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Jul. 11th, 2008 12:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
megwritesThis rejection letter from William Sanders may be one of the worst things I've seen all month. Maybe all summer. I'm still boggling that someone would be an idiot enough to say something like that. But his response is just the cherry on top of the big pile of crap.
I'm still trying to figure out what part of Sanders' brain said, "Hmm, yeah, okay, it's perfectly fine to call a group of people 'sheet heads'. Let's put that in the letter." Somebody else can take over working on this problem, because I got nothing.
I think the only way to really articulate my rage is to enumerate all the varied things that are wrong with this rejection letter starting from smallest to greatest:
1. As a rejection letter, it isn't really helpful to the author. Sanders claims he was doing the submitter a favor, instead of sending a form letter. Uh, no. Even worse, he gives anti-advice when he says: "I was pleased to see that you didn't engage in the typical error of trying to make this evil bastard sympathetic, or give him human qualities." Why is this guy an editor at all? I can't think of a single example in the whole of literature where a piece of fiction was made better by making a character *less* sympathetic/human to the audience. Never. So, as writing advice goes, it sucks dry toast.
2. "Most of the SF magazines are very leery of publishing anything that might offend the sheet heads." If by that you mean that most SF magazines wouldn't publish openly racist, hurtful things, then yes. You're completely correct. Most SF magazines have better editors. Hell, I'm a better editor than this guy and I'm unpublished and unemployed at the moment!
3. Sanders seems to be under the impression that Muslim, Arab, and Middle Eastern are interchangeable terms, all synonymous with the word "sheet head" in his oh so malicious vocabulary. Um, no. Factually speaking, he's wrong. Because there are many Muslims around the world who are not Arabic, culturally, ethnically, or in any other way and would be very offended if you said so. I'm not sure how a practicing Muslim from, say, Somalia, would be Arabic. Also, I think the many Muslims who live in Pakistan would also be quick to say that they're *not* Arabic, either. There are also those who identify as Arabic, but are not Muslim. And third, there are plenty of people who identify as Middle Eastern, but are neither Arabic nor Muslim. There's this country called Israel, for example. I guess he's not the expert in the Middle East that he thought he was, huh? So, way to show of your flaming stupidity.
4. He openly, blatantly, and pretty proudly uses the term "sheet head" (also factually stupid and inaccurate, as most racial epithets are) and he's bitching about whether it's polite or ethical to post a rejection letter on LiveJournal? That's where he's hanging his hat? That's his defense against indefensible racism? He insults an entire region of planet Earth and he's harping on etiquette? Last I checked, people in polite society didn't call others "worm brained" and "incapable of honesty". I think we're looking at a pot-and-kettle type situation here. Maybe it was rude to post the rejection letter publicly, but Sanders out-ruded the author by, like, a factor of a thousand.
5. Why the hell does this man still have a job and career? Short of the world's best apology, he should have been booted by Helix the moment this rejection letter came to light and was confirmed as being true. I intend to boycott Helix until they reprimand and fire Sanders, and I intend never to have anything to do, professionally, with anything that involves him. If he published a book, works for a magazine, edits an anthology, or even just sits on a panel at a con - I will not have anything to do with him. I will encourage my friends and acquaintances to say the same. Whenever his name comes up, I will be sure to inform everyone of what he's done, and what kind of man he is.
For those who may think I'm being harsh - and believe me, I am being so very restrained right now because I am seething a kind of rage that makes lava look like ice water - I fear I'm not being harsh enough. I fear that we're not angry enough about this as a community. I fear that he's going to keep his job, and that on some level, the entire SF/F community will somehow be giving him a pass for this.
I grew up among some very, very virulent racism. A childhood in Tennessee has given me a deep down aversion to racism, to the stink of it, to the arrogance of privilege, to the frightening reality that racist people don't just talk. They take action. They hurt others, and they enjoy it. It's why I feel the need to rid myself of even the slightest privileges, because I do not want to become what I have seen others become.
Every time I hear someone say things like this, with such open, unmitigated malice and fervor I feel fear. I feel fear down to the parts of me that aren't entirely physical. I feel panic.
Because I feel like I'm a kid again, having to listen silently at family gatherings and holidays as certain relatives of mine ranted on and on again about the group du jour that they didn't like. I remember having to listen to them throw the n-word around again and again. Because I remember what it felt like to know how wrong they were, to think about how I had friends who were of a different race. I remember feeling shame, hoping that nobody would hear. I remember the fear of walking around with them in public, unsure if they would just burst out into racist rants if a person of another race so much as accidentally bumped into them.
And I can't go back to that again. I can't be that kid at the dinner table again, picking at my food with my stomach shriveling in fear, because I knew that I could not speak up, even though hearing it felt unbearable and wrong. I felt dirty for saying nothing, like I couldn't look people in the eye.
So I don't do that anymore. I'm a big girl now, and I do not tolerate racism in my presence. I do not allow people to say those things when I'm around. I make it clear that it is not okay, that I won't go along, that I won't be quiet about it.
There's only one thing to do about racism, and that is to be just as virulent in our opposition. It means that we must react strongly, quickly, and singularly every time we see an example. It means that people must know that when we say, "We will not put up with racism" that we mean business.
I don't know that people's hearts and minds can be changed. I suspect there are some people who can't be dissuaded by anything from being horribly racist. I do know, however, that if racists are made aware that their bigotry has no place in the public sphere, then they will leave it at home. Racists are, by their nature, cowards. Sanders is a coward, among other things. Even in violence, racists are cowardly.
