the_rck | (no subject)

I will probably be participating in the content strike on Friday. I wasn't going to, except possibly passively (since I so rarely post), but I'm appalled by Anton Nosik's interview (translated text here). I've seen a few comments saying that the tone of the interview is less offensive in Russian for cultural reasons. That's not something I can speak to, and I'm not sure that something being acceptable in any single culture is a reason why nobody else should be offended.

My feelings on the content strike are complicated. I don't know how useful it will be, but I'm quite sure that doing nothing at all won't be useful. I've seen people commenting that protesting after LJ has begun fixing the problems decreases their motivation to fix future problems. That's possible. Rewarding a remedy with a kick tends not to make friends, but... One day is a small thing. Walking away for one day is a demonstration. Walking away forever or until certain demands are met, that's a strike. I tend to see a one day thing a way to show that, yes, there are people paying attention beyond those who scream on various news posts and such.

I've seen a few people mention that the chosen date is a bad one, that Good Friday would likely see a drop in posting anyway. I'm not sure how true that is-- or isn't-- Good Friday's by no means universally observed. People who aren't Christian or who aren't observant wouldn't necessarily note the date as important. (Scott's family does. Mine doesn't.) And Good Friday may go both ways. The people organizing the demonstration can claim any person who's absent as a participant.

Another post of my friends list pointed out an ugly wrinkle-- Apparently there's a contingent of folks supporting the strike because they object to SUP as a 'company run by Jews." (See here for a few links.) That's offensive. That's creepy and nasty. I don't want to go near people like that. I'm not sure that posting during the strike is the way to show my opposition to anti-Semitism because it allows people I disagree with strongly to control my response to an unrelated issue. I'm not sure the best way to show opposition to the anti-Semites. Some of that may be that I have the privilege of overlooking that aspect of things, but there are people I care about who don't. Any ideas?

On a personal front, Friday's a bad time for me to be separated from my online support structure, given the LTD related appointment and that Scott won't be available that evening (Delia will be with Scott's parents over night), so I'll probably have AIM and Google chat open and may post to my IJ (I'm 'the_rck' over there. I usually mirror) if I have something that needs saying. I'm hoping to set up some sort of social interaction with one or more local friends, but I'm not going to hold my breath that I'll be successful on this short notice.

I've seen people on my friends list commenting on IJ and the things that bother them about it. I, too, am not keen on the terminology as I don't find mental illness funny. Then again, gallows humor exists. It's a valid form of expression and acts as stress relief for some people even as it causes other people pain. I've decided that I can deal with the terminology by viewing it as gallows humor of a sort. That is, I can take it and make it at least partly mine.

I am disabled. I am mentally ill. Anxiety cripples me. The terms IJ uses can hurt people like me. They don't hurt me in this case, but that doesn't mean the usage on IJ doesn't hurt other people, especially when used by people who have never had those terms applied to them as some people at IJ haven't (though many on my friends list there have had). Words have hard edges and all sorts of lurking nastiness underneath when one flips them over. It's easy to forget that when the particular words aren't shaped like one's own bruises.

So I can be comfortable on IJ, but I do understand why some people can't. The terminology not being meant to hurt doesn't mean that it won't, and nobody should have to spend time somewhere that hurts them. I expect to keep mirroring entries on the two sites (and reading and commenting both places) until something makes me leave one or the other. I probably won't go for a standalone blog on my site. I *could* do it, but I think that my impulse to write entries is too weak to sustain that. Also, though there's crossover between my fic and rec site and my LJ/IJ, it's not something that want to push from the website side. I use my LJ/IJ primarily for talking about real life stuff. I don't mind having people who like my fics reading along, but I'm not really writing for them, and I don't know that I want my posts about Delia sitting next to my fics and recs.

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Re: the translated interview--I'm pretty appalled by it, but was interested to read that he's responded (in English) to the uproar about it in his own journal (http://anton-nossik.livejournal.com/16069.html). I'm still wildly unimpressed, but it sounds like he doesn't have nearly as much authority as it seemed.

Since posting, I've seen several links to that entry. I'm also unimpressed by what he says (apart from the clarification to his status in the company).

