burning at the centre of time

This ended up just coming out, because I am so fed up that I cannot stand back any longer and not say something. If it goes under the radar, I will be sad, but so be it. Also, when I start sitting down and writing stuff, it ends up being stuff other people have said well before, so this is chock full of links.

Disclaimer: Some places I come from a place of privilege and some places I don't, fyi (and as I said earlier, we all have some privilege if we're reading this). I also think the points here are applicable without much problem on a worldwide scale, but if anything is particularly US/UK-centric, I apologise.

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It's hard to decide if there's a point of most importance, but I think this is it:
Privileged people must learn to be uncomfortable, or no one will get anywhere.
Being comfortable usually means you're riding on privilege. The dominant paradigm's made things easy for you, and you're milking that for all that it's worth, at the expense of other people. If you have to ask 'why should I make myself uncomfortable just to ease up on someone's pain', then GTFO.

Carrying on:

- As I touched on earlier today, fandom is not a unique and beautiful snowflake. It is subject to the same discussion and criticism as anything else. In fact, its transformative and commentary aspects make it actually MORE valid for criticism, not less. Just because it is often pretendy funtime does not make it exempt from analytical thought. (Even in academia; that ship sailed long ago and it is called pop culture studies.)
More on this: the BS 'silencing' narrative and fanfic's relevance (thoracopagus)

- I have seen this so many places, but it's worth saying again and again and again, in hopes that maybe it'll get through to people. No one is saying Do Not Write What You Are Not. Instead, as a writer or a participant in community discussion, you must be prepared. Educate yourself first, learn the salient issues, and consider possible problem points, before you speak.
More on this: why the J2 Racefail story was disenfranchising, and how to write about things: think first (reddwarfer)

( this carries on beyond the cut, and it's nothing new to some of my readers, but hey. )