My sister is going to be in town for the holidays (Jill!!!!) so since it’ll be the first time I’ll have 3 of my sisters so close in 6 months, I’m reducing some of my blogging.
Also faux Tumblr drama has kind of eliminated my desire to blog, but I’ll be back because I love the blogs I follow. I just need some family time.
I am going to be clear as day about this and then I’m letting it go.
If you can’t see why as the life partner of a Mexican man and mother of his child I would be quick to defend whatever he identifies with as a reflection of his background and culture and who he is…
If you don’t get why as women, POC, and their intersection we cling to identify with whatever images and representations we find in media, TV, and film of ourselves when they are so few to begin with…
If you think I can’t be critical of these representations and still find enjoyment in them or be their biggest fan…
I’m not the blog you should be following. I am going to continue to respectfully considerate of others, but my blog is not a catering menu. You don’t get options, other than to express your concerns (because I’m always open for that) and to leave.
Leave and take care.
So…an ad hominem attack is the best logical response to someone you don’t know trying to make a critical point about race and oppression?
Men’s Rights Activists and white people
Okay…but not really. Bender’s full name is Bender B. Rodriguez and he was “hecho en Mexico”. Most of the time he stands for fighting for the right’s of robots, who are basically treated like second class beings simply because they are automatons. They are ruthless killed, compacted into metal when they are broken, an indoctrinated with software to overrride their sentient capabilities. His revolutionary slogan is “Kill all humans”, because of the violence and disrespect perpetuated against him and his robot ilk. He has lead many, although ultimately unsuccessful, anarchist movements to usurp the global domination of mankind.
In other words, Bender could never be white. I agree with the MRA, part though. He’s pretty piggish.
One quick thing, though.
ROBOTS ARENT HUMAN THEREFORE HE IS NOT A PART OF THE HUMAN RACE THEREFORE HE COULD NOT BE ASSIGNED A “RACE” AS WE KNOW THEM THEREFORE YOU’RE COMPLETELY MISSING THE POINT
ENTIRELY
I think you’re missing the point.
I am aware that Bender is robot, but I am also aware of what he is symbolic of which is its own categorical class of oppression. It’s easy to say “he is not a part of the human race” and therefore I don’t have to apply any critical analysis to this joke. I realize that this joke was aimed at MRA’s and white people who use this same line of logic but it becomes flawed when it comes out of the mouth of someone who is written into the storyline as being Mexican and working-class. That’s something that instead of throwing in my face as inconsequential should be examined given the narratives written of him being born in raised in Mexico and having a Latin@ surname.
I couldn’t careless about what white people and MRA’s think and they do use that flawed logic, but if someone posted a picture of a black character (let’s say Hermes from Futurama) executing that same line and the ensuing tag read “Men’s Right’s Activists and white people” I would also point out the flaw in logic where he does not tap into the same privilege as white people.
I don’t care about MRA’s and white people other than finding ways for them not to make my life harder for me and my family. I get the joke, fuck whitey and patriarchy, (and that’s great for me, tbh), but it is spurious to exclude the fact that Bender identifies as Mexican and if you want to say I’m whitesplanning or upholding whiteness, the you’ll have to explain why. By your same logic I could say that all fictional characters are imaginary, but fictional characters still find a way to make life harder for me to live my life as a black woman without being forced into some caricature.
Next time, I’ll reblog it from the source because I didn’t write this to oblige you to comment. I wrote this because I saw there was a problem that only a person who watches Futurama and knows Bender’s background could interpret and I gave it a critical glance.
(Source: noodroid)