I'm rather viewing the whole strike as a potential demonstration that there are people paying attention. I don't expect it to create immediate, major changes. Such things don't. This is the equivalent of people picketing in front of the federal building downtown to show opposition to the war in Iraq or a ten minute parade through downtown for any cause. Every person who participates or who doesn't and explains publicly why draws attention to the issues from people who otherwise might never hear about them. Those people may not care, they may be annoyed, but they'll be aware, and some of them will start paying closer attention.

Does that make sense?

It does indeed make sense. I have mixed feelings about the proposed strike (more about its odds of effectiveness than the feeling behind it), but I don't think his comments really change much about it. (I'm impressed that the original interviewers are offering to make an audio version available, since he's saying he was mis-quoted.) Mostly I'm just glad to hear that he's apparently not actually the person ultimately in charge.

I think this post alone makes it clear that you're not doing this out of anti-Semitism but for the original reason. And I have not, btw, seen any reference to same elsewhere, though to be fair my friends-list has few people even mentioning this little walk-out.

That said, before you do it "because of" the interview, you may want to read his post about why it doesn't reflect on SUP: http://anton-nossik.livejournal.com/16069.html

Also, if people stop writing but still read those who are writing, while they won't get as many page hits, they'll still getting ad revenue from the people in the "walkout". I wonder how many are planning to avoid the whole site, vs. just posting which is all I've seen called for?

What I've seen called for is a complete walk out. Logging out, deleting cookies, no reading, no commenting, no posting, no going near the site for twenty-four hours. I've also seen calls for a corresponding effort to post in other places during that period.

I have, since my original post, seen the link to Anton Nossik's LJ entry in a couple of places and have read it. I'm not sure that it changes my feelings on the 24 'strike' (which I still can't think of as a true strike. It's a walk out, a temporary work stoppage, a demonstration, but 'strike' has always seemed bigger to me). I'm not sure it doesn't, but I was inclined before seeing the translated interview to observe the thing passively anyway.

This comment is the first time I've seen anything but "stop posting" recommended, that I can recall. Those on my friends-list who are mentioning it at all (relatively few) say they are going to participate, mention that piece of it, say nothing else, and don't link back. So I thought it was just not posting. Thanks for the clarification.

How have I missed this? :( It's pretty depressing stuff. I'm thinking it may be time to switch over to blogspot or another service.

My entry here is a bad starting point for finding out what's been going on. My recommendation if you want more details, both for and against the strike (with some name calling on all sides) is to look at the links on

metafandom. There are some very articulate people with strong opinions on all sides.

I'm not certain that it's necessary to jump ship right now. Looking at options isn't a bad thing, but LJ isn't completely inhospitable yet. It could become that way, but it also might not. (There are some people who already consider it a land of evil. I don't, but I respect their reasons.) I tend to think that it's important to be aware of what's going on and to form opinions about it so that we don't get blindsided by future developments in whatever direction they go.

Yeah, I poked around at MF after reading your entry. I'm somewhat annoyed at the attitude of the semi-management people, and wish that just for once, the PTB at LJ/SixApart could get their acts together and not screw anything up. However, a complete boycott and moving away seems a little drastic right now.

6A sold LJ to the Russian-based SUP in, I believe, Jan or Feb.

Speaking as a Jewish person, my opinion is that if you agree with the reasons for the boycott, then you should go ahead and boycott, and don't worry that people will think you are antisemitic just because a small number of the boycotters are doing it for antisemitic reasons.

It's not so much a fear of being thought anti-Semitic as it is... How to put it? Being in proximity to hate groups feels icky, so I have a separate impulse-- separate from my response to the stoppage/strike-- to let them know that I despise them and the things they champion. I'm just not sure how to do that when I don't want to (haven't got the spoons to) wade in and confront them.

Does that make sense?

How's the newest member of the family?

It does.

The newest family member is crabby and needs an awful lot more attention than his sibs. I keep thinking that I've got it figured out (soy allergy? baby is too cold? thrush?) but I think the bottom line may just be that his personality is like that. He's cute though, and does have plenty of peaceful moments too. I think we'll keep him.

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Random virtual hugs are welcome. I'm not so open to random real life hugs, but virtual hugs are much less scary.

You haven't said anything to offend me. I can't speak for anyone else. I wrote those paragraphs in response to some essays I'd seen around LJ about why various people weren't willing to shift to IJ or mirror on IJ or even visit IJ and to essays I've seen that mock or trivialize those concerns. I consider the concerns valid and don't like seeing them mocked, but they're not visceral enough for me to refuse to use IJ.