Funk Me!

I just got back from a con. Usually after a con I am invigorated, inspired, and motivated to write. I often have several new ideas for stories and either finish whatever piece I was working on, or start new stories. But since I have returned from this Con, I have been in a funk. It was a Con I had not been to in many years, and not as good as it use to be. It seems most that I attend are not what they use to be but that is not the problem. I met with friends I had not seen in years, and the panels I was a panelist on went fine.

One of the things at cons that usually lifts me up is the attitudes of most the people there; the acceptance and tolerance of others. Sure over the years there have been issues and cons, and more than just a few, but generally feeling of live and let live, that everyone can get along is much stronger in fandom than in the general public, and one of the reasons I generally enjoy going to cons.

But there were a couple of panels I attended that the attitudes of the panelists I can’t shake. One author made the comment that she refused to read anything written by a white male heterosexual. First thought I had was how can she tell if a person is white, male, or heterosexual from the by line on a book or story? You can make a fair guess of sex by the first name, and even that is not at all certain. Beyond that it gets difficult to impossible to tell more.

Now even if you know the person to be male, white and straight, why are they automatically the enemy because of their race, sex, and preference? Isn’t that what most women, people of color, and LBGT groups are fighting against? What if this straight, white, man, has been and is an active proponent of equal rights for all?

It makes me wonder, if marginalized people, once they have a venue for their voice, marginalize others, should I still support them? I am willing to bet that anyone on the fence, thinking maybe they are right, maybe I should support them, that hears this type of toxicity goes right to thinking, funk them. I have spent too many years seeing the inequality, have too many friends of color and different sexual orientation. I have spent too many years arguing with male co-workers about their sexist and gay bashing jokes to abandon my beliefs. But it does make me wonder if there is really any hope of humanity actually becoming civilized. Or am I merely tilting at windmills?