My friend P told me about this website: Derailing for Dummies.

It’s the site I’ve always wanted to find. Funny, snarky, succinct and fucking brilliant.

Some highlights:

You know how it is.  You’re enjoying yourself, kicking back and relaxing at the pub or maybe at the library; or maybe you’re in class or just casually surfing the internet, indulging in a little conversation. The topic of the conversation is about a pertinent contemporary issue, probably something to do with a group of people who fall outside your realm of experience and identity. They’re also probably fairly heavily discriminated against - or so they claim.  

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The thing is, you’re having a good time, sharing your knowledge about these people and their issues. This knowledge is incontrovertible – it’s been backed up in media representation, books, research and lots and lots of historical events, also your own unassailable sense of being right. Yet all of a sudden something happens to put a dampener on your sharing of your enviable intellect and incomparable capacity to fully perceive and understand All Things. It’s someone who belongs to the group of people you’re discussing and they’re Not Very Happy with you. Apparently, they claim, you’ve got it all wrong and they’re offended about that.  They might be a person of colour, or a queer person. Maybe they’re a woman, or a person with disability. They could even be a trans person or a sex worker. The point is they’re trying to tell you they know better than you about their issues and you know that’s just plain wrong.

What a great beginning. And they say sarcasm isn’t a pedagogical tool. Ha!

My favourite sections include:

If You Won’t Educate Me How Can I Learn

You Just Enjoy Being Offended – NEW!

Don’t You Have More Important Issues To Think About – NEW!

You’re Taking Things Too Personally

You’re Not Being Intellectual Enough/You’re Being Overly Intellectual

OMG. All the snark, all in one place.

The author(s) also use the adorable technique of (TM) and the copywrite symbol to indicate terms like Privilege®  and Marginalised Person™ . Loving it.

From: But That Happens to Me Too!

What this demonstrates is your total lack of understanding of what “othering” means in a practical sense. You’re ignoring the way your life is otherwise entirely immersed in a state of absolute privilege and revealing the fact you fail to comprehend the process of objectification and marginalising they go through all the time. When you are Privileged®, “similar” experiences simply do not happen on an equal footing because they do not otherwise reflect marginalisation. This obliviousness is highly insensitive and trivialising and will definitely cause them to grind their teeth!

But it’s also an important step in affirming your privilege: Privileged People® are accustomed, after all, to it being “all about them”. Not used to simply sitting back and listening to othered people‘s issues, Privileged People® like to be the centre of attention at all times. It reminds them that they are important. By doing this, you will feel good about yourself and send a crucial message to the Marginalised Person™ (yes you really can diminish their experience by making it all about you, all the time!). 

 

Read it, bookmark it, share it with your friends.

So, the new Star trek movie, the reboot of the original series. It seems that the Spock/ Uhura (S/U) relationship (”ship”), and particularly the interracial kisses that were depicted (gasp! cry! omg!), have caused a huge stir in the mostly white fan base.

Luckily for the anti-racist crowd, there’s a equally nerdy POC Star Trek 2.0 fan base out there, who have done closer, more intricate, and more detailed readings of TOS than even I thought imaginable. These folks also rock with AR analysis. Two of my worlds, in one. My life is complete.

Via racialicious.com, I found ankhesen-mie.

So, first up is a quiz. A small 16 question quiz about your response to the S/U ship (just getting into the lingo here, folks). I’ve learned tons about ways to present materials to folks who are struggling to get it, or resisting getting it, and please note the writer doesn’t use the term “racist” ever. But people sure respond as if s/he did.

http://ankhesen-mie.livejournal.com/24009.html

The first seven questions:
1) Do you feel horrified when you see Spock kiss a woman who looks like Uhura, and don’t know why?
2) Do you look at Zoe Saldana and feel you “just can’t trust her” but can’t say why?
3) Do you think Uhura’s not a very feminine character, but just can’t say why?
4) Would you prefer Spock to be with Christine Chapel over Uhura?
5) Do you think the Spock/Uhura relationship—in the story—is controversial because of Uhura?
6) Do you consider yourself a “die-hard” Trek fan but still don’t agree with the pairing?
7) Have you watched all things Trek—shows, films, interviews, etc. pertaining to this cast—and still think this pairing “came out of nowhere”?

…..

Next up, a follow-up blog post detailing the various objectors to the first post. Their responses have been nicely organized for us: The Poor Taste Reaction, The Uncomfortable Reaction, etc. Funny, cute and smart! This is so my new favourite blog!

http://ankhesen-mie.livejournal.com/24071.html

1. “A shuttle from Midland LRT will pick me up at 7:30am”

My sister said this to me a number of years ago. And the horror has stuck with me for all these years.

At the time she had a part time job for a few weeks marking cross-provincial tests given to students in Ontario elementary schools. She is a trained teacher and didn’t have full time employment yet.

I stared at her and said “That’s the scariest thing anyone has ever said to me in a long time.”

Why?

“Midland LRT”

I’m a downtown gal. I’m so severely a downtown gal that going north of Bloor needs some mental preparation. I admit I’m a privileged snob, and I can choose to live downtown and never go central, never mind uptown, but this is who I am. 

To get to Midland station one must take the subway as far east as one can go (Kennedy subway station) and then get on the Light Rapid transit line to go even further east. Midland is the end of the line. In more ways than one. 

Read the rest of this entry »

feralgeographer, a way cool queer blogger, has told me about NaBloPoMo, National Blog Posting Month. The idea is to post every day for a month, and it’s November 2009, and it’s on. I’m even a few days late. Damn!

So I will do today’s post with some links to videos that have caught my attention recently.

First is Chimamanda Adichie on “The Danger of the Single Story”

Wow and super wow. Take 19 minutes out of your life and watch and listen.

Second is Two Hot Transsexuals Finally Give Some Answers!

Funny and smart!

So here I am in my new blog location. I want to thank the good people at WebNetworks for hosting my old blog. They are a great group that hosts the websites of a number of fabulous non-profits, including two of my former workplaces!

But the one drawback of my old blog was the ads. The ads, I found, were based on word bots finding key words in my blogs and selecting “appropriate” ads. Yeah, that sound you hear is me banging my head on my desk.

So here in no particular order, are some random ads associated with my most recent blog postings.

Enjoy. I sure didn’t.

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Still alone? Seek dating? Now a serious Chinese dating site for serious Western gentlemen.

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Asian-Can Virtual Museum: Focusing on Culture & Expression Funded by Canada’s “Gateway” Fund

Is America Prejudiced? If America treats blacks so badly, why don’t more of them leave?

True Stories: Find True Stories Racisms at Great Prices.

Prejudice Definition: Look Up Prejudice Definition Now Define Words w/ Dictionary Toolbar

The Ghetto Survival Guide: A Real Guide For Surviving The Hood Direct 2-U Digital Copy Only $1