Thread by @redlianak

This is going to get me nothing but grief but... This Lindsay Ellis thing? TOTALLY LOST THE PLOT. It was not about her to begin with. It was the views that came out of her. We in North America have to collectively become less stupid about media that doesn't originate here. THREAD

(See also, indigenous media) Lindsay Ellis said something stupid, that showed an ignorance of subject. To treat Avatar TLA - as some founding work of a genre linked to Asian animation... it's a chance for other people to learn WHY THAT IDEA US DUMB. BUT IT'S NO LONGER ABOUT THAT

It's about a PERSON now, instead of the shitty comments that came out of that person. And that's the problem with social media. People get attacked and the principles get lost. People still don't get why the Raya/Avatar comments were dummmmmmb as shit.

And it's not my place to pick that up. I'm just boosting the comments of actual Asian people tonight, who have been lost in this whole bizarro cult of personality around Lindsay Ellis. Defend her, trash her, NOT THE POINT. She's not the only one with hegemonic myopia.

Asian art has been shit on in American nerd spaces for too long because we keep forcing our lens on their work. Senren Kagura gets censored while ATLA gets held up as genre defining and Raya is treated as a copy? Yeah, I get why people are pissed.

The calculus tends to be White people on this continent deciding what Asian content is acceptable, then copying it. ATLA was especially bad because it didn't even employ Asian voice actors. It's not appreciation when you don't involve the people from the culture you're borrowing.

Asian people have a right to be pissed. They have a right to say their piece without a bunch of other people drowning them out. They have the right to be heard and understood without people like Lindsay Ellis making it about them. This did not need, nor warrant a 100 minute video

It should have been a video about this specific issue, showing an awareness of what the problem was, that wasn't diluted by an hour and a half of other stuff. Ellis has the right to speak about that other stuff in her time, but she lost the plot here.

These moments of naive hegemonic cultural dominance are not harmless. They prevent growth and change. This is now about Lindsay Ellis instead of the people she hurt and offended, and that's not okay even if the backlash was overblown. This is compounding the original mistake.

We cannot force our perspective on media that does not originate here, then profit off that forced perspective, then erase the original source of inspiration. Just let people be heard for a change, instead of making everything about some stupid interpersonal drama.

TL;DR #StopAsianHate . It's not about you. Listen more, speak less. Everyone needs to get their heads out of our asses. We ALL do it. I've done it. Doesn't make us bad people if we learn from it. That learning involves listening. Your opinion is not essential at every moment.

(PS, I am aware that Senran Kagura is Japanese while Raya is set in Southeast Asia. Also, it's not that white people have to shut up completely. Just share the figurative room and make sure you understand the views of the impacted group. Listen to understand. Not judge.)

And now I am getting off Twitter because I'm not interested in the incoming shit. I'm not special enough to think anyone gives a shit, let alone 100 minutes on me because I got dogpiled online. I KNOW no one really does, and that's fine.