it's true and you should say it.
coming out of the tags to say that some of us have been saying this for years and have been called all manner of degenerates, perverts, and pedophiles over it, and we really deserve an apology we will never receive
We DO deserve a fucking apology we'll never get, and not to soapbox, but lemme just throw out another fucking explanation of exactly why this shit keeps happening in the slim chance that it helps at least one person not fall for it: Fascism in ANY form will ALWAYS present itself as reasonable to YOUR sensibilities. It preys on a lot of things, your disgust reaction, your fear reaction, your own shame, your need for a tribe, your need to feel like you're part of something bigger than yourself, your need to protect your resources, your need to boost your own ego, your need to feel better than others, and in my opinion, the worst thing of all that it can prey on is your WANT TO DO GOOD. It turns that Want To Do Good against you, gives you "acceptable targets" and sets you loose, thinking that you're being a fucking super hero. Fascism will ALWAYS feel okay when you're doing it because you understand why you're doing it because you've been told why you should be doing it by someone who's fucked the narrative to make you feel good about hurting other people because they've convinced you that you are protecting people by doing it!! Fascism tells you: "The sort of people who value a sex scene in a movie are perverts, and perverts are dangerous, right? Oh god... What if they're a rapist and that's why they like that sort of stuff? Yeah, that trans girl that made that post about movies needing sex scenes... She pisses in a diaper, that's fucking disgusting right? And she likes weird fiction... And diapers are meant for kids... So... Yeah... Exactly, you got it! See you figured out what she was too! So you should trust your gut with these people, you're really good at spotting them! You know when someone is evil! And you DEFINITELY should not listen to a pervert explain themselves, because... Right, exactly, what's the point? They're just going to lie about it and probably say gross shit to you." Did you catch how that worked? It let YOU make the conclusion. It let YOU answer the questions and start setting shit in stone in your own mind. And the next thing you know, you're using fiction as proof, anything outside of your own comfort levels as evidence, you've become an emotionally reactionary fascist who genuinely believes you are making the world better, and safer, for the people you love, and who love you in return. Fascism doesn't begin with violence, it begins with a kind hand held out in your direction from someone else who believes they're helping. You might not even realize you've fucked up. Ever. That's how it works. That's how it thrives.
THIS!!!
Degenerate art - Wikipedia
If we don’t learn from history we are doomed to repeat it.
I'm going to say this knowing that I could get some push back from people who follow me, but if you've fallen into the whole proship/anti-ship discourse and you're on the anti-shipper side of things, then you're on the slide.
You're heading toward that fascist mindset, because the whole purity culture/anti-ship mindset is designed to do specifically that.
It's designed to make you feel like the Good Person doing the Good Things being the Good and Sensible One Standing Against all The Bad Things. And chances are part of it is because someone told you proshippers are pedophiles, or whatever - they might not have even said anything concrete and just let the implication hang there.
I'm not a fan of proship vs antiship just because stuff like that gets distilled down into very simple statements, and oftentimes simplicity loses the plot. But after a couple years I will say seeing "proshippers DNI" in someone's bio will cause me to either block them, or step back from them.
It makes me nervous because even if they're not actively being aggressive, they've got a foot on the slide and that's an easy slip. I've watched too many people go down that slide, and I've had my arm dislocated trying to help some of 'em.
And look, there's assholes everywhere. Every group, every ideal, every nook and cranny you can possibly find for people has assholes. If you're letting the assholes cause you to Other an entire group of people
You're On The Slide.
The sooner you come to terms with that, the sooner you can make changes, the less it's going to suck balls for you and everyone else.
