• jsomae@lemmy.ml
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    11 hours ago

    not problematic

    I love the guy but I’m sure you could find an instance of him being problematic. Like his pen name, David Wong, is questionable given he’s not asian.

    • NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      He stopped using it for that very reason, and took accountability. People are allowed to self correct, if he understands the problem with what he did and course corrected without being called out for it what would throwing more stones accomplish?

      Edit: Also, not a big enough deal to say you shouldn’t read his books.

      • jsomae@lemmy.ml
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        11 hours ago

        I’m not throwing any stones, yo. I’m just pointing out you can’t exactly say he’s not problematic. I have a tolerance for problematicity so it’s of no bother to me.

        • Brave Little Hitachi Wand@lemmy.world
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          8 hours ago

          The word problematic is kind of weasely used this way. The pen name had an in-universe rationale that made sense and was funny because of the incongruity. Merely alluding to the existence of ethnicity isn’t “problematic” in itself.

          • jsomae@lemmy.ml
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            4 hours ago

            I’m not the on who brought the word problematic into this conversation. But I bet you if I put a poll on, say, tumblr, asking about different potentially problematic things, “pretending to be asian” would score highly on the problematic scale.

        • NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world
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          11 hours ago

          If he was still using the pseudonym and making excuses to keep using it, sure, but I’m of the opinion that once someone understands what they have done wrong and took the opportunity to learn from it and do better there is no more wrong doing. There are, of course, exceptions to this, but a pseudonym that someone came up with in their 20’s and had the wherewithal later to say, “That’s not ok, I need to stop doing that” and stopped doing that for the right reasons is pretty far from a reason to call them problematic, especially when it wasn’t a decision made under any form of duress and he has made no attempt at defending his choice to have used that pseudonym and stated it was not ok for him to have used that pseudonym.

        • dontbelievethis@sh.itjust.worksB
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          7 hours ago

          Stolen valor refers to the act of falsely claiming military service or awards that one did not earn, often to gain respect, money, or other benefits.

          ?

          How does being or not being Asian plays into this?

          • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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            5 hours ago

            “Stolen valor” can be used in a humorous way beyond its original meaning as someone pretending to be a veteran. For example, there’s a funny Youtube video about a tradesperson encountering a hipster wearing Carhartt workwear and using the phrase “stolen valor” to describe him.

                • dontbelievethis@sh.itjust.worksB
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                  5 hours ago

                  What? :D

                  I’m asking if you are implying that the person replying “stolen valor” to my question was making a joke or if I don’t understand something obvious.

                  Why is it stolen valor to have an Asian pen name? As I see it, you don’t want people to know that it is you, so it is another layer of obfuscation. Which is good if your goal is to be undercover.