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[mx_rumpleteazer]

AnnEllspethRaven? More like AnnEllspethRacist.

(Taken from larger screenshot. I couldn't screenshot the entire chapter because it's huge, so I provided what I could as proof.)

I realize she writes dialect for her Irish characters but it hits really different when it's one of the only POC characters and they sound, well, like that, and it's being written by a white person.

White people, don't do this.

I love Tolkien's canon, but this being lauded as some great work of art is a reminder I'm not welcome in the fandom.

Comments

[ex_flameandsong751]

WOW. That is definitely not OK. 🤢🤮

I've said this before but I'll say it again, as much as the way shit went down hurt, and still hurts, I also dodged a MASSIVE fucking bullet. I don't even have words for how disgusting this is.

[mx_rumpleteazer]

Yeah. It's not surprising, considering the company AER keeps, but it's still shameful. The worst part is she probably thinks this is good representation. "Look, I have a POC character in my fic! That means I'm woke, right?"

If I thought it would make any difference I would leave a polite comment saying "This is very offensive, please educate yourself, as a white person you shouldn't be writing POCs like this." But I know she would just double down and insist she's not racist, and how I'm the one being racist, and I would probably get accused of being a "sock" (like you, an atheist, would pretend to be Muslim) and/or it would be "proof" that you're "bullying bullying" her. (As opposed to the real bullying victims being people of color who are seeing this shit, especially with the publicity AER got in Slate, having this shoved in our faces like this is peak Tolkien fandom.) So I'm not going to comment, but I decided I'd post about it here in public. I want people to see this and understand when you give kudos to the longest fanfic of all time to congratulate AER for effort, you are actually supporting racism.

[ex_flameandsong751]

You would think that if a person of color told her "This is problematic, please re-evaluate" she would listen, but you're right, that's very likely what her response would be. 😔

Then people wonder why I just create content and I don't really interact with people in the fandom...

[mx_rumpleteazer]

Ooh! Ooh ooh!

Here she is whining about how she can't commission a Russian artist because of sanctions! And the artist still made "free gift art" for her (yeah right, she probably either traded goods for it or it was "free" in the sense of publicity so other people can commission her). I had a look at the artist's Patreon and Tumblr (I don't use Tumblr, no) and there is nothing there condemning the war, and I get it that saying something like that risks jail time but also there is a non-minority percentage of Russians who do support the war so Spiced just did PR for someone who probably thinks the invasion is fine.

This is not long after the Yul Brynner thing.

People in the fandom just sitting around acting like this is fine.

[ex_flameandsong751]

[enbylicious]

that looks
problematic as fuck

[mx_rumpleteazer]

It just looks like a big dogwhistle from here.

[darthkilljoy]

That's very suspiciously timed, those two things so close together.

Also, she should understand that giving ANY kind of PR to a Russia-based artist right now, whether they're "innocent" or not, is very, very bad. (Statistically speaking, the artist probably supports the war; most Russians do, unfortunately.)

[enbylicious]

i'm on my way to work and i usually comment after work but i need to comment on this now so i don't spend the next six hours mad

that pidgin accent shit is racist. i know she writes irish accents but this is different and she shouldn't do it.

i'm not gonna comment on her fic either but i hope she sees this and gets a fucking clue

this is also why i don't fuck with the fandom "community". i don't read a lot of silm fic anymore either apart from v's stuff and his roommate's because i keep wondering if the person i'm leaving kudos for supports these fucks and it makes me sick.

swg: why is tolkien fandom so white 🤔
me, a real live mexican: gee idk because you act like this caricature of latinx people is award winning shit

[mx_rumpleteazer]

See the comment I just made to flameandsong.

Yeah. I've been done with Tolkien fandom for awhile, I love flameandsong's fic and his roommate's and if Silmarella ever gets updated again I love that too, but I have little to no interest in other people's anymore because the amount of casual racism and supporting/tolerating/enabling racists that goes on turned me off. I'm tired of it, and how people like me speaking up will just get called a "sock" and our voices not heard.

[ex_flameandsong751]

Thank you 💗 I very much appreciate your support these last couple years.

[mx_rumpleteazer]

I could gush for hours about how much I love your OCs and the way you write Maglor and your headcanons and the worldbuilding and the amazing storylines and the hot sex. You have a gift, and I'm so glad you didn't just pack up and go away when the bullying got bad.

[enbylicious]

what they said. you're the best writer in the fandom in my opinion

[mx_rumpleteazer]

I agree with this.

[ex_flameandsong751]

Thank you VERY MUCH, and for the other comment. I meant to reply to this sooner and I have a hard time taking compliments of this magnitude, I never know what to say, and I always feel a touch of impostor syndrome [that's a Me Problem, not a You Problem] but it means a lot and I appreciate it 🤗

[ex_flameandsong751]

Thank you so much 🤗

[enbylicious]

exactly

silm community: we like diversity, we're so inclusive, tell us if we fuck up
also silm community: how dare you complain that you see racism, you must be a sockpuppet and not a real poc

i do wish flameandsong wrote more russingon because that is my ship and i don't feel right trying to engage with other authors now wondering which one of them is racist or thinks all of this is ok, so i'd like to get my russingon fix from him, but i know he has a lot on his to-do list

[ex_flameandsong751]

Tangent: Professional editors will tell you not to write dialect at all, or only sparingly. Something five million words long has gone way past the point of ever hoping to see the light of day at a publishing house unless you're Stephen King, so probably AER doesn't care, but it's annoying to do it with European accents and it sounds like someone trying to do goddamn blackface when a white author does it for POCs.

I'm not claiming to be professional or the best author, but people who say Fanfiction Is Real Writing and have a whole-ass Slate article pretending they're professional, I expect better. It's terrible even before she brought Tolkien Ugandan Knuckles into it.

[mx_rumpleteazer]

I'M NOT THE ONLY PERSON WHO WAS REMINDED OF UGANDAN KNUCKLES

That just goes to show you how horrible this is.

[enbylicious]

this. it's just really uncomfortable

[enbylicious]

also annellspethracist omfg 😂

it's sad but god that's her new name now 🤣

[mx_rumpleteazer]

I'm only going to refer to her as AnnEllspethRacist now. 😂

[darthkilljoy]

I find writing dialect to be very jarring. Most of the time, it's done badly and doesn't need to be done. I can "hear" an Irish accent in my head, I don't need to see it in print. A "feckin'" here and there, or a lot if a character blows up, is fine. If it gets excessive, it turns into an ethnic stereotype.

With a character of colour, it's worse. It reminds me of blackface.

It's appalling that both AnnEllspethRaven and Spiced Wine think this is OK.