Oh No Greg Egan No!

As you may have encountered if you’re following online science fiction fandom, for months now there has been an increasingly poisonous but important discussion about race, cultural apropriation and science fction going on in various sf blogs, mostly on Livejournal. Science fiction/fandom prides itself on being open and inclusive, but in reality has huge blindspots when it comes to matters of race, culture and gender. Which in itself is not a new conclusion of course, but which Racefail 2009 –as this increasingly acrimonious discussion has been dubbed by cynics — makes clear is still a sore spot for the genre. Even well intentioned writers have been shown to be –how to say– less than tactful in their handling of these matters.

Greg Egan’s throwaway remark that the use of words like “geek” or “nerd” is as bad as certain racial slurs could therefore not come at a worse time:

These days there’s often some ranting about “nerds” and “geeks” — words that belong in the same rubbish pile as “niggers” and “gooks” — though I have to admit there’s something gloriously awful, in a Love And Death on Long Island kind of way, when would-be sophisticates who spend half their time discussing Joyce or Sophocles switch to a vocabulary whose current usage was largely forged in the supremely inane universe of American high school cliques. It’s also quite handy to have a word or two around whose use swiftly identifies a proud scientific illiterate just as effectively as the words that mark a proud racist. Of course, there are a handful of scientifically literate people who have decided to self-identify with the same vocabulary, but when it comes to using n-words the example of Fifty Cent is a great deal less appealing to me than that of Barack Obama.

But you have to admit that there is no better proof than this that yes, science fiction is clueless about race. Nerds and geeks may be bullied in high school sometimes, but it’s all a far cry from being forced to use separate water coolers and such, now is it, or being stopped “randomly” for wearing pocket protectors… Especially considering the context in which Egan makes these remarks, his attempted putdown of a negative Adam Roberts review of Egan’s latest novel, this show an astounding level of entitlement and cluelessness.

If you want to read more about Racefail 2009, Torque Control has a good overview post up. I myself have been reading, but not writing about the discussion as I have little to add and there are enough half assed opinions being slung around in it already…