Today’s topic comes from QSFer Tim O’Leary:
I work with someone who seemed perfectly nice in every way. Funny, charming, etc. And three months into knowing him, we were having a casual conversation and he nonchalantly revealed through a story he was telling that he was a raving anti-Semite. But what was most chilling was how calm and natural he was about it. So it made me think about fantasy and sci-fi with different races. Obviously we’ve seen examples of racism in Star Trek and shows like that, but usually the racism (bigotry against Klingons, etc) is overt and obvious. But what place does that quiet, almost more sinister racism/bigotry have in fiction? How would it be used in the plot?
This is obviously a sensitive topic, so I’d ask that everyone keep things civil and professional during this discussion. You guys can do it. I have faith.