Misaimed Satire at Pantheacon

Honestly, I can’t leave the Pagan community alone for a weekend…

So, Pantheacon is an annual Pagan conference held in San Jose, California. This year, a parody of the con newsletter was published by an anonymous satirist which contained a (fake) panel description: “Ignoring Racism: A Panel for White Pagans.”

Now, I get what whoever-that-was was trying to do. Unfortunately, by mishandling context and going too far too soon, the satirist ended up poking the community’s fresh wounds and reminding people of color in the community just how little support they get, too much of the time.

Jonathan Korman has posted an open letter to his blog, Miniver Cheevy, asking the anonymous satirist to come forward and apologize.

I have to agree with Korman, here. Letting this go on is a distraction we don’t need.

An open letter

To the Mysterious Author who writes the PantyCon schedule:

I have an unsolicited word of advice, in this moment when a lot of people are unhappy with you. I’m going to ask that you do something that probably runs counter to your instincts:

Apologize.

That’s a strong suggestion, and both you and the community deserve a clear explanation for why I propose it. That means, I’m afraid, that I must get long-winded in the name of clarity.

Read the rest at Jonathan Korman’s blog, Miniver Cheevy.

Spread the word.