Supergirl [6x12] "Blind Spots" Post Episode Discussion

[u/MajorParadox]

Blind Spots

Live Episode Discussion | Promo | Scene | Cast & Characters

Nxyly attempts to reunite the Allstone using Mxyzptlk as a power source. Meanwhile, Lena finds out the truth about her mother. (September 21, 2021)

DCTV Discord

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Please keep all discussion civil and about the episode. Mark comic and future spoilers. Report any rule breaking and enjoy!

[u/Aurondarklord]

doesn't suddenly resolve the issues she was having with Kara and the rest of the team here.

Those "issues" were the product of ridiculous, off-character, hamfisted writing put in the story to GIVE Kelly the opportunity to deliver that outraged speech.

Why would she say she hasn't done anything wrong? The whole episode she's been upset because she felt she wasn't being heard. Kelly didn't need her to feel guilty about not listening, guilt doesn't help anyone, she wanted Kara to start listening.

Because when, in six years of this show, has Kara ever been like that?

So she messed up and she feels guilty, does she want a cookie or something?

And therein lies the problem. She didn't mess up. Logically, she did nothing wrong. The writing painted her as callous to set up Kelly's outrage at the expense of consistent characterization for everyone else, but logically, yes, Nyxly comes first. Stopping Nyxly is the most important thing, because Nyxy wins = everybody dies. Everybody. Yes, Kara has to prioritize that.

a hit dog will holler

Don't hit your dog.

But this is a total fallacy. Yes, a correctly accused person will protest...but so will a falsely accused person, thus rendering protest a TOTALLY USELESS way to gauge guilt or innocence. But that's DiAngelo and her school of thought. "White fragility", "white defensiveness", "white denial", "white diversion", etc. You can make any psychological reaction bad and pathologized if you just put "white" in front of it! And ALL white people are guilty, apparently even ones from other planets! Krypton was a completely genetically pre-planned eugenics society, they didn't have these issues! They had OTHER fucked up cultural problems instead. But Kara wouldn't have grown up with an Earthly concept of "whiteness" as DiAngelo understands it, so why would she EVER act according to DiAngelo's theories?! That makes no sense!

[u/Sentry459 → u/Aurondarklord]

Because when, in six years of this show, has Kara ever been like that?

Well (ignoring the fact that there's a first time for everything, and everyone slips up and has blind spots from time to time) if you rewatch season 4, when J'onn came to her and told her that aliens were being discriminated against, she completely dismissed it out of hand. It wasn't until she saw it for herself that she changed her tune. Now, if you want to argue that that makes this a repetitive storyline, I might agree, though I do think characters are capable of making the same mistakes more than once.

The writing painted her as callous

Which she was, and that's wrong.

Everybody. Yes, Kara has to prioritize that.

Which is why Kelly's arc in this episode was coming to realize that and taking street level matters into her own hands.

Don't hit your dog

Thanks, I'll also try to avoid skinning cats and throwing stones at birds.

But this is a total fallacy

Yes, I already said it's obviously not proof of guilt. However, there is a tendency for people who are accused of harboring some prejudice to just dismiss the possibility out of hand without actually examining themselves to see if there's truth to it, because they don't want to imagine the fact that they could possibly have such a flaw. It comes from the idea people get in their heads that racism is a willfully malicious sin, a character defect, a stain on the immortal soul, rather than a systemic issue that tends to impact how everyone behaves and sees the world, to lesser and greater degrees.

"White fragility", "white defensiveness", "white denial", "white diversion", etc. You can make any psychological reaction bad and pathologized if you just put "white" in front of it!

This is getting off-topic given that the show didn't go into any of this, they just showed the book in Kelly's catalog.

And ALL white people are guilty, apparently even ones from other planets! Krypton was a completely genetically pre-planned eugenics society, they didn't have these issues![....]Kara wouldn't have grown up with an Earthly concept of "whiteness" as DiAngelo understands it, so why would she EVER act according to DiAngelo's theories?!

A few points:

1. DiAngelo didn't write the episode (thank Christ) and we shouldn't assume the writers subscribe to all her theories.

2. Your argument seems a bit confused. If Kara had the luxury of growing up on a world without racial constructs, that's all the more reason to think she may have blind spots regarding racism and classism. She's not on Krypton anymore, she's on Earth.

[u/Aurondarklord → u/Sentry459]

if you rewatch season 4, when J'onn came to her and told her that aliens were being discriminated against, she completely dismissed it out of hand.

That was framed as a recent development, as something that had CHANGED in society. That's very different.

Which she was, and that's wrong.

Which, again, is highly off-character for her, and thus what people are complaining about. She's the Paragon of Hope, she's never callous!

Which is why Kelly's arc in this episode was coming to realize that and taking street level matters into her own hands.

