JustAFriend

“Yes, Norman, I’ve had a cocktail…of a uniquely celebratory nature.”

Donuts and Diners

This little campaign was born out of a very specific need within a specific fandom. The situation with Lindsey Shaw, no matter what her political opinion, should never be tolerated. She is a human being who has clearly been dealing with some internal battles and she deserves support, not harassment. Beyond that though, fans within this community have dealt with some form of bullying for quite some time and this seemed like a good moment to take a stand against it. 

Other than the basic concept of fans coming together to support a worthwhile cause, I’m not sure what one has to do with the other? Or why raising money for a charity is something to be derided? 

Paige McCullers is a girl who represents so many people in this world. People that have fallen down and wanted to never get up again, to not even want attempt to push themselves up off the ground and keep moving, but then just before it was too late realized that it was actually worth fighting for. That giving up and giving in to the people who hurt you and tell you that you’re not enough aren’t worth a damn. That giving up wasn’t the right choice. Paige was pushed and bullied,  yes bullied even though I know there are those out there who want to make every and any excuse in the world to defend their evil leader, but it’s true. She was bullied and pushed to the brink of suicide but she survived. She managed to push herself up from the ground and keep on moving. She got stronger, braver and showed more strength, integrity and growth than any other person on that show and she got the girl that she had always dreamed of having. It didn’t work out in the end, but that’s okay. Cause all of those things made her better, made her stronger and gave the life she had wanted to no longer live at one point so much more meaning.

And you know why? You know why Paige felt real and why she’s someone that so many people, myself included,  have connected with and fallen in love with? Because of Lindsey Shaw. Because despite the lack of effort the writers put into her character half the time Lindsey fucking nailed every performance that she was given on that show. She brought Paige to life in a way that nobody else could have and in a way the writers didn’t even expect her to, which is why they brought her back in the first place. Because she made Paige who she was. Brave, strong, caring and the kind of person that you’d want by your side as a friend or girlfriend.

Paige left the show and my interest in it left with her and honestly, I couldn’t be happier about that. Especially when I see how certain people in this show’s fandom behave. I’ve seen some bad stuff. I’ve seen disgusting, hateful and just downright degrading comments posted left and right over the past several years by fans of this show who didn’t like Paige for the simple fact that they wanted a different ship. So for years on end now Lindsey has been harassed on every social media account she has on a daily basis. And to all of the people who want to say it’s only one or two people I call major bullshit. It’s far, far many more people and it would literally take months and months of me sitting behind my computer for all hours of the day to gather all of the hateful comments that have been posted to her twitter and Instagram for no reason at all but to be rude and hateful to her because she played a part in a show that you didn’t like, but fortunately for me I don’t have that luxury to stare into my computer screen all day long like some people do. But it’s not hard to go see for yourself. I mean, it’s literally just about every tweet or picture she’s ever posted and you’ll see the ‘Pigskin’ and the ‘Your ugly ’ and of course ‘Emison’ I mean…really? Is that truly necessary to do that to her on a daily basis? She hasn’t even been on the show in over a fucking year. But none of that even compares to what I saw last night.

You all know what I’m talking about and the fact that NOBODY on this show has ever truly addressed this matter, in the past or even now at all, makes me that much more relieved that I am no longer apart of it’s audience. For someone to actually try and set up a RT session for Lindsey Shaw to kill herself is by far the most foul thing that I have ever witnessed in any show’s fandom. Plus the fact that people, sixteen people I believe, actually went and did in fact retweet it….really? And what for? Cause you thought it’d be funny? Because you think she deserves it because she portrayed a character that you didn’t like? Because that character had the potential to come in between your little fantasy fictional ship? Cause that’s what it is, okay? Emison, Paily, Emara, Ezria, Spoby, Haleb and whoever the fuck else there is…are fictional couples.

They’re. Not. Real.

I am a big Paily fan but at the end of the day i know they’re nothing more than a fictional couple. They’re not real, even as much as I have connected with them and they feel real to me, I know they’re not. I know Paige isn’t real even though I relate so much to her. They’re just made up characters in a TV show. 

Lindsey Shaw however, is REAL. She is a REAL human being with a REAL life and REAL feelings.

Get what I’m saying?

Then…Lindsey responded to the asshole who sent her the tweet and said that she had in fact attempted suicide a few months ago and I found that utterly heartbreaking. The same as I would for anybody. Anyone that gets to that point in their life when the only thing that they believe will make things better is to give up and end their life is a feeling nobody should ever have to deal with. And given the amount of love, support and kindness that Lindsey has shown to so many people, how much help she has offered people and fans not only in her portrayal of Paige, but just in general over the past several years since she got involved with PLL, it was sad for me to think that she had reached such low a point in her life. And while many of her fans were quick to send her well wishes and love to stay strong and know that people do care about her…others were more worried about things. Like their ship not happening now because one of their members started the RT thing. And again…really? That’s all you care about?

Fuck your ship. Fuck ALL the ships. Again, they’re not real but Lindsey is.

Whether you’re a fan of hers or not, the fact that you’re more concerned about your fandom being punished in the end over the value of another person’s life is just astonishing to me. The fact that you think your ship not being together in the end of a stupid TV show would suck more than Lindsey losing her life is despicable.