Meta fandom and nationality.

[gelbes_gilatier]

After watching several minor and major fails and catastrophies of various topics (LGBT, race, gender...) and the discussion of privilege and non-privilege and whatnot unfold in the last few weeks, I'm finally starting to realize what's bothering me so much about it:

The overwhelming American dominance and the almost automatic assumption that what's considered privilege and what has to be considered as fail is the American definition of it. It's an almost unchallenged preset that we're all talking about what constitutes a gender fail or a race fail and also a LGBT fail by American standards and that everyone should just discuss it under those presets.

And yes, this is bothering me because I'm not American and I'm not even a native speaker of English and yes, for me it's sometimes pretty hard to understand why something constitutes a fail. Race, for example, has a whole different meaning for us Germans. We don't even like to use that word. We're way more comfortable with "ethnic background" for example because our grandparents used the word "Rasse" (which is a direct translation of the English word race) as something connected with industrialized mass murder and a World War and it probably will forever be etched into our minds like that.

We're also very sensitive to race in general, just probably not in the way that Americans are. Yes, I know I'm starting to sound redundant but please take in account here that Germany is the country that started and lost two World Wars and the country that perfected industrial mass murder, only a little more than 65 years ago. This thing shaped our country and our national mentality more than any other event ever has (it's even going so far that left-wing activists see nothing wrong with tearing down a German flag that was hung up by a family of Near-Eastern immigrants/first generation Germans during the World Cup). We're so oversensitive about our Nazi past that we get scared by German flags being put up on display during events like the World Cup and by people wearing black-red-golden leis around their necks.

So the thing we're most afraid of is being called a Nazi (unless one actually is one... BTW, here in Germany, being a Nazi and showing it is a crime... you can get arrested for wearing a Swastika or showing the Hitler salute in public... no, I'm not kidding you, we don't take this lightly here) which is why we also try to find lots of correct names for people who come from an ethnic background other than "white" (which, by the way is not a category we use - we rather think in national backgrounds than skin color, like "the Turks" or "the Russians") but which is also why we don't like to address this specifically in fics or such.

I never specifically said any of the characters in my stories are of color not because I automatically assume everyone in my stories is Caucasian but because I don't see a reason to specifcally state that (since if you automatically assume all my characters are Caucasian, it's your problem, not mine) and I don't like to make a fuss about that particular topic, also because of my national heritage... something that American people like to dismiss way too easily in not even assuming their opposite could be of another nationality and therefore have a completely different upbringing.

Another thing is LGBT... in Germany, the usual approach is now "Who cares?" It's different with my parents' generation but my generation and most of all the generations coming after us grew up with top ranking politicians being openly gay (the mayors of Berlin and Hamburg for example, or our current Foreign Minister) and top media people being openly gay (for example Anne Will, one of the leading ladies in the business of high profile political talk shows). At first their coming out caused a minor sensation but after about a week it wasn't like "Oh my God, Wowereit can't be mayor of the national capital because he's gay!" but "Is he good enough a politician to battle all the issues the conservatives left for him?" and his sexuality never was an issue regarding his political skills.

There's also no such thing as DADT in the Bundeswehr (which of course doesn't mean gay soldiers aren't being discriminated against by their fellow soldiers but at least they aren't kicked out, simply for being gay) or any other government institution. There's a national law that allows gay people kind of getting married (heterosexual marriages still hold a number of privileges but I'm pretty sure that will change) and homosexuality lost its general "EWWW!"-appeal ages ago.

So yes, maybe for you Americans I'm discussing LGBT issues from a privileged position... but did you just once think about the fact that I may come from a country that doesn't make such a big fuss about it anymore? It's more like "Oh, hey, jeder nach seiner Facon, ne." ("Everyone can live after their own fashion." - you may also know it as "To each their own." but I have an inner barrier to use that sentence... every half-way educated German knows that "Jedem das Seine" (which is the direct translation) is what you'll find at the gates of Buchenwald, just as you'll find "Arbeit macht frei" ("Work sets you free") at the gates of Auschwitz) here than "Oh, this is really such a general problem." I'm not saying LGBT persons aren't discriminated against here, they still are on multiple levels. But I never got called on for speaking from a privileged position by a German LGBT person and I did some pro-LGBT political work while I was still active (so I had a lot to do with persons who see themselves as LGBT).

We don't inquire and we don't make a fuss about it because we a) think that sexuality is something very private and one shouldn't pry and b) that it shouldn't be our primary cursor to judge character (exemplary conversation between my mom and I: "Have you heard? Robbie Williams is probably gay." - me: "Yeah... so?" - my mom: "Oh, right. Doesn't matter for his singing, anyway."). This is why I think any SGA character's sexuality shouldn't be of an issue to the show (well, along with the fact that yes, it does reek a lot like a publicity stunt to do it now instead of actually addressing it within the show and its five Seasons but that's another story)... because for us it's irrelevant to the achievments of a character. I don't know any German LGBT person who likes being judged by or for their sexuality in any way, and that also includes automatically being an "underprivileged person". In fact, most of them resent always being made into victims with this.

