PRINCESS MONSTER WIFE

For the second time in my memory of a fandom I actively try to avoid knowing anything about, a "J2" Supernatural RPS fic has been written using the aftermath of a large-scale tragedy affecting primarily POC as background dressing. This time, while the event (Haitian earthquake recovery) was & is still happening.

Excerpts.
Commentary.

There's a bunch of stuff I don't get about this, though trying to understand the mind that honestly looked at the earthquake coverage and immediately thought "BEST IDEA EVER" for her fic setting is not something I particularly care to concentrate on. I don't get why when people want to write about genocide, war, or natural disasters they don't realize that that's what the destruction of Vulcan and the elimination of the Air Nomads and the occupation of Bajor and post-apocalyptic scenarios are for, for people to access truthful pain through fiction. Or why they don't at least use stories that are their own, or relevant to the characters instead of doing this pick-a-tragedy-out-of-a-hat White Man's Burden exoticization routine. Or why they don't have a sense of perspective about what makes a good story in the first place because "thousands of people have died; therefore, porn" really does not.

And I especially don't get why "I didn't intend to be a racist" still gets trotted out as an excuse when virtually NOBODY, not teabaggers terrified that Obama will enslave them all, not Michael Richards with his slurs, not Joss Whedon when he makes a show decorated with Chinoiserie and not a single Chinese person, intends to be racist. It takes a lot more than lack of intention to be not racist. Not being racist starts (starts!) when you actively work to be aware of and curtail the racism in your heart, your vocabulary, your relationships, your entertainment, your causes, your creations. It's not just that intent doesn't matter (although it really doesn't). It's that the entire argument is an ass-covering straw man of meaninglessness, because modern racism is rarely about evil intent.

stuff white people do.
Aversive racism.

Fellow white people: we should get to know ourselves.