http://disorderedcosmos.com/2009/11/22/brainyblackbitches-com/ Because the Universe is Confusing Thu, 23 Sep 2010 03:53:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 http://disorderedcosmos.com/2009/11/22/brainyblackbitches-com/comment-page-1/#comment-134 John B. Cannon Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:44:51 +0000 http://disorderedcosmos.com/?p=446#comment-134 As one of the people involved in the exchanges you describe, I've been thinking about this. One the one hand, it's possible to imagine a website with that url which would be an edgy, in-your-face blog, rather than, say, the web community you want to create or its tragi-comically misnamed mirror image. And the fact that you don't want to do that particular act of reclamation doesn't mean that someone couldn't do it or use that kind of space in an interesting way. That said, I think you have a good point here. "Reclaiming hate words" loses some of its power as a political practice at a certain point, when it stops being a rare, generational reclamation by impacted groups themselves and starts to become a mark of hipsterdom (or hipster appreciation/consumption of certain practices, but not others, among those groups). So, it seems entirely possible that some of us who lamented that you weren't directing us to a real website might have had a fucked-up, preconscious, libidinal attachment to the idea of a website named "brainyblackbitches.com" - sort of, wanting the next, more radical / x-treme thing, wanting POC or women of color in particular to provide it to us so we can consume it, etc. That is a chastening thought, worthy of meditation. As one of the people involved in the exchanges you describe, I’ve been thinking about this. One the one hand, it’s possible to imagine a website with that url which would be an edgy, in-your-face blog, rather than, say, the web community you want to create or its tragi-comically misnamed mirror image. And the fact that you don’t want to do that particular act of reclamation doesn’t mean that someone couldn’t do it or use that kind of space in an interesting way. That said, I think you have a good point here. “Reclaiming hate words” loses some of its power as a political practice at a certain point, when it stops being a rare, generational reclamation by impacted groups themselves and starts to become a mark of hipsterdom (or hipster appreciation/consumption of certain practices, but not others, among those groups). So, it seems entirely possible that some of us who lamented that you weren’t directing us to a real website might have had a fucked-up, preconscious, libidinal attachment to the idea of a website named “brainyblackbitches.com” – sort of, wanting the next, more radical / x-treme thing, wanting POC or women of color in particular to provide it to us so we can consume it, etc. That is a chastening thought, worthy of meditation.

]]> http://disorderedcosmos.com/2009/11/22/brainyblackbitches-com/comment-page-1/#comment-130 Ka wing! Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:07:37 +0000 http://disorderedcosmos.com/?p=446#comment-130 Really, the 'brainy' in addition to 'black bitch' really had my hopes up for some better-informed humour on identity politics, but I get where you're coming from. However, my complaint is that everybody starts off from entirely different places, and somehow ends up being either left or right. I know very well that my politics are different from the KKK, and I also know very well that my politics are different from many 'lefties', yet I am still left. I remain deeply suspicious when people start claiming 'leftist' politics because quite frankly, that tells me nothing and as you've pointed out, it can really be a smokescreen for retrogressive politics. Postpartisanship comes in many forms, and has the all-too-familiar postmodern ID crisis, but truth is, sometimes it works. Of course, sometimes it doesn't - 'bitch' is really about having a certain attitude... which I'm not sure astrophysics can down. Really, the ‘brainy’ in addition to ‘black bitch’ really had my hopes up for some better-informed humour on identity politics, but I get where you’re coming from. However, my complaint is that everybody starts off from entirely different places, and somehow ends up being either left or right. I know very well that my politics are different from the KKK, and I also know very well that my politics are different from many ‘lefties’, yet I am still left. I remain deeply suspicious when people start claiming ‘leftist’ politics because quite frankly, that tells me nothing and as you’ve pointed out, it can really be a smokescreen for retrogressive politics. Postpartisanship comes in many forms, and has the all-too-familiar postmodern ID crisis, but truth is, sometimes it works. Of course, sometimes it doesn’t – ‘bitch’ is really about having a certain attitude… which I’m not sure astrophysics can down.

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