(no subject)
Jun. 27th, 2009 03:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vivienThe last I have to say about this particular subject:
Here is something I find exceedingly ironic. In the same week as the heated debate over protecting sexual assault victims from accidental triggers within fanfic with better labeling, I find myself wondering how many victims of sexual assault, who were discredited or disbelieved in court or out, are living through their nightmares again because a celebrity died who "was troubled, sure, but wow, so talented and so important!"
Power and money shape our culture, and when you add celebrity into that, the shaping gets even more extreme. I will always care more about quiet victims than I will powerful, wealthy celebrities. I don't care if that is perceived as speaking ill of the dead. Sometimes you must speak.
(ETA The previous statement is not meant to vilify folks who remembered Michael Jackson of their childhood fondly in recent posts. I am reacting more against those who have relegated the improprieties in his life (alleged and documented) to "details of his personal life" in favor of celebrating his talent only and "not speaking ill". This blogpost from Tiger Beatdown linked to me by a friend makes some really incredible points about this in much better ways than I can.)
On a closely related note, a friend,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
capn_ahab, wrote an excellent essay on Death of the Famous and Collective Grief that captures a lot what I was thinking about this topic. Go check it out.
And now I'm done.
Here is something I find exceedingly ironic. In the same week as the heated debate over protecting sexual assault victims from accidental triggers within fanfic with better labeling, I find myself wondering how many victims of sexual assault, who were discredited or disbelieved in court or out, are living through their nightmares again because a celebrity died who "was troubled, sure, but wow, so talented and so important!"
Power and money shape our culture, and when you add celebrity into that, the shaping gets even more extreme. I will always care more about quiet victims than I will powerful, wealthy celebrities. I don't care if that is perceived as speaking ill of the dead. Sometimes you must speak.
(ETA The previous statement is not meant to vilify folks who remembered Michael Jackson of their childhood fondly in recent posts. I am reacting more against those who have relegated the improprieties in his life (alleged and documented) to "details of his personal life" in favor of celebrating his talent only and "not speaking ill". This blogpost from Tiger Beatdown linked to me by a friend makes some really incredible points about this in much better ways than I can.)
On a closely related note, a friend,
capn_ahab, wrote an excellent essay on Death of the Famous and Collective Grief that captures a lot what I was thinking about this topic. Go check it out.And now I'm done.