So you know what... if you're American and you're trying to tell me I'm speaking from a privileged position, no matter what the issue is... maybe next time you'll try not to speak from your privileged position as the dominant nation in nearly every major (and a lot of minor) fandoms (and meta fandom). It's something that's rarely, if never addressed (I recently saw a posting by someone from Norway regarding this that I was so thankful for but unfortunately, I lost the link before I could bookmark it) and yes, it's starting to bug me. There are differences between our views of the world and just because I'm from Germany it doesn't make them any less valid.

Also, and this my last word on it, you Americans might all want to rethink your usage of the word "Nazi" in international context (and yes, that includes fandom). It's a real insult here because here it doesn't stand for an anal-retentive person but for someone who supported, supports or would have supported industrialized mass murder... not something anyone of you would like to be affiliated with, is it? Like I said before, we don't take kindly to anything related to that issue and most of all we don't find it funny (which is why The Sun's headlines before the England vs. Germany game in the WC caused a minor uproar here). We're very self-conscious about how the world views us and we're very eager to please and to see that we don't come across as Nazis. We'd be kind of thankful if you wouldn't all throw around that term as carelessly as you often enough do.

And now go and defriend me if you like.


ETA: If anyone of you is really interested in what constitutes being a German, have a look at the Meet The Germans project of the Goethe-Institut London. Also, now I'd love to know if there are similiar projects by Spanish, English, French, American, Canadian, Guamaltecan or whatever other nation's institutions. Anyone can tell me anything about it?

ETA II: Now that I submitted the link to fandomnews: Just be aware of the fact that I don't tolerate any flaming whatsoever here. I reserve the right to freeze and/or delete comments. And everyone try to read your comment again before posting it, to see if you're still caught up in your nationality privilege (i.e. seeing everything the way you're used to and not even taking in account that this could be seen as offense by persons of a different nationality).

I'm really tired of having to tolerate and adapt to the views of people from other nationalities when apparently a number of those people don't take care to at least tolerate and respect that I have a number of different views because I come from a different national background. It's really not that hard. I've been doing that since I became active in fandom. If I can do it, you can do it, too.

Comments

[rareb.livejournal.com]

When I first read this, I was confused and quite sure I must have missunderstood something. (That could easily be the case, as I'm not a native speaker. I excuse myself for mistakes and weird turns of phrases in the following text. It's quite late already...)

I'm currently in no fandom, and I never was part of an international fandom - I was not sure what "privilege" meant in this context. (And I'm still not sure - I felt like it was meant to say that people in "privileged positions" weren't allowed to openly speak their mind because of who they are.)

I don't even want to adress the issues here (homophobia etc.), because I think the rules of the discussion are unfair.

A discussion is, at least in my opinion, an open competition of ideas - in which the best arguments should win. Of course there are different ways to figure out which argument is the best.

We're in a discussion on a social issue. What's right or wrong lies in our perception of reality. The same thing can be right and wrong at the same time, for different people in different contexts. All we can do is discuss. Communicate. If I have another perception of reality than you and we must assume that both of them are true, we can only exchange our points of view and try to understand each other. We can, of course, try to convince others - as in this kind of discussion, the "winner", ideally, is the argument that can convince more people. (That's the idea behind democracy.) Everyone is free to try and convince as many people as possible.

But, and that's the important part for me here - it is, ideally, still - a competition of arguments and ideas, not a fight of one person against another. It doesn't matter who presents an argument. An argument is not more or less valid depending on who makes it. That was feudalism. In democracy, every voice a priori has the same worth. There's no "automatically better". That's at the very core of democracy.

Now, of course these are ideal condition and I'm aware of the difficulties of minorities. In institutionalised politics, there are ways to overcome these difficulties. Minorities can get more time to speak, we can create qualified majorities in order to include them, we can introduce quotas make sure they're adequately represented, we can make specific laws to protect them from discrimination. But this never, and I repeat NEVER means that "the argument of a minority is automatically more valid". Everyone, privileged, unprivileged, of any size and shape, has the same right to express his or her point of view.

I have no problem if someone tells me "from my perspective, it looks like this" or "I have made the experience, that x often is like this" - it allows me to add my perspective and reply based on my experiences. Ideally, I can develop greater empathy for others and their position. My own picture of reality can get richer, more nuanced - but also more complex. It's a way of self-reflection that's, in my opinion, crucial in our interconnected, highly complex modern world.

I have to be prepared that what looks totally obvious looking from the top of a mountain looks quite different when seen from a valley. Both perspectives are true. Both are "right". It's simply impossible to see the whole picture at once.

We can't re-evaluate our own stereotypes and prejudice (each and everyone has a set of these, me too), if we automatically reject the point of view of someone; even more so because of some random characteristics. It's hard, but generally possible, to try and understand how someone came to a specific conclusion - even if the reasoning feels strange from another point of view or others in the same situation reached another conclusion. It doesn't even mean that you have to agree to or approve of the opinion!

That's why I'm so confused by this "privilege" discussion. It's like introducing an autoritarian argument into an otherwise democratic discussion. I might be insanely optimistic - but I have faith in our human capacities to communicate and to empathize. I might not be able to see the world as you see it, but I can try to listen, to imagine myself in that position.

Please, don't sabotage it, by attacking the person instead of the argument!