OOC: Slavery and Twitter
WARNING: This is not in character. This is not Melantha expressing her opinion, though she and I have similar perceptions about certain issues, as well as a similar temperament. If you want to hear her voice instead of mine, please stop now… what I’m saying is intended to inform, not offend, but I’m sure some people who read this may get offended anyway. I’m sorry… but this is a free venue. This is how I’m expressing myself. This is your last warning, before I start talking about controversy, okay?
Okay.
How to start? I guess one has to understand that Twitter roleplaying covers a lot of literary and cultural ground. There is also a lot of crossover, where a member or members of one universe are aware of and/or like to interact with a member or members from another universe. The example in this case, my friends, is the mostly separate but entirely equal universes of Star Wars and Star Trek. I currently play a Greek gorgon (recently reformed into a human shape) on a planet in the Star Wars Universe called Tynnara, aligned with an organization run by an Orion woman, an Orion man, and a Caitian (a felinoid species) from the Star Trek Universe. Got that straight? There are also elements of vampire tales, Halo, and god knows what else in this particular circle, so… we’re a diverse group. We interact with lots of people.
Another species in the Star Wars universe is the Yuuzhan Vong, a species technically from outside the galaxy, but still important in historical events. There are a few roleplayers from this particular species… and it is from this corner of the galaxy that the controversy began to start.
I’m still vague on a lot of details – I know it involves a roleplayer doing an Orion account, and that the fact that it is an account dealing with the slave trade in the Orion Syndicate. It is because the account is about slavery that started this dissent, and the root of the matter seems to be that the roleplayer from the Yuuzhan Vong has very strong feelings about slavery as a whole, and considers it to be something that should NEVER be taken lightly.
As a person, I think the idea of slavery is repugnant. It is a part of human history that people would consider dark, cruel, and something that should never be repeated. I fully agree with that sentiment. To imagine any person as another person’s property goes against all the liberties that I hold dear – freedom of choice, movement, speech. That kind of ownership and control should never be exercised on a person, and I hope I never am exposed to it personally in my lifetime.
That being said, however…
The impression I’m getting from the Yuuzhan Vong camp is that fictional slavery is just as wrong as real slavery, and that any person who attempts to mock or parody it should be vituperated and shunned for their audacity. Apparently the Orion account is such a parody or mocking of slavery.
What it boils down to for me is that we are all writers here. We are working in fictional universes where there is a lot of history, some of which is very dark. For example:
Star Trek Universe:
Accounts of Slavery in canon – this entry covers not only two hundred years of history, but species across almost all of the quadrants of the known universe. It also covers the prevention of modern slavery for sentient, non-organic life-forms like Data and The Doctor.
Star Wars Universe:
Accounts of Slavery in canon – it says in this page that trying to chronicle the slavery in the galaxy is futile. However, one of the more prevalent users of slavery is the Yuuzhan Vong – it is even mentioned in their basic entry that they employ a species called Chazrach as their foot soldiers. Other, more familiar slavery instances are the doomed Twi’lek that once served Jabba the Hutt – and Princess Leia, who managed to kill Jabba after he enslaved her.
Slavery and slave trade are unsavory elements of these universes… but they are elements. And as writers, we have the creative license to use these elements as we see fit. To condemn one write because they choose to write a character in a certain way is condemning all writers who want to exercise their craft.
Now, it would be one thing if the Orion account had been insulting people individually out of character, or deriding a person’s history out of character… but in character, the limits are set only by the type of character it is… so to act like slavery is an everyday thing, a significant source of commerce, etc., is entirely within that writer’s rights. To not act that way would be denying the truth of what they were trying to portray. The writing we do on Twitter is trying to tell a story – sometimes it’s a happy story, sometimes it’s a dark story, sometimes it’s just play-by-play, day-by-day.
And to deny the presence of slavery in this kind of venue… isn’t it a form of remembering, when we write about it? If the stories of slavery, of oppression, of struggles, if all these stories were glossed over, or prevented from being shown… then what strength do the memories of real slavery, oppression, struggles – what strength do they have? History is dark and brutal, and full of crimes against humanity… but forgetting history, as well as covering it up, is allowing it the chance to be repeated.
So, my bottom line:
If you don’t like what we write about, then I’m sorry. We’ve got a world to share with you, and it’s not always a fun world, and it’s hardly ever ideal… but we feel that it holds some importance. If you condemn one of us for not writing in a style you like, then you condemn all of us, and stifle us. If something that we write offends you, then tell us that it does… but don’t go on a crusade against us for writing. We are not trying to mock you or attack you personally – we are not trying to make light of the past, or of current atrocity – we are just writing in worlds that we enjoy, that inspire us to create.
/end rant
