Will Shetterly's Blog, page 63

Why writers should treat fans the way teachers treat students

I was once in a flamewar where, to my astonishment, people were angry that I was disagreeing with them as though they were my equals—they behaved with the curt rudeness that's common in heated arguments, but they expected me to treat them the way good adults treat ignorant youths, with a gentleness that hides the awareness the person being addressed simply hasn't a clue. I mention that now

A handy timeline of Islamist terrorism in the West and Western meddling in the Middle East

People who blame Islam for Islamist terrorism cite the long clash of empires, which makes as much sense as blaming Christianity for the brutal conquest of the Americas—empires expand for profit, and religion is one of many excuses. This post focuses on the history that the West began to make after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. It begins with the tangled history of Israel. Since this post is

A handy list of people mistaken for Muslims and killed in the US

After 9/11, turbans made Sikhs targets - CNN.com 2 Indian-Americans Shot, Mistaken for Arabs - The Daily Beast Christian Arab Murdered in Oklahoma after Mistaken as Muslim | CBN News My "handy lists" aren't meant to be exhaustive. Googling will usually find you more examples.

A handy list of US bombings of schools, hospitals, and wedding parties in the Middle East

The Wedding That Became a Funeral: U.S. Still Silent One Year on From Deadly Yemen Drone Strike Afghan hospital bombing: Civilians 'accidentally struck' - CNN.com US Military Admits: We Deliberately Bombed a Hospital in Iraq | Common Dreams US Bombs School Shelter in Syria Killing 33 Civilians | News | teleSUR English Bonus bombings by Israel, using billions of dollars a year in US military

Are Jewish converts transracial? More implications of the Rachel Dolezal case.

If you think Jews are a race, you either think converts aren't Jewish or it's possible to be transracial. I realized that after making a Facebook comment: This is my argument for why Jews are white (except when they're black or Asian): For immigration purposes, European Jews were always considered white. In the Old South, Jews were so white that Judah P. Benjamin was Jefferson Davis's

Internet, let's be consistent: I'm in the alt-left; neoliberals are the faux-left, "sjws" are the ctrl-left

The problem with terms chosen for their cleverness is their definitions slide like watermelons in the back of a pickup truck and the results can be just as messy. Now that Jacobin's Bhaskar Sundara has spoken (in Why the 'alt-left' will succeed where centrists fail), let's go with his acceptance of a loose grouping: Commentators like Vanity Fair’s James Wolcott try to break down the movement’s

If you doubt that I'm a libertarian socialist....

It must be true because a test on the internet says so: More: 8values Results

Safe Spaces For Ideas or From Ideas? About Conventions and That 4th Street Panel

Harlan Ellison is infamous for failing to deliver The Last Dangerous Visions, the third volume of his Dangerous Visions anthologies. Many reasons have been offered, but I like this one: When the first was released in 1967, its visions seemed dangerous to conventional thinkers. Five years later, Again Dangerous Visions came out, every bit as inventive as its predecessor, but it didn't seem

best chart I've seen for converting measurements for American cooks

original: How-Many Guide — Shannon Lattin

The fiction writer under 21st century capitalism

A Facebook friend asked, ...would you decry for-profit fiction as capitalist fiction? Or is the fact you don't need some "means of production" beyond your computer and internet connection mean it's not really about your control of capital at all but your personal perspective and persistence that's behind your work? I ask because a lot of freelancers are idealists out for the truth, selling