ArabellaWrites

Then Eric said: "I'm gonna play-bite Assad on camera."

Then Assad said: "I'm gonna shamelessly flirt with Eric during the entire Reddit AMA."

Then Eric said: "I'm gonna post a selfie with Assad that looks like we're posting from the afterglow."

THAT'S DEE AT THE VAMP! FIGHT!

I think it’s important that folks keep speaking on their feelings regarding the Good Omens finale if they want to and feel safe to, but the sad reality is that so many folks don’t feel safe right now (and for good reason).

I don’t know, y’all. While I can appreciate the sentiment behind “we should all just get along/please stop posting inflammatory takes/we will all feel better soon and reunite/we should be thinking of the fandom at large” posts, they don’t sit right with me. Because why should I or anyone else censor our feelings and opinions? What good is a community if you’re not allowed to express an opinion or emotion that is labeled as negative and undesirable? Why should I force myself to be in community with the people who are showing their true colors right now?

Maybe I’m… not glad, exactly, but sort of grateful to stand corrected on spaces I thought were safe and people I thought were safe, too. Maybe I’m not sure I want to reintegrate with people who think I’m either media illiterate, immature, willfully ignorant or just “stirring things up” on purpose? Maybe I don’t want to be around those saying “if you don’t like the Good Omens finale you should just stop talking about it so those of us who like it aren’t dragged down”?

Maybe the burden of shutting up so as not to offend the more incendiary factions on any side shouldn’t be put on the fandom? Maybe feelings and grief and anger and frustration are messy but that doesn’t make them inherently bad and people have a right to speak on those things without fear?

Maybe all feelings, “good” or “bad”, deserve space?

I also DEEPLY resent this implication that those of us who don’t like the finale are harassing the crew or cast. A very, VERY tiny minority crossed that line while the rest of us would never DREAM of it, so I’m not going to pander to anyone and add on anytning like of course you should never harass the crew or cast because we know that. We all know that. We shouldn’t have to add a disclaimer that we aren’t endorsing aggression and violence just because we hate this piece of public media.

ANYWAY it’s been three weeks and every day I find something else about this 96 minutes of foolery that I cannot stand or that shatters another part of me. I am dedicated to disregarding it as much as I can and I just want everyone to know— everyone who is hurt or decimated or infuriated or depressed or lost or anything of the sort— that it is okay to feel however you feel. I wish none of us had to feel any of this, and god knows we wanted to love this SO badly.

We only feel the way we do because we have such a deep love for Good Omens and its characters and themes.

AND

it's actually homophobic as hell to tell people to stop being loudly upset about the murder of two queer characters DURING PRIDE! i will not be silent for the comfort of a phantom authority that seems to know what's "best" for fandom. sounds a lot like telling queer people to shut up for your comfort and i can't express loudly enough how fucking dangerous that rhetoric is, right now, in this world.

when a bunch of women come forward and say "this man is a sexual predator; he hurt me," they're not just making noise. they are disrupting a system that benefits abusers. and by speaking the truth, they make a better world possible--one where justice overcomes secrecy and privilege.

I will forever hold that NG should have been barred from the writing process in S3. (and indeed, Prime was happy to let fans believe he would be!) but my concern isn't really about good or bad writing--it's about the power he was given, he retained, to send a message: to fans, to survivors, to everyone victimized by him directly and those who've had to bear witness to the aftermath.

who benefits from nihilism? from the stripping of identity and unfulfilled hope--from being made to feel foolish for believing that everyone matters, and anyone can make a difference?

It's up to *us* to tell the story the *right*. After all, at least *we* can answer simple questions about specific plot beats in our fics without having to resort to *inventing* answers. 🙄

Let's drown out the abusive, rapist-driven annihilation plot with everything that makes GO beautiful: community, humanity, and above all, *love.*