Which is why being openly disdainful of racism is effective. Because they may still be bigots at the end of the day, but we can make sure that they know they keep it at home. We can't make them better people, but we can make them check their hatred at the door. These are not brave people, so that's why we have to be.
I'm still trying to figure out what part of Sanders' brain said, "Hmm, yeah, okay, it's perfectly fine to call a group of people 'sheet heads'. Let's put that in the letter." Somebody else can take over working on this problem, because I got nothing.
I think the only way to really articulate my rage is to enumerate all the varied things that are wrong with this rejection letter starting from smallest to greatest:
1. As a rejection letter, it isn't really helpful to the author. Sanders claims he was doing the submitter a favor, instead of sending a form letter. Uh, no. Even worse, he gives anti-advice when he says: "I was pleased to see that you didn't engage in the typical error of trying to make this evil bastard sympathetic, or give him human qualities." Why is this guy an editor at all? I can't think of a single example in the whole of literature where a piece of fiction was made better by making a character *less* sympathetic/human to the audience. Never. So, as writing advice goes, it sucks dry toast.
2. "Most of the SF magazines are very leery of publishing anything that might offend the sheet heads." If by that you mean that most SF magazines wouldn't publish openly racist, hurtful things, then yes. You're completely correct. Most SF magazines have better editors. Hell, I'm a better editor than this guy and I'm unpublished and unemployed at the moment!
3. Sanders seems to be under the impression that Muslim, Arab, and Middle Eastern are interchangeable terms, all synonymous with the word "sheet head" in his oh so malicious vocabulary. Um, no. Factually speaking, he's wrong. Because there are many Muslims around the world who are not Arabic, culturally, ethnically, or in any other way and would be very offended if you said so. I'm not sure how a practicing Muslim from, say, Somalia, would be Arabic. Also, I think the many Muslims who live in Pakistan would also be quick to say that they're *not* Arabic, either. There are also those who identify as Arabic, but are not Muslim. And third, there are plenty of people who identify as Middle Eastern, but are neither Arabic nor Muslim. There's this country called Israel, for example. I guess he's not the expert in the Middle East that he thought he was, huh? So, way to show of your flaming stupidity.
4. He openly, blatantly, and pretty proudly uses the term "sheet head" (also factually stupid and inaccurate, as most racial epithets are) and he's bitching about whether it's polite or ethical to post a rejection letter on LiveJournal? That's where he's hanging his hat? That's his defense against indefensible racism? He insults an entire region of planet Earth and he's harping on etiquette? Last I checked, people in polite society didn't call others "worm brained" and "incapable of honesty". I think we're looking at a pot-and-kettle type situation here. Maybe it was rude to post the rejection letter publicly, but Sanders out-ruded the author by, like, a factor of a thousand.
5. Why the hell does this man still have a job and career? Short of the world's best apology, he should have been booted by Helix the moment this rejection letter came to light and was confirmed as being true. I intend to boycott Helix until they reprimand and fire Sanders, and I intend never to have anything to do, professionally, with anything that involves him. If he published a book, works for a magazine, edits an anthology, or even just sits on a panel at a con - I will not have anything to do with him. I will encourage my friends and acquaintances to say the same. Whenever his name comes up, I will be sure to inform everyone of what he's done, and what kind of man he is.
For those who may think I'm being harsh - and believe me, I am being so very restrained right now because I am seething a kind of rage that makes lava look like ice water - I fear I'm not being harsh enough. I fear that we're not angry enough about this as a community. I fear that he's going to keep his job, and that on some level, the entire SF/F community will somehow be giving him a pass for this.
I grew up among some very, very virulent racism. A childhood in Tennessee has given me a deep down aversion to racism, to the stink of it, to the arrogance of privilege, to the frightening reality that racist people don't just talk. They take action. They hurt others, and they enjoy it. It's why I feel the need to rid myself of even the slightest privileges, because I do not want to become what I have seen others become.
Every time I hear someone say things like this, with such open, unmitigated malice and fervor I feel fear. I feel fear down to the parts of me that aren't entirely physical. I feel panic.
Because I feel like I'm a kid again, having to listen silently at family gatherings and holidays as certain relatives of mine ranted on and on again about the group du jour that they didn't like. I remember having to listen to them throw the n-word around again and again. Because I remember what it felt like to know how wrong they were, to think about how I had friends who were of a different race. I remember feeling shame, hoping that nobody would hear. I remember the fear of walking around with them in public, unsure if they would just burst out into racist rants if a person of another race so much as accidentally bumped into them.
And I can't go back to that again. I can't be that kid at the dinner table again, picking at my food with my stomach shriveling in fear, because I knew that I could not speak up, even though hearing it felt unbearable and wrong. I felt dirty for saying nothing, like I couldn't look people in the eye.
So I don't do that anymore. I'm a big girl now, and I do not tolerate racism in my presence. I do not allow people to say those things when I'm around. I make it clear that it is not okay, that I won't go along, that I won't be quiet about it.
There's only one thing to do about racism, and that is to be just as virulent in our opposition. It means that we must react strongly, quickly, and singularly every time we see an example. It means that people must know that when we say, "We will not put up with racism" that we mean business.
I don't know that people's hearts and minds can be changed. I suspect there are some people who can't be dissuaded by anything from being horribly racist. I do know, however, that if racists are made aware that their bigotry has no place in the public sphere, then they will leave it at home. Racists are, by their nature, cowards. Sanders is a coward, among other things. Even in violence, racists are cowardly.
Which is why being openly disdainful of racism is effective. Because they may still be bigots at the end of the day, but we can make sure that they know they keep it at home. We can't make them better people, but we can make them check their hatred at the door. These are not brave people, so that's why we have to be.
