KMTBerry, I agree that it’s not helpful to flamewar. I’ve never been more hurt by what was said in the ’sphere than by what I read in the first week of this month. And perhaps I was hurt because some of the criticisms had the ring of truth and others seemed, well, mean. And these criticisms came from people I admire, people who not only rejected the “purist and popularizer” dichotomy but called me disingenuous, unctuous, and a whole lot of other things. And it takes me a while to distinguish between a rejection of my blogging and a rejection of me — at least when those rejections come from people I respect very deeply.

Distinguishing between right criticism and reactive unpleasantness isn’t easy for me, especially in the blogosphere. And I need time to do that.

Because the stakes are so small.

Why do the attacks always become so Ad Hominem? It seems to me that, as a white male who has “shown up”, you inherit all the rage and hate and distrust that should be accorded to the likes of David Duke. In ACTUALITY, you are an Ally of POC, although an imperfect one.
(I say this in the spirit of all falling short; there really isn’t a perfect one, not even Chris Clarke, according to his latest post.
)
Often I hear it said, that POC are NOT one big homogenous bloc that has secret meetings to set agendas etc. (and neither are the LBGT community, or “women”, or even “Feminists”). And, you know, it’s TRUE. But I think it should be remembered that it is true of “White People” too. (Also “White Feminists”).

We are all just individuals, and I DO Believe that absolutely everyone posting in this little eddy of the blogosphere DOES INDEED have their HEART in the right place, even if their consciousness has not been raised anywhere near high enough. ANd the discussion is what OPENS our eyes.

I don’t think it is at all helpful to flamewar. At the same time, if there were no flames, maybe some of us are just too dumb to really see what others are saying.

I look forward to reading your conclusions.

“I have an unattractive tendency to try and defuse tense situations with vague apologies, often without being entirely certain what I’m apologizing for and whether an apology is deserved. It’s a bad habit”

Eh, it’s probably served you well. I have a bad habit of stubbornly refusing to apologize because I know it will diffuse situations and sometimes undo the hard work of making myself and others think. But there are many times when I should do it and I don’t. So… don’t be too hard on yourself about it. Many of us need to work on apologies in one way or another.

I’m glad you decided to wait. I think it just takes time for certain ideas to form or change or evolve or… ?

I also think a lot of the rage that probably should have been directed at the market, the book publishing industry, the original call for submissions, etc. was directed at you because of what you represent, (being a white, male Christian) not just what you wrote. (Though, I think plenty of the criticism was deserved, too.)