#it is best to simply not give a racist a platform yk

[thatonebirbnerd]

On Fandom Caucasity

Disclaimer before I begin: I am not infallible and I am not immune to bias. If I have made an error in wording, something just doesn't read the way it should, or if you think this post is pointless or misguided, you are free to tell me without fear of a hostile response and I will act accordingly.

I became acquainted with the term used in this title recently. As a white/Ashkenazi woman, it's almost certainly not mine to use, but as someone who is quite tired of the racist micro- and macroaggressions in the Guild Wars 2 fandom, I would appreciate if I could use it to make a point. Thank you for your understanding.

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Caucasity rhymes with "audacity" (for good reason) and denotes a stereotypical white person's behavior, most commonly including arrogance and entitlement. More specifically, you might say someone has the caucasity to do something racist and then throw a fit when they're called out for it.

Unfortunately, I have seen this specific scenario play out several times here, most recently with someone who I don't think intended their post to come across as badly as it did. OP in this case devised a well-intentioned headcanon, but fell into a trap of racist implications and got frustrated when they were called out for it. The fallacy they fell to here is the idea that BIPOC have to do something to earn representation in media. To be clear, since this was most likely a product of internalized bias rather than active bigotry, I give said OP the benefit of the doubt, and would merely appreciate it if they apologized to those affected and did some self-reflection. But their response as it stands currently is an example of caucasity in action.

Previous instances have involved things like Braham being drawn or replicated in-game with pale skin, which I see as a more egregious and intentional decision, and a good reason to cease interaction with the people responsible. Maybe his red hair might be tripping some internalized-racist default settings in people's brains, I don't know what their excuses are - but his skin tone is a mellow medium brown, and there is no changing that. There was also another very questionable post about the use of the makeover kit, but I can't recall the exact details right now. I just know that it's always about norn, because apparently people assume they have to be a mono-ethnoculture just because they take heavy inspiration from Norse legend.

Of course, such an assumption ignores the fact that norn culture is also heavily inspired by indigenous American beliefs; sadly, we all know ArenaNet hasn't been the most respectful of that either. I feel it is also worth some note that none of this controversy about Canthan norn previously happened with dark-skinned norn, but I will only leave that there as food for thought rather than making extrapolations.

Anyway. Here's what I have to say about the two most common reactions I see when people are called out.

"Wait, no, I meant this instead!" I understand that it hurts to have your internalized biases exposed; it should be taken for granted that since I'm from a sheltered white upper-middle-class family, I've been there plenty of times. I also understand that if you’re not straight and/or cis, you might assume you are immune to internalized biases since you had to overcome a subset of them to be yourself. (Sorry, but no, you are not immune to further bias; no one is.) I know it’s easy to get upset, especially if you’re rejection-sensitive (hi), but all you have to do is take a deep breath, apologize, learn from your mistakes, and move on.

"Why does it matter?" I hear this most often from Europeans. It's true that different parts of the world have a different idea of racial divides, and that you might see objections as being American-centric. But in doing something like erasing the features Braham got from his dad just because you can't actually look at Borje the Sun Chaser and connect the genetic dots in your head, you're ignoring, erasing, and thus offending the real people behind the screen, around the world, who see themselves represented in Braham. That is why your decisions matter.

The above is also, I would say, also a result of the concept of BIPOC having to work to deserve representation - an idea you will see more boldly visible among, let’s say, fans of The Rings of Power who get angry about seeing dark-skinned elves. And just so I’ve said this out loud: they don't have to do anything. Let them exist, and let them exist on your screen; relinquish the caucasity, the entitlement and arrogance, that makes you get in their way. If that idea threatens you, please do some thinking about it, for all our sakes.

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Someone else in the GW2 community was the spark for my writing this post and provided a few crucial points, and though they requested anonymity, I'd like to thank them anyway for their contributions and insight.