FTB has dismissed Anjuli Pandavar for being out of alignment with our mission. Since I recently wrote a scathing critique of Anjuli, you might be wondering if I had something to do with it. Yes. Yes I did.
The story is that some FTB commenters mentioned serious issues with Anjuli. (I don’t mean to deprive these commenters of credit, but perhaps they would prefer to remain in obscurity.) I took note of this and poked some people. Anjuli had been a longstanding concern for many people, and apparently one last poke was all that was needed to produce action. The details of that discussion are private, so that is all I have to say about it.
Previously, I had barely read or interacted with Anjuli. I knew Marcus Ranum had criticized her before, and I saw several things that looked like red flags. But I didn’t care for her writing so I just ignored her. Note there are plenty of people on FTB whose writing I don’t care for, and obviously it’s not a moral failing if writers fail to cater to my personal tastes. I also have disagreements with many bloggers I do read, including Marcus Ranum, Crip Dyke, HJ Hornbeck, and PZ Myers, but I have a lot of respect for them and I am glad they are here. So what little I had seen of Anjuli was not something I saw as a serious problem until recently.
But FTB commenters encouraged me to take a closer look at Anjuli, and that led to my scathing critique. In the process of researching that, I came to agree with others that Anjuli was a serious problem. But the critique itself did not play a role in Anjuli’s dismissal, it was just a parallel occurrence.
I have no regrets about the dismissal. Obviously Anjuli can continue her writing elsewhere, as she had done before FTB, and the difference is that now it’s not in our faces. Speaking for myself, writing one critique of Anjuli is fine, but I don’t want to be confronted with that sort of rudimentary wrongness on a regular basis. Her dismissal makes me more free to talk about other things.
This is the kind of post that has the tendency to attract trolls, so my comment policy will be in full force. I will block people purely based on reputation, and people who try to have extended arguments.
The loss of a different and distinctive point of view is always regrettable, but doubling down is never a good idea.
I am always happy to hear of your disagreements with me, Siggy. I think it’s in our interactions, not our monologs, that we are most likely to produce truly good and useful thought.
As for Anjuli, I was not one of the FtB’ers who called out problems with Anjuli. Maybe I should have been, but I don’t keep up with the private FtB-bloggers’ threads and I had also seen things in Anjuli that made me think I disagreed (and in ways that weren’t likely to produce good/productive conversations) so I didn’t read that blog and apparently missed the worst problems.
Thanks for the work you do to help take care of the communities you call home.
Thanks for all you have done regarding these matters, Siggy.
It’s OK. You don’t have to keep my contribution to the conversation in obscurity—especially given that some of my comments have already been copied and re-posted in parts of the internet that are… deeply unsavory. There are certain reactionary internet spaces out there who have a deep hatred for FTB. I won’t mention the particular location but longtime readers of FTB can probably take a guess. (I noticed the re-psoting of my comments today while Googling around to see what was being said about FTB’s decision regarding Ms. Pandavar.) That I’ve annoyed this particular set of individuals is a badge of honor, in my opinion.
As they say, you’ve got to listen to PoC. Especially if you’re white. I’m just glad PZ listened.
I found Anjuli’s critiques of Islam to be more persuasive than her writings on race, though she could veer into bombast on that topic, too. At her best, she could be very good.
On a general level, I think all people should (at least occasionally) seek out opinions very different from their own. At the very least, it helps to know what the enemy is up to.
The first (and only) encounter with Anjuli’s writing was reading her article on Tucker Carlson and “black racism” .. I wryly commented that the article needed a sarcasm tag and it was only when I checked back and read further comments that I realised the article was meant in all seriousness.. yeah no. Disagreements are one thing, but dismissals of systemic oppression under bothsideism and praise for a hatemongering rightwinger as a white dude black people in the US should listen to and learn from are just facepalmworthy.
=8)-DX
[applauds]
And you have our thanks.