SF/F culture is between those who feel the genuine openness and acceptance is enough, and those who feel there should be active outreach. Of course, being fandom, things like this are discussed in detailed minutiae on any forum we can get our hands on. So in trying to work out what should be done, of course at some point, people are going to say, "I think this thing could be done, but I don't think that thing is worth the effort and might even be counterproductive," in reasonable tones of discourse. The handful of Tumblr/Livejournal pundits then start screaming, "YOU MUST AGREE TO DO ALL THE THINGS OR YOU ARE A RACIST/SEXIST PIG!" which is never a good way to get people on your side, but sure does draw a lot of attention.
Why I think the video is brilliant is because it not only pokes fun at the extremists, but also gets in some nice digs at the hopeful naivete of a lot of the rest of us that things will just kinda get better on their own.
And since I've made far too many points in this thread, here's a cookie.
Akima:
Maybe, just maybe, the "demographics" stubbornly remain predominantly white and male, because that "genuine openness and acceptance" is judged to exist, and be "enough", predominantly by white males? You might think you are building it right, but if they still don't come, there might be something wrong with your blueprints. A good start might be for SF/F to stop patting itself on the back about how far ahead it thinks it is of mundane society.
I'm not at all sure that SF/F films and TV are a step forward from books in this area. Generally, I think the opposite is the case. Compare the novel 2010: Odyssey Two with the film based on it, 2010: The Year We Make Contact, and notice how all Clarke's non-white characters are remorselessly airbrushed out of the latter. The film came out in 1984, the same year as several non-SF/F films that managed to include multi-ethnic casts, and stories that did not exclude all nations other than the USA and USSR. Two or three decades ahead? Not so much.
KingOfIreland:
Just let people be interested in what they are interested. Why do we need all this crusading bollocks?
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