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neadodsI once said I wanted one of those threads that went all over LJ, and now I've certainly learned to be careful what I ask for.
The arguments are becoming circular, which probably means that they're (hopefully) going to peter out soon. If not, I'm going to cut off commentary when we get to comment #200 or so simply because I need to actually get some work done today.
For the record, after all this talk/discussion/occasional snarl, I've not changed my mind regarding Real Person Sex/Slash. I have become more solidified in my opinion.
On the other hand, it wasn't until I was framing a response today that I remembered that I have been responsible for Real Person Fic within my own family; I once wrote a Quantum Leap story that undid the family mass murder. The general opinion of the rest of my family was that yeah, it could kinda sorta be seen as a tribute if you squinted at it sideways, and I didn't say anything that defamed the people involved... but they still would have preferred it if I'd waited another generation or two, because it was just a little too close to the bone, there. (It was, in fact, much the same response as I got when I wrote a fic using 9/11 in late 2002 - "it's too close, it's too personal, wait longer until the memory has faded.") So the comfort line there appears to be "wait a generation or two past living memory to fic a person/traumatic event." (Even in the original post, I drew a line between RPF and RPS.)
I can live with that. Especially since it allows me to go forward with the missionary project, in which I am basically chronicalling the lives of Real People at a far historical remove. I won't be speculating on their sex life, though. Much. Pregnancy does become an issue.
What fascinates me from an anthropological point of view is that I've written something like half a dozen posts regarding abortion, some of which have spread from my LJ to others like a meme, with no commentary from people outside my f-list. I've also posted several times about writing fanfiction. The 4 Ps of Cozy Mysteries and the Knowing Shit from Shakespeare fanfic and feminism posts got very minimal response.
But post one rant about RPS and watch it go off like a handgrenade...
When last I looked, this was going across Sprat's,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
menikoff's, shayheyred's and I think ginmar's LJs, and it tied back to a conversation that had just wrapped up on one of Shay's LJ friends.
All those posts about abortion & I have yet to be called a babykiller. All those posts about fanfic, but I wasn't called the thought police until yesterday. My personal favorite post was the one that kicks off this thread, written by someone who's come for just this discussion. I'm not calling it favorite sarcastically - from an anthropological standpoint, it's glorious. An absolutely classical attempt to silence dissent. In my life alone, I've heard much the same wording wielded against just about every civil rights protest I've been part of. Certainly I've heard it from both sides of the abortion fight, what with the anti-choice side saying "that just because you believe [the fetus doesn't have the rights of a grown person] to be so doesn't actually make it so" and the pro-choice side shooting back with "if you find [an abortion] reprehensible and evil, then (one) don't [have] it."
Now I'm off to see what effect all of this has had on my f-list, and to wait and see if any of my regulars have been scared away from the watering hole.
ETA: I've been linked somewhere; the second wave is coming after me now, and I do mean "coming after" me. Apparently RPSphobia is equivalent to homophobia. (??!) And someone complaining that I'm slinging the word "ethical" around, having apparently missed it in the original question which I was answering.
At some point when I'm not swamped under hundreds of comments, it might be interesting to have a conversation about ethics in general. Are there some things which are simply WRONG or is it all situational - and if the latter, who decides the situation?
ETA 2:ginmar's having that conversation, for those who are interested. Now that it looks like the firehose on my post is dwindling down, I'm going to try to check it out.
The arguments are becoming circular, which probably means that they're (hopefully) going to peter out soon. If not, I'm going to cut off commentary when we get to comment #200 or so simply because I need to actually get some work done today.
For the record, after all this talk/discussion/occasional snarl, I've not changed my mind regarding Real Person Sex/Slash. I have become more solidified in my opinion.
On the other hand, it wasn't until I was framing a response today that I remembered that I have been responsible for Real Person Fic within my own family; I once wrote a Quantum Leap story that undid the family mass murder. The general opinion of the rest of my family was that yeah, it could kinda sorta be seen as a tribute if you squinted at it sideways, and I didn't say anything that defamed the people involved... but they still would have preferred it if I'd waited another generation or two, because it was just a little too close to the bone, there. (It was, in fact, much the same response as I got when I wrote a fic using 9/11 in late 2002 - "it's too close, it's too personal, wait longer until the memory has faded.") So the comfort line there appears to be "wait a generation or two past living memory to fic a person/traumatic event." (Even in the original post, I drew a line between RPF and RPS.)
I can live with that. Especially since it allows me to go forward with the missionary project, in which I am basically chronicalling the lives of Real People at a far historical remove. I won't be speculating on their sex life, though. Much. Pregnancy does become an issue.
What fascinates me from an anthropological point of view is that I've written something like half a dozen posts regarding abortion, some of which have spread from my LJ to others like a meme, with no commentary from people outside my f-list. I've also posted several times about writing fanfiction. The 4 Ps of Cozy Mysteries and the Knowing Shit from Shakespeare fanfic and feminism posts got very minimal response.
But post one rant about RPS and watch it go off like a handgrenade...
When last I looked, this was going across Sprat's,
menikoff's, shayheyred's and I think ginmar's LJs, and it tied back to a conversation that had just wrapped up on one of Shay's LJ friends. All those posts about abortion & I have yet to be called a babykiller. All those posts about fanfic, but I wasn't called the thought police until yesterday. My personal favorite post was the one that kicks off this thread, written by someone who's come for just this discussion. I'm not calling it favorite sarcastically - from an anthropological standpoint, it's glorious. An absolutely classical attempt to silence dissent. In my life alone, I've heard much the same wording wielded against just about every civil rights protest I've been part of. Certainly I've heard it from both sides of the abortion fight, what with the anti-choice side saying "that just because you believe [the fetus doesn't have the rights of a grown person] to be so doesn't actually make it so" and the pro-choice side shooting back with "if you find [an abortion] reprehensible and evil, then (one) don't [have] it."
Now I'm off to see what effect all of this has had on my f-list, and to wait and see if any of my regulars have been scared away from the watering hole.
ETA: I've been linked somewhere; the second wave is coming after me now, and I do mean "coming after" me. Apparently RPSphobia is equivalent to homophobia. (??!) And someone complaining that I'm slinging the word "ethical" around, having apparently missed it in the original question which I was answering.
At some point when I'm not swamped under hundreds of comments, it might be interesting to have a conversation about ethics in general. Are there some things which are simply WRONG or is it all situational - and if the latter, who decides the situation?
ETA 2:
ginmar's having that conversation, for those who are interested. Now that it looks like the firehose on my post is dwindling down, I'm going to try to check it out.
