I mostly just - oh, god, yes. I remember feeling so sad after reading the comments to the Man Pain video - so many people feeling guilty! Guilt is so easy to slip into, and hard to wade out of. (Especially when one has a not-very mainstream hobby that's inevitably linked to porn and unfairly linked to childishness in public perception.) And so unnecessary. Slasher guilt, not-slasher guilt, River-Song-fan guilt, River-Song-nonfan guilt, gen-writer guilt, porn-writer guilt, non-writer guilt. All of it. It's like, basic empathy and understanding sometimes seem to slip away, in people's frenzied race to prove themselves progressive - MORE progressive. And the very point of fandom (sharing LOVE for some source material) somehow dissipates.
I love that fandom is huge and varied. I love that we can have people who always write white guys shagging (I like white guys shagging!) and that they can exchange ideas with people who exclusively write femdom het and are friends with people who write vanilla femslash and are beta'd by people who don't write but have a wicked collection of fanart links. I do see why it's good to point out troubling fandom trends, because it leads to more self-awareness and less unthinking cruelty - but the moment that becomes a weapon of proving anybody's superiority, everything spirals to hell irrevocably.
[Note: I also don't think everyone needs to cultivate an awareness of canon/fandom problematicness. Some people only want escapism, not broadened perspectives. (Honestly, while I was having a very rough patch with RL activists, I definitely didn't want any of that in my hobby. I'm still wary, if curious.) This is cool. However, it's also cool to alert them if they do or say or write anything offensive. And it's cool to expect they'll react in a more mature manner than RTD did. Open communication. It's a LOVELY thing.]
I am delighted by how DIFFERENTLY most of my flist sees Doctor Who. Like, like, y'all are watching an opposite show. And that's okay. That's brilliant. It's all a complex matter of kinks and squicks and biases and existing tolerances. Because we do not have a hive mind, nor do we need it or want it. Which, again, the point, here, because if everyone thought what we thought there'd be no need for a community.
no subject
I mostly just - oh, god, yes. I remember feeling so sad after reading the comments to the Man Pain video - so many people feeling guilty! Guilt is so easy to slip into, and hard to wade out of. (Especially when one has a not-very mainstream hobby that's inevitably linked to porn and unfairly linked to childishness in public perception.) And so unnecessary. Slasher guilt, not-slasher guilt, River-Song-fan guilt, River-Song-nonfan guilt, gen-writer guilt, porn-writer guilt, non-writer guilt. All of it. It's like, basic empathy and understanding sometimes seem to slip away, in people's frenzied race to prove themselves progressive - MORE progressive. And the very point of fandom (sharing LOVE for some source material) somehow dissipates.
I love that fandom is huge and varied. I love that we can have people who always write white guys shagging (I like white guys shagging!) and that they can exchange ideas with people who exclusively write femdom het and are friends with people who write vanilla femslash and are beta'd by people who don't write but have a wicked collection of fanart links. I do see why it's good to point out troubling fandom trends, because it leads to more self-awareness and less unthinking cruelty - but the moment that becomes a weapon of proving anybody's superiority, everything spirals to hell irrevocably.
[Note: I also don't think everyone needs to cultivate an awareness of canon/fandom problematicness. Some people only want escapism, not broadened perspectives. (Honestly, while I was having a very rough patch with RL activists, I definitely didn't want any of that in my hobby. I'm still wary, if curious.) This is cool. However, it's also cool to alert them if they do or say or write anything offensive. And it's cool to expect they'll react in a more mature manner than RTD did. Open communication. It's a LOVELY thing.]
I am delighted by how DIFFERENTLY most of my flist sees Doctor Who. Like, like, y'all are watching an opposite show. And that's okay. That's brilliant. It's all a complex matter of kinks and squicks and biases and existing tolerances. Because we do not have a hive mind, nor do we need it or want it. Which, again, the point, here, because if everyone thought what we thought there'd be no need for a community.
In conclusion, *grouphugs the internet*.