May 7, 2007

The New Mutiny.

So I have had my own run-ins, albeit infrequent and minor, with some of the Sepia Mutiny crew. I used to read the site once in a while because I thought it was a good place to find interesting tidbits of news and pop culture, though the commentary was uneven, but I figured, heck - it's an Indian blog, what do you expect, and the design/elements were more polished than anything I'd put time into creating. But when they asserted biased viewpoints and tried to pass it off as legitimate "new media," or beat down on the few people who bothered to post opposing/thoughtful responses amongst the throngs of their echo chamber... well, it became clear that this was an Indian blog, egos were fragile, and it was nothing close to a community space that I wanted to be involved with.

So I just turned it off. Now, I only glance at the site when someone sends me a link - resorting to more primary sources of "actual news" as it were, and not feeling any loss for my decision. I mean, I might as well go to an uncle party if I wanted their points of view, and really, who the hell has the time to read so much triviality?

UPDATE
I had originally posted a site here that was launched to poke fun/attack/what have you some of the people involved with SM and other related sites. I was posting with the idea that I was just "sharing" the site. But a comment (still below) raised a number of good points that I'd not thought through while in my hast. Bottom line: regardless of the intent or impact of the site in question, it doesn't really matter - I don't want to be part of it, and I don't want to support it. I want to build - not attack/take things apart. We have too much work to do. So forgive me the transgression in judgment, and thank you to the anonymous commenter.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is it progressive and conscious to draw attention to, legitimize and faintly praise a site dripping with misogyny? SM might be a joke, but endorsing (and to me, not condemning it is similar to) that hate-fest of a site you devoted an entire post to is not something I can understand. Whoever is responsible for it has a pathological hatred for women which is disturbing and depressing. "New Mutiny" or "Old Hostility"?

You're right. The SM crew are hyper-sensitive and imperfect and often, annoying. So criticize, engage, rage...but please don't support maliciousness which is driving women off the internet. Please.

Rage said...

I think your points are fair... and in thinking more about it - I don't want to be part of the hate-fest, at least not in this way.

Thanks for taking the time to weigh in, and hope you stick around.

Anonymous said...

my question is... how do they get off calling themselves "sepia mutiny", a play on the sepoy mutiny rebellion? when any serious discussion is completely laughed at, and all the indian uncles come out and say racist things? i've been on and off with them. it's that south asian wanna love 'em but the intolerance and triviality of everything is killin' ya feeling.

Rage said...

Ha. Well - I'm not a hater (publicly). But I feel that. I mean, basically, it's an alternative to Us magazine with a bit of cultural crit thrown in. Some of the folks have writing talent, and they keep it light, which isn't a bad thing in itself. But the insecurity is what gets me. When you've clearly got your own following, that should be enough to regulate the paranoia/iron hand with dissent/criticism. I mean, it makes more sense for someone like me, with my tiny little readership, to be so anti-dissent.

Then again, whatever! After all, consensus and open "dialogue" is more fun in person. So onward, and let's keep doing whatever we do. There's work to do!