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So here's some unsolicited advice I just received about @MotherlandsRPG
Have a seat everyone, because there's a lot to unpack here, and we're about to go to church.
Tl;dr: Miss me with ALL of this. And maybe watch *and* listen to the series before you offer unqualified advice 1
Have a seat everyone, because there's a lot to unpack here, and we're about to go to church.
Tl;dr: Miss me with ALL of this. And maybe watch *and* listen to the series before you offer unqualified advice 1
Here, in no particular order are a some thoughts:
The last thing I, or any other PoC creator needs is to be told how to be 'more woke' from the sidelines.
Ask yourself a simple question before offering your advice: DO I KNOW WTF I AM TALKING ABOUT? If no, keep it to yourself 2/
The last thing I, or any other PoC creator needs is to be told how to be 'more woke' from the sidelines.
Ask yourself a simple question before offering your advice: DO I KNOW WTF I AM TALKING ABOUT? If no, keep it to yourself 2/
Also, did anyone ask me for my input? Do I speak with any sort of expertise or experience beyond my own personal passion? Do I have any reason to believe my input would enhance the project, or be positively received in any way? No? Keep it to yourself. 3/
Y'all will hear me say again and again 'when all you've got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.' If you have a pet cause, and all you see is outrage EVERYWHERE it just makes you really easy to ignore. As Freud said: Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. 4/
Now for some @MotherlandsRPG specific context: The Hyanole are *AN* indigenous species on the planet, not THE indigenous species. The idea that people can peacefully coexist ON A PLANETARY SCALE is the exact sort of anti-colonialism sentiment we wanted woven into the foundation 5
The specific questions they ask bely their ignorance of the narrative itself, since the answers to all of these things are revealed over season one, with much more to be revealed.
Show me anywhere in our story where the Musalians hostilely took anything from them. I'll wait. 6/
Show me anywhere in our story where the Musalians hostilely took anything from them. I'll wait. 6/
Of course you can't, because they didn't; and I can say for certain because I helped write it all. Africa in particular and most of the world are richly diverse and that's a strength. We wanted to show culture being honored and respected, not crushed into conformity and we did 7/
Also, we made a point to NOT make the Hyanole the 'noble savage' tropes and made the apex predators into geniuses and philosophers on purpose. So again any sort of parallel to indigenous erasure is not just inaccurate, it is lazy and motivated by a preexisting agenda 8/
Now, as a handy guide for the perplexed: Let's say you have questions like this and the creators even choose to make themselves available, you've seen here what not to do. What you CAN do is say I am passionate about indigenous rights and I have some questions about the Hyanole 9
"I see indigenous people consistently marginalized in fiction and I'm worried they might seem like an after thought. I apologize because I haven't been able to watch all 30 hours of content yet, but are they shown as strong and independent with a say in world government?" 10/
That would have possibly launched a meaningful conversation with me. But this lengthy (and woefully ill-informed and inaccurate diatribe) Is only going to get you ignored. And if the come back, publicly embarrassed.
You can only please some of the people, some of the time. Fin
You can only please some of the people, some of the time. Fin
BONUS 11 tweets into this thread and some people still don't know that STFU is a free action.
AGAIN with this mealy mouthed 'no offense, but I'm going to insult you, and you should listen and care what I think' nonsense. Not me, not today
Willful ignorance is a hell of a drug.
AGAIN with this mealy mouthed 'no offense, but I'm going to insult you, and you should listen and care what I think' nonsense. Not me, not today
Willful ignorance is a hell of a drug.
