shipperx | Points of Debate

Maybe exclusion of the middle is an intrinsic entropic property of online debate. It seems that the longer a debate goes on, the less there's any middle ground and the more polarized the debate becomes. Somehow an awful lot becomes left out in the process. And people forget that it's perfectly possible to have right and wrong on both sides. At any rate, a few interesting articles.

Sady Doyle's "Enter Ye Myne Mystic World of Gayng Rape" (burying any point you could possibly have in hyperbolic ranting)

Quote:

when you criticize beloved nerd entertainments: You can try to be nuanced. You can try to be thoughtful. You can lay out your arguments in careful, extravagant, obsessive detail. And at the end of the day, here is what the people in the “fandom” are going to take away: You don’t like my toys? I hate you! So, get it out of your system now, because, guess what, George R.R. Martin fans? I don’t like your toys. Deal with that. Meditate for a while. Envision a blazing bonfire in a temple, and breathe in its warmth and serenity. Then, imagine me dumping all your comic books and action figures and first-edition hardback Song of Ice and Fire novels INTO the bonfire, and cackling wildly...

Feminist Media Criticism, G.R.R.Martin, and that Sady Doyle piece

Quote:

Shockingly enough, saying things like this doesn’t actually make you cool. It makes you another iteration of the kind of person who insists that feminists like, say, me or Sady Doyle are shrewish harpies incapable of nuance or conversation. Now, sexism is more entrenched and more broadly impactful than disdain for nerds. But that doesn’t actually mean that these kinds of statements are useful or clever when they’re deployed by feminists against nerds...

Interesting article.

Also: Continuity and Fidelity to Text As A Way to Bypass Efforts for Diversity

Quote:

"...we can rage against tides as much as we like in fanfiction, but as consumers we have to accept the limitations of the universe that are laid out for us..."

Finally:
A Song of Ice and Fire and Failed Institutions (interesting theories)