The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by AliceB:

In the words of Octavia Butler:

"But in real life, what would make us more tolerant, more peaceful, less likely to need a UN Conference on Racism?

Nothing.

Nothing at all."

It's like Steve Buchheit said, we learn from childhood to hate, we expect to hate. And although we are taught that setting ourselves in hierarchies that puts brown skin below yellow skin below white skin (or chose whichever hierarchy you wish) is wrong, we do it anyway.

Here's Octavia Butler's short essay on the topic. It's a sobering read.

Years ago, before the Wall came down, an uncle of mine hosted friends from Eastern Europe. They kvetched and complained, saying that America wasn't so great. Look at all the social programs they had at home. Look at full employment. Look at free education. My uncle didn't respond. Instead, he stepped outside, stood on his patio, and for the next 10 minutes shouted at the top of his lungs, "The U.S. president is an idiot!" "The U.S. government stinks!" or some such variations on the theme. He returned inside to find white faced guests. "Now," he said, "if I were in the Old Country, I would be arrested as an enemy of the state. Here, a police officer might be called if I was bothering the neighbors, and I'd be asked to keep it down."

I shudder to think what would happen today.

To echo Jane, fanfic is all fine and good, except when it isn't. Fanfic as a modern phenomena is more than mimeographed sheets shared with people in the neighborhood. Because of today's ease of distribution, it's everywhere, and it dilutes what the creator of the original work has done.

I do understand that copying is the sincerest form of flattery. It's also fundamental: it's how we've evolved. But copyright was invented because copying became easier and easier, and copyright preserved the value of what the creator made for the creator, to encourage more people to invest in what is already a not very lucrative field (for the majority of non-Lucases of the world).

Yes, all writing cribs from previous sources. I also agree that modern changes to copyright laws have put a lock on the growth of the public domain that has been bad for artists. But there has to be a balance between outright stealing what's out there and synthesizing something new out of old. There is a difference.

I'm not sure I'm being very coherent, but in the rush to support a natural phenomena (trying to immitate what we love) I think we have to think about the consequences of wide distribution of the copies of someone else's creation.

Best,
Alice

Brilliant thread title! (I love truth in advertizing). Oh, and congratulations, too.

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