So today we're going to learn a lesson I found out not by studying philosophy, psychology, anthropology, or sociology, but from studying literature.
Everything is offensive. Everything has a problem. There is no such thing as an unproblematic narrative.
Why does this matter? Well, it can come in handy some times, but in a basic sense I'm telling you this so you can understand that it is okay to enjoy things even if they don't get everything right, because nothing will. Think of the most unoffensive piece of media you can think of, then think of someone who would get offended anyway. It's not terribly difficult, especially in today's climate.
One of the hardest lessons to learn is to separate criticism from enjoyment. There are certain things that are too offensive to be for me to enjoy, but that doesn't mean other people can't enjoy them. There are a lot of things that I personally enjoy that are offensive to other people. Most narratives that are meant to be very empowering to an otherwise disenfranchised segment of the population end up doing so by further marginalizing another population segment, and no, I'm not talking about the concept of "reverse racism." Here's a simple example: there is a novel we had to read and analyze for one of my literature classes that's mean to be very empowering to women, teen girls especially, and to the decedents of indigenous people in North America. It is, however, post-apocalyptic, and the way it decided to divide the world between haves and have-nots was based on prosthetic. Sure, it did put some focus on the unnecessary prosthetic, like cybernetic implants to let you change your eye color, but it didn't really point out a difference ethically between that and an eye to replace one that didn't work, or a replacement limb, etc. In fact, the main character is shown to be strong because she happens to need no such tools, she is even more capable than those that had access to them pre-apocalypse. In a very real sense, the author empowered young indigenous women by vilifying the disabled.
But that was obviously not the intention, and although I can openly admit that the narrative is flawed, it's actually a pretty good book. Many, many other novels that I absolutely love make the same kind of mistake. Empowering people of color by marginalizing women; empowering women by marginalizing those with developmental disorders, empowering those with developmental disorders by vilifying the neurotypical, etc. etc. There's no such thing as an unproblematic narrative.
Now, this concept also comes in handy because there's no such thing as a person without unnecessary bias. As we noted yesterday, we have to be willing to identify and at least try to adjust for our biases, but that's not terribly easy to begin with, and it's something that most people don't even attempt. This comes in handy when someone tries to make an argument by stating that they're ethically superior to someone else; if you have access to their public history, especially with social media, you can usually find some pretty easy examples of their own hypocrisy. 99 times out of 100, pointing it out is just going to piss them off, but let's be real, if they're not willing to listen to you because they think they're better than you, you could do worse than piss them off. In that last chance out of 100 though, they learn. They see their bias for what it is and can move forward. That's a wonderful thing, so sometimes it's worth being just a little bit of a jerk to help them understand that they too can improve.
In the end, though, the main point of this is to not let your analysis take away your enjoyment. There are a lot of pieces of literature I love to pieces, but under an analytical eye have some serious problems. Understanding this will help you keep an open mind when running into someone who doesn't like what you do, but it will also help you learn to just shut down the criticism in your own mind sometimes so you can relax and enjoy a good story.
Anyway, I hope today's post finds you well, and as I've said before, if you're following along I will "see" you in tomorrow's post, and have a great day. Goodbye!
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