While copiously wagging her finger at Kara for doing what she clearly had to do.

However, there is a tendency for people who are accused of harboring some prejudice to just dismiss the possibility out of hand without actually examining themselves to see if there's truth to it, because they don't want to imagine the fact that they could possibly have such a flaw.

The burden of proof is on the person making a claim, especially if that claim is an accusation against another person. This is a standard rule of discourse that has been longstanding for centuries. Hitchens' Razor, that which may be asserted without evidence may be dismissed without evidence. If you call someone a racist, have receipts if you expect them to take that as anything more than a mean, and potentially very damaging to their reputation and even career, insult. And that includes if you imply it without directly saying the words "you are a racist".

It comes from the idea people get in their heads that racism is a willfully malicious sin, a character defect, a stain on the immortal soul, rather than a systemic issue that tends to impact how everyone behaves and sees the world, to lesser and greater degrees.

The problem is that it is often used in a bad-faith way that waffles between these two things depending on what the accuser wants at that moment. With the accused being told that it's this diffused, systemic thing that impacts everyone when they try to defend themselves, then cancelled out of their job by a twitter mob as though it's the Mark of the Beast. That happens. And you're not gonna be able to sell the idea that it's not being presented as a malicious sin while the accusation results in metaphoric witch burnings.

DiAngelo didn't write the episode (thank Christ) and we shouldn't assume the writers subscribe to all her theories.

No, she didn't write it, but she and her fellow travelers clearly wrote much of the ideology that undergirded it, with her theories almost verbatim coming out of Kelly's mouth in the manner of a PSA towards the audience, and I treat that as confirmed by the way they included her, and others, books at the end in almost the style of citations at the end of a paper.

Your argument seems a bit confused. If Kara had the luxury of growing up on a world without racial constructs, that's all the more reason to think she may have blind spots regarding racism and classism. She's not on Krypton anymore, she's on Earth.

But DiAngelo alleges that being raised in a racist society indoctrinates all white people with racism so completely that it's an inescapable and quasi-innate trait.

Kara wasn't raised in our society, so even if you believe DiAngelo's theories, she wouldn't have that indoctrination, or any of the associated psychological defense mechanisms DiAngelo et al like to put "white" in front of to make bad.

[u/Sentry459 → u/Aurondarklord]

That was framed as a recent development, as something that had CHANGED in society. That's very different.

What is not different is how callous she was towards J'onn, such that J'onn was visibly upset.

Which, again, is highly off-character for her, and thus what people are complaining about.

Ok, but before you were arguing that Kara did nothing wrong, therefore Kelly had no reason to be upset. Now you seem to be saying that she did do something wrong, but it was out of character. Which one is it?

She's the Paragon of Hope

Which doesn't make her incapable of making mistakes.

While copiously wagging her finger at Kara for doing what she clearly had to do.

Which was explicitly an emotional reaction to the powerlessness she was feeling in that moment; she wasn't supposed to be interpreted as some all-knowing, omnibenevolent logic-bot. Doesn't anyone remember how, after she snapped on Team Supergirl, Dig walked in there and asked her what was really going on?

Now I'm genuinely curious, would you have been less upset with the episode if Kelly had said something like "I shouldn't have blown up at you, someone does have to look at the bigger picture, and I know Nxyly needs to be stopped."?

If you call someone a racist, have receipts if you expect them to take that as anything more than a mean, and potentially very damaging to their reputation and even career, insult. And that includes if you imply it without directly saying the words "you are a racist".

Alright, when and how did Kelly imply that Kara is a racist?

With the accused being told that it's this diffused, systemic thing that impacts everyone when they try to defend themselves, then cancelled out of their job by a twitter mob as though it's the Mark of the Beast.

I can't speak for Twitter mobs since I don't advocate for that nonsense and it's outside the purview of this discussion (unless you're arguing that this episode encourages that sort of behavior, which I'd entirely disagree with because of the way it was resolved).

At any rate, my point wasn't that anyone can be racist, therefore no one can be held accountable, my point was that because racism is treated as a malicious, individualistic character flaw, people refuse to entertain the possibility they're engaging in discriminatory behavior. Racism is something you do, not necessarily some evil you're consciously harboring in your mind. When Kelly brought up her issues, Kara (and you) made it a question of whether Kara's evil or racist when that wasn't even the point, the question should be whether or not her behavior was harmful. Kelly didn't raise her concerns to cancel Kara, she raised them in the hopes that Kara would start being more receptive, but instead she had to nurse Kara's wounded ego and reassure her she isn't bad.

But DiAngelo alleges

Well the actual episode alleges that people have blind spots when it comes to issues that aren't close to their lived experience, and again:

If Kara had the luxury of growing up on a world without racial constructs, that's all the more reason to think she may have blind spots regarding racism and classism.

Do you disagree with that?