I never meant to say that and I'm sorry if it came across that way. Of course you have very valid points and of course I don't want to say you shouldn't discuss issues. I think the real issue is that we have another way to discuss. We don't operate with "privileges" because a lot of Germans feel that the whole privileges discussing thing makes it nearly impossible to have a truly democratic discussion.
For us, it's more important that a point is logical, not who it's coming from. The whole privileges thing feels alien to us. I have a feeling that it would be very hard to live in the US for me because I'd probably end up with my foot in my mouth every other day because of that. If we offend you it's not necessarily because we don't care or want to insult you. Often enough it's just because we have a completely different way of thinking.
Hrm, I don't know if I'm making any sense with this but maybe it explains why I was missing havoc's point. The whole privileges thing is obviously more alien to me than I thought. I guess I didn't see the homophobia thing because in a country where the institutional approach is "Who cares?" battling homophobia happens on a personal level (e.g. when I catch someone in my circle of friends making derogatory remarks), not on a general institutional level.
For better or worse, it's going to come up in fandom.
And that's not a problem. We have a lot of discrimination problems here as well. In the case of LGBT for example, institutional discrimination is down to a minimum (there are for example some things in family law and inheritance law that need urgent ironing out) but it doesn't mean there's no discrimination at all. So yes, we understand that it's an issue... but what I'm asking for is that it's accepted by Americans that we have a different way of discussing it and that this way of discussing it isn't simply dismissed because it's not the American way. As you might have noticed in pingulotta's comment, here it's actually considered rude to say LGBT persons are "underprivileged" - that explains a lot why I don't like to discuss that way, doesn't it?
Also, as far as SGA goes... the American bias bugs me in a completely different field as well. Atlantis was always an international project and when I started watching it, I also did so in the hope that the Stargate franchise on the whole would become more international, just as its fandom. However, five seasons and the only recurring character coming from a non-English speaking country was Radek (or did I miss someone?). Everything else was strictly in American, Canadian and British hands.
And so is the vast majority of fanfics. There are a handful of really beautiful Miko fics and I think I also found a few that had a focus on Radek and a very beautiful Five Things fic that includes a German soldier but beyond that... the only other English Stargate fics that feature a protagonist not from an English-speaking country that I know are my own :S Maybe I just failed at finding them but... I wish more people were writing characters from non-English speaking countries (beyond Miko and Radek, I mean), and most of all not from America.
As someone who had to do an enormous amount of research and needed years to get behind at least parts of American mentality to be able to write American characters the right way (and enjoyed it - really, I have a sociological background, I love doing the whole mentality thing), I sometimes do feel myself wishing Americans in the SGA fandom would feel the same enthusiasm for getting into the heads of people from other countries and enjoy digging their way through pop culture, history and politics from those countries, just to write characters from those countries the right way.
I'd love to read a well researched story about a Spanish technician or a South African scientist or yes, a German soldier, most of all if it was written by an American. It's so pleasing to see someone just getting it right who had to work hard for it and did it anyway because they were enjoying it (which is why I love freifraufischer's stories so much ;)).
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2010-07-17 10:57 pm (UTC)I never meant to say that and I'm sorry if it came across that way. Of course you have very valid points and of course I don't want to say you shouldn't discuss issues. I think the real issue is that we have another way to discuss. We don't operate with "privileges" because a lot of Germans feel that the whole privileges discussing thing makes it nearly impossible to have a truly democratic discussion.
For us, it's more important that a point is logical, not who it's coming from. The whole privileges thing feels alien to us. I have a feeling that it would be very hard to live in the US for me because I'd probably end up with my foot in my mouth every other day because of that. If we offend you it's not necessarily because we don't care or want to insult you. Often enough it's just because we have a completely different way of thinking.
Hrm, I don't know if I'm making any sense with this but maybe it explains why I was missing havoc's point. The whole privileges thing is obviously more alien to me than I thought. I guess I didn't see the homophobia thing because in a country where the institutional approach is "Who cares?" battling homophobia happens on a personal level (e.g. when I catch someone in my circle of friends making derogatory remarks), not on a general institutional level.
For better or worse, it's going to come up in fandom.
And that's not a problem. We have a lot of discrimination problems here as well. In the case of LGBT for example, institutional discrimination is down to a minimum (there are for example some things in family law and inheritance law that need urgent ironing out) but it doesn't mean there's no discrimination at all. So yes, we understand that it's an issue... but what I'm asking for is that it's accepted by Americans that we have a different way of discussing it and that this way of discussing it isn't simply dismissed because it's not the American way. As you might have noticed in
Also, as far as SGA goes... the American bias bugs me in a completely different field as well. Atlantis was always an international project and when I started watching it, I also did so in the hope that the Stargate franchise on the whole would become more international, just as its fandom. However, five seasons and the only recurring character coming from a non-English speaking country was Radek (or did I miss someone?). Everything else was strictly in American, Canadian and British hands.
And so is the vast majority of fanfics. There are a handful of really beautiful Miko fics and I think I also found a few that had a focus on Radek and a very beautiful Five Things fic that includes a German soldier but beyond that... the only other English Stargate fics that feature a protagonist not from an English-speaking country that I know are my own :S Maybe I just failed at finding them but... I wish more people were writing characters from non-English speaking countries (beyond Miko and Radek, I mean), and most of all not from America.
As someone who had to do an enormous amount of research and needed years to get behind at least parts of American mentality to be able to write American characters the right way (and enjoyed it - really, I have a sociological background, I love doing the whole mentality thing), I sometimes do feel myself wishing Americans in the SGA fandom would feel the same enthusiasm for getting into the heads of people from other countries and enjoy digging their way through pop culture, history and politics from those countries, just to write characters from those countries the right way.
I'd love to read a well researched story about a Spanish technician or a South African scientist or yes, a German soldier, most of all if it was written by an American. It's so pleasing to see someone just getting it right who had to work hard for it and did it anyway because they were enjoying it (which is why I love
Erm... did that make any sense?