An io9 commenter on why she won’t renew her subscription to Realms of Fantasy:
I can’t even begin to unpack the racefail here because I’m too busy going: wait, is that true? I don’t even read the magazine (despite having multiple free issues pushed on me) but I don’t remember anyone saying to me recently “Have you seen all the wonderful ethnocentricity going on in Realms, lately?”
Regular readers, care to enlighten?
Via Nick Mamatas. In the comments someone points out that it may just be a case of them seeing one non-white protag and going OMG the mud people took ovah!
What’s the link to Realms so I can subscribe?
Is Realms really the go-to place for unmainstream fiction? ‘Cause heck, I’ll subscribe. I’d love to have a regular fix.
Also, why the heck is this guy reading specfic at all? Is he just looking for tips on knitting his own tinfoil hat?
Damn, where is white privilege* when we need it? ;-)
* (specifically, the ability to not “see”/notice race other than your own…)
“The Nation‘s good, but The Monthly Review keeps printing articles on remote places that don’t interest me, like Rwanda.”–an Old Leftist in Ohio (the same part of the world that made Harlan so defensive about his ethnicity), in 1995. IOW, people feeling free to express that kind of attitude is not a novelty in my experience. Heck, I got a student comment here in Philadelphia last month that said, “The course spends too much time addressing African-American material,” “too much time” having been two weeks.
“(the same part of the world that made Harlan so defensive about his ethnicity”
Don’t know this story. Can you help me out, maybe even with a link? Thanks.
My mouth is open for the flies to come in.
Holy gods.
*facepalm*
I… I just don’t even know.
But it makes me smile to see I’m Hiro. :D
Oh, Tempest, this makes me want to cry. *sigh*
How dare you harsh my exoticized Orientalism about Japan with all of those Latin@ and black people! LET ME HAVE MY WHITE WEEABOO FANTASY OKAY
Are the io9 comments heavily moderated? Because I’m surprised that there are only three replies to that so far.
LMAO–“I can’t be ethnocentric! I’m white! You, magazine, stop publishing stories that aren’t about white people–that’s being ethnocentric!” My insides hurt because this is hilarious.
Multitudes? I guess because even ONE is too many, yeah?
Oh, you get the free issues, too? That’s reassuring to know.
I’d say they do a reasonable job of drawing stories from various cultures, incl. nonwhite ones. Not necessarily with the aplomb or intentionality of, say, Strange Horizons Horizons, but enough so that someone scurred of brown people germs might feel cheated by an average issue’s contents…
What. :O
That, and a truly outrageous comment on the Black Gate forums makes me want to subscribe.
Eh, you know, naked orange fish lady, Harlan Ellison…they’re just like black people!
I find myself somewhat amused at the idea of “ethnocentric” apparently being used to mean “not focused on any one ethnicity to the exclusion of all others”.
I’m pretty sure that’s because “ethnicity” is something those minorities have. It’s why white people have to appropriate culture from indigenous peoples and immigrant minorities, don’tchaknow; they aren’t real people on their own, because they’re normal.
(I hope my sarcasm is obvious here.)
Damn, I don’t usually read short stories, but if this is true, where can I sign up for Realms?!?