A couple nights ago I got some disturbing asks. I almost posted them but I already know where they came from and communicated with the source. I went back and forth on whether to say something cause I know what the result will be, but also..if I know what it will be, why not proceed anyway? So, I’m gonna say something I wanted to say for a while. Read it if you have time, or don’t, either way it’s just my peace, never scared of a long rant. Cue the eye rolls, I don’t care. I like to think of it as an op-ed on fandom culture.
I’m never going to regret or apologize for calling out hate. This fandom has been so toxic for so long and that is part of it and if a better environment is to be created, giving certain sentiments platforms in an extreme way isn’t going to make it any better. Excusing it by saying it’s just silly doesn’t work either. And sending crazy asks for a conversation I wasn’t even involved in is evidence of that. Also, I don't condone the types of asks I have received happening to anyone, ever.
Everyone is someone behind the screen, and you can excuse it as being anonymous but we see our own reflection in our phones and I can’t just be complacent in things. I also don’t know how people justify saying certain things even on the internet.
Hate breeds hate. You can’t create a hateful environment and publish anything under a guise of a different point of view and then act surprised when anons run off elsewhere to replicate that sentiment. There is a difference between a different pov and hate. There’s a difference between disappointment and hate. There’s a difference between holding somebody accountable, who has literal evidence of them doing horrible things, and directing that towards someone undeserving. And the “accountability” is often for things that are so far off, I’m afraid of the reality some people live in. The insulting and sometimes dangerous names and statements made with such confidence, those of which are so unnecessary, get thrown around so easily. What is ridiculous is accepting that that’s just how it is and expecting it to just happen and no one who is allowed to talk about the hate or they’re a problem. Or too much. It makes no sense. Because hating someone incessantly is just obsession in another font.
It’s oversimplifying to suggest that people can just stay on their spaces, because hate will infiltrate everywhere. Clearly, because anons feel emboldened to say the the most unhinged things on spaces that aren’t “theirs” anyway, and there is no way to avoid cross-contamination. God forbid if that’s pointed out. It’s also rather troublesome to think anything within hate can be expressed but nothing else. And if people try to point out that hate, they’re somehow in the wrong and yelled at, but the hate is confusedly okay in the first place? It’s so simply odd. And no, pointing out hate is not the same thing as the hate itself. Standing up for yourself is not a problem. If you think this is overdramatic, okay. If it offends you, okay. Anyone can predict how people will respond to things if you’ve been in this fandom from the beginning. I don’t think anybody is going to have a come to Jesus moment and all of a sudden change. I’m over the gaslighting and being told that some people are complying and posting even though they don’t agree, cause there’s “nothing we can do,” while anons are attacking each other and calling each other names. It is wild to claim that we can’t control the narrative when the narrative is created by us and it’s also wild to claim that you don’t control what happens on your blog when you’re literally the owner of it.
As a fandom as a whole, it spreads, regardless, when certain things are tolerated. It gains momentum. And then somebody can feign realizations but if you’re not committed to the outcome of those realizations, they quickly fade and are rendered useless, and it returns to where it was in the first place.
I’m lucky I have a life outside of this and even if I’m okay when I log out, coming into a space that keeps getting more problematic and invasive is endlessly frustrating. And it’s not a secret, or at least it shouldn’t be, that some people are deeply affected to the point of concern. We’ve all seen it. Shoving it off as if it’s nothing and that it should not be taken seriously is also ridiculous because some would argue it’s very serious when it has affected them with death threats (only two months into tumblr I got inducted into this club and am now a 3x member) and other serious, offensive and/or ridiculous allegations, or misinformation spreads because of a (sometimes conveniently intentional) misinterpretation of what has been said and it’s posted with no proper context or thought. Or someone decides a non-descriptive post was about them which offsets a slew of very strange interactions and dms and more accusations.
It is easy for anons to feel it is silly when they are not on the receiving end. It’s easy to pass it off as “nothing.” It’s a classic deflection. But this does move into real life for some, especially when it is being encouraged or championed to bring up topics from “silly” tumblr to people in real life as if it’s okay. Hate being defended and broken up into categories as if any hate is better than another and accepted as normal, is one of the most wild concepts and why this fandom has become what it has. But people want to hate. They want to have an outlet for whatever is going on within their own life and release that hate, and so they will excuse it to the deaths. So here we are, still. Asks growing in the inbox day by day make some feel all mighty and powerful which is only worsened by the anonymity the admin has as well. People can claim to be anything, have any degree, or any intel, which isn’t necessarily inherently problematic, but in this context because some will foam at the mouth at the thought, they will continue to post it no matter the content. That feeling gets addictive for some.
These problems speak to humans, way beyond what or who is any singular focus of a fandom.
I don’t care about being popular. I never have. OGs know me from being a mere commenter where I also combatted misinformation and hate. It’s nothing new. I have no other agenda attached to this, so I don’t need to keep a following. My ego is also not dependent on it. I’m not going to let any ask go through and create a hateful environment to keep any of those followers. It’s insane to think all this chatter can’t be defended. I don’t regret making a blog, even though sometimes I have considered it, because I got a lot of answers to a lot of questions that I had before making my own space. And there have been people I have really enjoyed “meeting.” They kept me going when things got weird. And some good things have happened personally too.
Anyone who has reached out over the past several months, mostly private, understandably so (save for one, publicly, who is probably the only one who read this 🙌 as I’m sure many said ‘I’m not reading all that’) to share they also have this sentiment generally but also to those who expressed they are afraid to speak on it, I’ll be the punching bag for you, gladly. A thanks for stopping by.