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OK, what about this?
May. 29th, 2007 10:45 pmAs I mull over the mass account suspensions and my position on them, it occurs to me that as far as the mainstream media are concerned, promoting illegal activity is A-OK if it's violence against women we're talking about.
I don't know the statistics and I don't know where I'd go to find a complete list of the communities that were suspended but I get the impression LJ specifically targeted fanfic communities, which is ridiculous. It makes me wonder how many communities dedicated to veiled but nonetheless virulent misogyny are allowed to continue.
If I didn't have more important things to do and if it wouldn't depress the hell out of me, I'd do some research into that. If anyone else is up for it, I'd love to see the results.
Another thing that rubs me the wrong way about this is the capitalism angle. Both that:
1. SixApart was reportedly motivated by the fear of losing sponsors
and
2. It's possible to get around this type of corporate censorship but only if you have money. It costs money to have a paid account or to run your own web site. The more you can afford to run your own stuff, the more editorial control you have. I feel strongly that the web has the power to be a great democratizing force, provided we don't allow corporations to take over. It's a weird coincidence that FanLib happened at the same time as the suspensions (or is it not a coincidence? I haven't read that much about either yet). They're both examples of how making the web more profit-motivated makes it worse for the people who use it.
I can see the argument that we're a bunch of spoiled babies who want something for nothing. But imposing artificial restrictions on some people's access to information - this is the Information Age, right? - is just another force widening the gap between the haves and have-nots. Whether "have" and "have-not" refer specifically to money or information doesn't really matter. The result is the same: a more rigid class system. And unless you're on the board of directors at Yahoo, don't believe the lie that you could slip into the upper class and would therefore benefit from that gap. The class division that's happening now - based on money or information - has the effect of simultaneously granting more power to the upper class and shrinking it, while forcing more and more of the middle class downward. I realize I started off talking about people having their (mostly free?) accounts suspended for talking about something most people find disgusting (which makes those people freaks therefore it's OK to treat them badly; that is until something you like gets targeted, but that's another rant.) In the grand scheme of things, this particular incident isn't a big deal. But I can't help finding it insidious. Our rights aren't going to be taken away in one fell swoop, they're chipped at a little at a time, so we won't notice.
I'm not saying we should start protesting in the streets to protect the citizens' right to read Bellatrix/Narcissa. But we shouldn't dismiss this as totally unimportant either. It's just one symptom of a much greater problem.
I don't know the statistics and I don't know where I'd go to find a complete list of the communities that were suspended but I get the impression LJ specifically targeted fanfic communities, which is ridiculous. It makes me wonder how many communities dedicated to veiled but nonetheless virulent misogyny are allowed to continue.
If I didn't have more important things to do and if it wouldn't depress the hell out of me, I'd do some research into that. If anyone else is up for it, I'd love to see the results.
Another thing that rubs me the wrong way about this is the capitalism angle. Both that:
1. SixApart was reportedly motivated by the fear of losing sponsors
and
2. It's possible to get around this type of corporate censorship but only if you have money. It costs money to have a paid account or to run your own web site. The more you can afford to run your own stuff, the more editorial control you have. I feel strongly that the web has the power to be a great democratizing force, provided we don't allow corporations to take over. It's a weird coincidence that FanLib happened at the same time as the suspensions (or is it not a coincidence? I haven't read that much about either yet). They're both examples of how making the web more profit-motivated makes it worse for the people who use it.
I can see the argument that we're a bunch of spoiled babies who want something for nothing. But imposing artificial restrictions on some people's access to information - this is the Information Age, right? - is just another force widening the gap between the haves and have-nots. Whether "have" and "have-not" refer specifically to money or information doesn't really matter. The result is the same: a more rigid class system. And unless you're on the board of directors at Yahoo, don't believe the lie that you could slip into the upper class and would therefore benefit from that gap. The class division that's happening now - based on money or information - has the effect of simultaneously granting more power to the upper class and shrinking it, while forcing more and more of the middle class downward. I realize I started off talking about people having their (mostly free?) accounts suspended for talking about something most people find disgusting (which makes those people freaks therefore it's OK to treat them badly; that is until something you like gets targeted, but that's another rant.) In the grand scheme of things, this particular incident isn't a big deal. But I can't help finding it insidious. Our rights aren't going to be taken away in one fell swoop, they're chipped at a little at a time, so we won't notice.
I'm not saying we should start protesting in the streets to protect the citizens' right to read Bellatrix/Narcissa. But we shouldn't dismiss this as totally unimportant either. It's just one symptom of a much greater problem.
