goodmorning81

goodmorning81

85p

4 comments posted · 5 followers · following 0

9 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'Guards! Gu... · 15 replies · +6 points

Right, I can see that I have a different relationship with offense, labels, and disagreement than many of the people here. That's fine.

To quickly respond to a couple things:
Just because a group is marginalized doesn't give them the right to be dismissive of outgroups in what should be a space safe for all.
Just because a person has no experience with something doesn't mean they can't have an opinion on it. Does it mean we should weight that opinion less in our considerations? Sure. Does it mean we shouldn't factor it in at all? I don't think so.

To the concept of people seeing things in different lights: we're all biased; we all see things as they relate to our personal experience. That's neither unusual nor a bad thing.
But we're all human, and sometimes that means we see our deepest fears in the bottom of a teacup.

EDIT: In other words, I respectfully disagree, and I don't think I want to continue this.

9 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'Guards! Gu... · 5 replies · +9 points

To clarify myself, because I don't think I expressed it very well, most of what I said is extraneous to my main point:

"I'm not cis. Nor am I a communist. But when I see these words being used to dismiss people, it bothers me.
That is why I don't comment here."

At any rate it doesn't matter as much as the fact that I do enjoy following along even if I don't feel comfortable commenting.

9 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'Guards! Gu... · 26 replies · +37 points

Since the topic of this site as a safe space has come up, I'm going to break my self-imposed silence and talk about why I was being silent in the first place.

I started following Mark near the beginning; it was late August of 2009. I'd just turned 16; Mark had just read the "Vampire Baseball" chapter of "Twilight."

That was good, because I needed a laugh. At the time I was trying to come to terms with the fact that I wasn't always comfortable with the way I was beginning to be shaped. I'm now aware that I'm genderfluid, but at the time it wasn't something that I even considered could be addressed.

I've watched Mark read some of my favourite books over the years, but I've only commented here once. Initially it was because I was incredibly shy, even too much to speak to strangers on the internet. Now, though, it's because I don't feel safe commenting.

The reasons I don't feel safe commenting - well, I don't necessarily feel safe sharing them, but since the dialog is open I think I'd better, and it's not like I have anything to lose.

I don't feel safe commenting here because it doesn't always feel like a safe space for me. It's not the cis people that make me feel unsafe - it's the other trans* people.

Taking the current issue as an example:
On the Leverage posts (which I'm super excited about but that;s not really the point), a conversation went like this:
"This sort of made me ship Parker/Sophie."
"I saw it more as a strengthening of their friendship but I can totally see your point."

Here, however, the conversation went a bit more like this:
"I think this comes off as an offensive trans* joke."
"I personally didn't read it that way, but I can see where it could be."
"Well, you're a cis person trying to justify an offensive trans* joke."

Cis is not a bad thing. Trans* is not a bad thing. While we're at it I may as well share that it reminds me of Fox News, where everything the folks there don't like is "socialist" or "communist" or the most dreaded "liberal."

I'm not cis. Nor am I a communist. But when I see these words being used to dismiss people, it bothers me.

That is why I don't comment here.

On a lighter note - a friend of mine actually got me into Discworld just a week or so before Mark announced he was reading them, and I was SO EXCITED. I'm still that excited, I've just had to keep it to myself. I just got to RM and this series just perpetually makes me happy.

12 years ago @ Mark Reads - Help map the Mark Does... · 1 reply · +1 points

I know you'll be in Orlando for Ascendio this summer, but is it too selfish to ask you to hold an event while you're down? I know of a venue, but it would be painful to get to...