I think we also see a great deal of another flavor of "not my problem" -- white fans who pride themselves on being "color-blind," and who think that as long as they/I aren't actively, deliberately and consciously promoting obvious racism they're "not racist" and therefore don't have to pay attention to racism.
I guess that's what I was trying to point out. That just because one doesn't go around referring to "niggers" and "coloureds" calling grown men "boy" and referring to "lynching" persons of colour, doesn't mean one isn't capable of racism.
In fandom, I'd say that consistently ignoring, denigrating, demeaning, or devaluing characters of colour is racism. (That's an 'or' not an 'and'.) Which means that a lot of fandom has a racist slant in their exclusionary policies towards characters of colour. (Bring in the pretty white characters, ignore or pair off the non-whites so we don't have to think about them.)
There was an interesting reference on witchqueen's LJ the other week, about a theory that states that a good liberal person is incapable of admitting to any behaviour in themselves that might be racist unless their worldview allows for them to be capable of unintentionally bigoted behaviour. And most people aren't capable of saying the words "I am wrong," and meaning them. (The fandom term "heidipology" is a classic example of not actually saying sorry.)
The evil, nasty, corrupt, unkind people are never "us". It's always "them".
no subject
I guess that's what I was trying to point out. That just because one doesn't go around referring to "niggers" and "coloureds" calling grown men "boy" and referring to "lynching" persons of colour, doesn't mean one isn't capable of racism.
In fandom, I'd say that consistently ignoring, denigrating, demeaning, or devaluing characters of colour is racism. (That's an 'or' not an 'and'.) Which means that a lot of fandom has a racist slant in their exclusionary policies towards characters of colour. (Bring in the pretty white characters, ignore or pair off the non-whites so we don't have to think about them.)
There was an interesting reference on
The evil, nasty, corrupt, unkind people are never "us". It's always "them".