Wiscon panel: The Tragedy of Change

[redbird]

This is the panel I moderated, which didn't really cohere. resolute has said it's fine for me to link to her post about it, which at least describes what we talked about.

I suspect there might have been a couple of good panels buried in this topic, but even if someone digs them out for Wiscon 32, I'm not going to be on any of them, because I'd expect to do badly. [This assumes I decide, come winter, that I want to be on programming at all.]

Comments

[wild-patience.livejournal.com]

It sounds like a fascinating topic. I'm sorry the panel didn't quite work this time.

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

I found the panel really problematic because the topic was so diffuse. It felt like several panels--not only was there not time to cover everything, but none of the panelists (I suspect nobody in the room) really had the background knowledge for a serious consideration of the topic as given. Some people wanted to talk about how disability relates to identity, and how prosthetics, assistive devices, and surgical changes can affect that. Some people wanted to talk about how gender relates to identity, and how transexuality can affect that. There's literature about both kinds of change, but it tends to be different. Issues of discrimination also tend to be different, though of course they turn up in both kinds of situation. Trying to go back and forth between the subjects meant very little depth of discussion on either, and very little discussion of SF at all.

I found it interesting that Resolute wrote so much about the panel without mentioning the trans discussion, which I perceived as being such an important part of the conversation. It really did feel like 2 panels trying to talk past each other.

[bibliofile.livejournal.com]

One thing I liked about this panel was that you raised all sorts of excellent questions -- which can be more important than answering any of them.

[redbird]

Thanks. That is reassuring: given the amount of time I spent fretting beforehand, I'm glad that we did more than waste everyone's time once we were there.

[liv]

I have to say, when I saw your mention that you were planning to run this panel, it sounded really cool, and I was looking forward to your report. So I'm disappointed that it didn't turn out well.