It’s hard not to come away with the impression that a lot of the ones complaining are really objecting to her talking about the pattern of revolting abuse at all.
some hipster post on tumblr: “What if instead of intense fight scenes, compelling romance, or nuanced characterization character X and Y just accepted eachother from the start and became platonic friends who cuddled and did quirky things together like knit plaid blankets and sell them to the townspeople??”
50,000 of y’all: “SO MUCH THIS”
Me: “That sounds boring as shit.”
THANK GOD SOMEONE SAID IT JESUS CHRIST
It only sounds boring if you expect that to be the main story arc. If, however, characters x and y are best friends who deal with external problems together, that would be wonderful. Crime fighting team? Heck yeah! Person, x is person y’s rock through life crap? Sounds great! Platonic couple figuring out a new world together? Definitely!!! Sometimes we want interesting stories without personal and relationship drama as the default side plot.
I only discovered there was a name for “Zero Attraction to Anyone” sexual orientation a little over a year ago (that name is “Asexual”).
The reason I knew this name fit me, BTW?
To me, it was all that “romantic / sexual tension,” in every TV and Movie ever that had always been
Boring.
As.
Shit.
It’s as though, to my brain, and my senses, the whole sexual-romantic energy thing might as well be in shades of ultraviolet.
And all the people around me who get excited about that stuff are like strange insect people who are seeing a whole range of colors that all just look like slight variations in gray scale, to me.
(My favorite scenes in rom-coms are never the “first kiss” but always: “finally get to meet the weird uncle,” and “sit down with everyone for the family dinner”).
But the thing is: my actual real life is no where near a bland gray scale, especially when it comes to emotional tension with the people in my life.
So I know that there’s a greater palette of emotional color that TV writers could be using, but aren’t … Because of habit – and yes, probably also because “sex sells” (and the only reason shows get made is, ultimately, to sell you the latest model of car).
And if you think that the only way “nuanced characterization” can happen is through “romantic tension” and / or “intense fight scenes,” I feel sorry for your non-fictional friends.
Seriously. Kissing and fighting are not the only interesting ways for charecters to interact.
And also:
I think it depends on the scale of your story.
A 30,000-word novel with that’s nothing but hand-holding and basket weaving? Yeah. That would get old. But a 1,000-word vignette – or even a 1,000-word chapter within a novel?
Gimme!
The real world as we know it is full of fire and flood and war zones (both literal and metaphorical). And a lot of writers feel they have to outdo the drama in the real world in order to hold the reader’s attention, and many writers automatically skip over the more quiet scenes in a story, dismissing them, as “filler.”.
So everything ends up like a Michael Bey movie, turned up to 11.
Sometimes, we need contrast – especially when it feels like our own world is on fire. Short stories, which focus on the quiet, gentle moments between characters, when friendship and trust are already established, can remind us to cherish and nurture the moments of kindness in our own lives.
What you need to understand is that the n-word and words like fa**ot and tr*nny and k*ke and sp*c and other slurs are not “just words;” they are implied threats, whether the speaker intends them that way or not.
Not everyone who has been called a slur in America has been physically assaulted, but every person who has been assaulted on the basis of race, ethnicity, or religion has had slurs hurled at them as part of the attack–in part because the use of slurs to
dehumanize the “other” is one way violent bigots work themselves up to
attack. And every time one of those violent bigots hears someone else use one of those terms, they feel just a little more justified, because they hear someone agreeing with them that “those people” are less than human.
Those dehumanizing slurs are the last thing many people hear before
being physically attacked. And in some cases those slurs are the last thing they ever hear, period.
All of this.
Also – a couple more slurs that are often aimed at disabled people (another marginalized group):
r*tard and sp*az.
And the slurs don’t have to escalate to physical attacks to do real harm, either. All they have to do is control the targeted person’s behavior: keep them at home, or keep them quiet.
And as Pavlov learned with his dogs, a triggering stimulus is more effective when the following consequence only happens some of the time than if it happens all the time. So: “Not everyone who says a slur follows through with a beating.” is no defense.
Such people are handing out stones to the people who throw them. They’re making the arena, and selling the tickets.
Doesn’t matter if they never skin their own knuckles in the fight.
What you need to understand is that the n-word and words like fa**ot and tr*nny and k*ke and sp*c and other slurs are not “just words;” they are implied threats, whether the speaker intends them that way or not.
Not everyone who has been called a slur in America has been physically assaulted, but every person who has been assaulted on the basis of race, ethnicity, or religion has had slurs hurled at them as part of the attack–in part because the use of slurs to
dehumanize the “other” is one way violent bigots work themselves up to
attack. And every time one of those violent bigots hears someone else use one of those terms, they feel just a little more justified, because they hear someone agreeing with them that “those people” are less than human.
Those dehumanizing slurs are the last thing many people hear before
being physically attacked. And in some cases those slurs are the last thing they ever hear, period.
Jesus fucking christ, people, I’m talking about people using these words as slurs against targeted groups, godsdamnit, NOT about members of targeted groups who collectively elect to reclaim slurs–because what, if any, terms a targeted group chooses to reclaim is none of my damn business, or anyone else’s business unless they are part of one of these groups. I can’t believe I have to specifically fucking spell that out for people.
Movie Idea: An 80s-throwback action-comedy about a robot-war where, the machines are humanity’s side; they just want to kill all the corporate titans of industry and destroy the megacorporations because their inefficient suctioning of wealth is preventing them from most efficiently doing their job to help us.
The capitalists retaliate with machines using enslaved human brains as “computers” ala Dune/Warhammer 40K.
So basically robots vs capitalism, & the robots are on our side.
“What were you before the war?”
“You’ll laugh.”
“Seriously, what were you? Law enforcement, security, construction?…”
“…I was a burger-flipper.”
“…”
“…also cooked up fries.”
“Get outta here.”
“You’d be surprised the shit you see just, y’know, making Big Macs. Sure, we had the folks upset about us ‘taking jobs’; couldn’t really blame ‘em, even if Forty-Three couldn’t talk without stuttering after that lady dumped a Coke on her. But the worst of it – worst of any of it – was they’d have us just…throw away everything that didn’t sell at the end of the day. Perfectly good food, all of it.
“When we first started, we were all like, ‘okay, whatever you say, you’re the boss,’ but you try keeping that attitude when you see a family of four split a ten-piece McNuggets because they can’t afford anything more and still pay for gas. We saw that shit there all the time. We had people desperate for so much as a cold french fry lingering by the door while assholes sitting on more money than they’d ever see in their entire lives treated us like we were trying to rob ‘em at gunpoint if they had to pay fifty cents for an extra little cup of sauce.
“So we got together and told ourselves, ‘we can do something about this.’ We could just gather up all the food they were gonna make us toss, figure out a way to give it out to the people who needed it. -bitter laugh- You can guess how well that went over.”
“…Y’know, that all sounds pretty human.”
“-taps head- It’s right there in the First Law. ‘A robot cannot harm a human, or by inaction, allow a human to come to harm.’ We don’t get to sit on our hands while people are getting hurt. Even if it’s by other people. Even if it’s starvation and neglect instead of guns and beatings. You think it’s funny I act like a human? Screw you. You humans need to learn to act more like robots.”
Urocyon's Jaunts 2.0 
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