This is well-written and I don't see how anyone could miss the rather heavy-handed mind control / reality change involved. The neighbor's self-satisfied egalitarianism doing fuck all to address an immediate situation was a nice touch, but - in context - maybe a bit unwarranted. Raceplay usually leaves me cold, satire or not, but I appreciate the intent and I don't see how a careful reader could mistake the narration as racist. If anything, this makes me want to write something controversial in the hope that it would result in a Hypnothrill response story.

Speaking of intent, maybe it would help if I said a bit more about my intent when writing this story. In part, I wanted to address issues of technological and algorithmic racism, which are a troubling trend today. In short, we're increasingly entrusting a lot of decision making to technological devices and programs that have their creators' racial biases and blindspots embedded within them. The ColorCorrect app is my take on an old MC fiction standard, the reality-changing computer program, except it is infected with this sort of insidious systemic racism. It can only think in binary terms, and so it can only sort people into black and white (and it reshapes the people's minds and memories to better fit those categories). And it's based on some real issues with technology, like those automatic sensors that failed to detect people with dark skin, or cameras where the automatic lighting and contrast features are optimized for light-skinned people (and make dark-skinned people look shadowy and indistinct, like Bryan does after Andy alters his photo with the app). And of course, I could go into a lot more detail about the ways in which photographs of black men have been altered in order to dehumanize and stereotype the photographic subject (see Time Magazine's infamous 1994 OJ Simpson cover, for instance). It's also important to note that what's being altered are Andre and Bryan's selfies, which in turn affect their self-image. And frankly, I did want the reader to be uncomfortable when reading the sections where Bryan's self-esteem begins to crumble; here, he's beginning to internalize the stereotypical, deindividualized image of a black man that the app shows him, and I wanted to depict the psychological effects of stereotype threat. One other thing I wanted to mention was how I treated Andre's racial identity. I tried to make clear at the start of the story that he's racially mixed, but primarily identifies as a black man, because that's how white America tends to view him. Here, I tried to avoid the excessive description of facial features (noses, lips) I tend to see in race change stories, which always remind me of 19th century eugenics texts and racist pseudoscience. So instead, I emphasized how the app only made slight changes to Andre's physical appearance, lightening his skin tone a few shades, and yet this minor change causes him to be perceived (and to perceive himself) as "white." I had noticed how red hair served as a signifier of whiteness in Elan Musk's story, and I wanted my white supremacist antagonist to resemble the one in his story, so I made sure to emphasize his red hair (and freckles), but note that Andre has these even when he's a "black" man.

wow I didn't know the average reader here was a pussy lmao

No, this is the only account of me on this site :-) I don't write anywhere else.

The problem with satire is it has the widest range of responses, but the narrowest margin of error. as someone who is on the fence about it, I'm not sure what i would change in the story. but i do think it would be a good idea to tag it "racist" and "horror" to better get your intent across.

Being honest, Elan Musk's story was less problematic than this one imo, I kinda shrugged my shoulders there but this one feels weird. Like Elan Musk's story was done out of a lack of sense, and this feels like a lack of tact.

do you have other account ?

Comment-bait story from a known and self-admitted comment lover, is my take. I feel that -- perhaps different from Get Out or even Elan Musk's story -- the narrator is creepy and racist, not just the characters. The way certain details or words are relished and lingered on. Didn't sit right with me.

I said the story has satirical elements, but it's primarily a horror story. A good point of comparison might be Jordan Peele's "Get Out," another horror story about race relations that intentionally uses racial stereotypes in a satirical way. I'm genuinely having trouble seeing why so many readers are describing this story as racist, so if someone could actually take "the time to unpack and explain point by point," I'd be grateful.

Dads as slaves for youngsters? I'm in! Love it and would like to see more in the future.