Shir, it's only tangentially related but have you heard of the Monkeysphere?

Have you met me? I EXIST in the tangentially related!

And no, haven't heard of it yet. Bookmarked it and will read it tomorrow. Right now, I gotta start thinking about going to bed.

Now, and it's all in very early stages - I want to see how "The Other" is being portrayed in SF/F, and what does it mean in terms of the sociology of deviance.

Shir, if you haven't already, read Iain M. Banks' "Excession". The concept of the alien species referred to as "The Affront" is, I think, a brilliant encapsulation of "The Other". Actually, any of Banks' Culture novels work as excellent places to start discussing the concept of "other" - what is "inside" and what is "outside" a specific, delineated operant-space.

(And whatever you write about it, Shir, I would devour and enjoy immensely. It's this mental whirly-thought-stuff that I most enjoy about reading!)

Oh, I didn't make myself clear, as usual.

I don't mean to see when and where X calls Y "The Other". I mean, it's done 24/7, so it's kindda boring to me.

I mean to see how it's done, and what, perhaps, it says about us as a society. Because as I said, ethnographies are in a way SF/F. And if that's the case, we can't be that far ahead with our SF/F literature, which will only show, I vaguely guess, a very certain perception of "The Other" - yes, in the very place which should be the farthest of all, imagination speaking.

In anthropology, the "how" is so much more important than the "why". Kindda like Rome studies. I find it rather neat.

Cash, did you see my tooth fairy post? I ended up getting a wee gift rather than money as that seemed to be what Franny wanted, but had I gone with money it probably would have been a dollar. Instead it was some Hello Kitty sticker thingy.

Oh, and thank you, SH - I duly noted that, and will try to get my claws on it ASAP.

I want to see how "The Other" is being portrayed in SF/F, and what does it mean in terms of the sociology of deviance.

A good friend of mine studies film, and is working on a dissertation about disability in cult film and TV.

It's not really my area, but it's fascinating, and I might try and write a paper with her sometime.

The Monkeysphere article was cool!

Anyway, it just confirms my thoughts that we're all doomed....

Oh man, don't get me even started.

Just as we all are The Other, I also think all of us are a little disabled, this way or another.

It's just that stupid structure of society which targets some as more disabled or more deviant or more you-name-it than others.

Shir: Have you met me? I EXIST in the tangentially related!

NATLBSB.

And if that's the case, we can't be that far ahead with our SF/F literature, which will only show, I vaguely guess, a very certain perception of "The Other" - yes, in the very place which should be the farthest of all, imagination speaking.

This is a discussion - sometimes an argument - I have with other fellow SF/F readers: the problem with all fiction is it's written by *humans*. We cannot conceive of the truly alien, all we can do is take a certain number of steps away from "the norm" (whatever THAT means) - and if an author came up with the TRULY alien, it would be utterly incomprehensible. In fact, discussions I've had with fans of "outsider art" sometimes turn into "are they actually postulating the truly alien?" questions. We call the artists insane because their art is so...absolutely...foreign...that it APPEARS to be insanity.

(and THAT turns into "what is sane?" and consensus-driven public policy based on statistical averages of behavior...etc....)

Whee! TooMuchCaffieneMan strikes again.

Shir, just asking the question made me very happy.