Laugh and grow dank!
I don't see how. Like, at all. This seems remarkably progressive. If anyone does give you trouble for writing that, then they probably have an agenda against you, or hate the whole idea of social integration and tolerance.
yey
Do the Psi look different from the mundanes?
How come mundanes haven't died off already?
Because Psi keep to themselves and stay hidden. They're not like wizards. They have one power with weaknesses and such. Also many Psi married amongst themselves and discouraged mundane-Psi relations for a good while.
edited 9th Jun '11 4:32:50 PM by JewelyJ
This sounds as fair as you can get, so no, it's not Unfortunate Implications. Wouldn't be surprised if anyone found some anyway, but you've done your part.
If you're worried about "Group X treats Group Y poorly, and some of Group Y may deserve it" being Unfortunate Implications, you have to consider the other side of the spectrum. If everyone went around trying to avoid that, then all you'd have are stories where Group X is wholly evil and Group Y is wholly good and that's either a load of Unfortunate Implications itself, or just really uninspired.
There is nothing wrong with writing characters with diverse opinions, even if some of those opinions are, in your own or the audience's experience, poor. There's nothing wrong with writing a social institution that some agree with and some deride, and there being good and bad people on both sides. The "Unfortunate Implications" comes about when an unfortunate side effect is merely implied and nobody questions it, even the oppressed side (as in, wife beatings happen but everyone seems to imply that it's always the woman that deserves it and nobody calls the police or even really feels uncomfortable about it, and not for lack of liberal-minded characters present)
If you try to dance around to avoid Unfortunate Implications, you're not going to be able to tell anything worth telling. It's confronting a social issue but taking all the problems and ambiguities out of it until you're not really saying anything of value. If you're afraid that you're mirroring slavery/segregation, are you closing off an entire possible storytelling path simply because it's a sore spot for some people? I'm aware of several writers who are so afraid of being called out on it they won't include anything that vaguely resembles slavery in their stories. Or if they do, they never ever include anyone who's okay with their station, even if they actually do have everything they want.
If you want the whole of it, being denied agency in ANY matter seems to be a sin to American and most West European cultures. But denial of agency happens. If you can't talk about it, or if you don't include it, is the world more or less real? In the end it does boil down to what YOU want and whose sensibilities you're trying to appeal to.
TL;DR: The zeitgeist of the story having difficult subject matter is different from UI. If it's upfront, it can't really be UI.
edited 10th Jun '11 10:03:04 AM by RickGriffin
On a completely different note, I find that the Unfortunate Implications page mostly just lists unpopular opinions whether or not they are implied or upfront. Is racist humor always an unfortunate implication, even if it's upfront, and intended to be mean-spirited and/or over-the-top?
edited 10th Jun '11 10:11:48 AM by RickGriffin
Okay I have an aspect in my story that I worry will sound like Unfortunate Implications.
The later bulk of the story/series Psi are revealed as the war between Psi and mundanes rages on, the main characters try to work for peace between Psi and mundanes. Many people on both sides have some gripe/ill will towards the other side and both sides are shown to be just as likely to be prejudiced. It's not treated as 'one side hurting the other' but in a 'it takes two to argue' sort of way. both sides have to learn to accept each other.
Also there is the fact that the Psi's old ways are a little iffy. The Psi culture is very prejudiced and cruel towards empaths and telepaths believing them to be mentally weak, prone to madness and likely to give the rest of them a bad name. The Psi community has also grown to become somewhat arrogant. (similar to the Purebloods)
Neither side is inherently perfect and right but Psi getting rights is not denied as a bad thing nor are all Psi or mundanes implied to be evil.
I worry that people will still see this as a UI of some sort. Like that I'm saying that one race/culture is bad and thus deserving of the prejudice they got or something.
edited 9th Jun '11 2:57:39 PM by JewelyJ