Writing, So As Not To Be Dead

from the second video:

But building on that essay [first video], and what we’ve discussed today as a prime example of a narrative born from the “homophobes are secretly just gay” trope, I want to examine why it’s so resistant to correction, and why people that are otherwise usually media literate and concerned with truth over comforting myths might grab onto this with both hands and refuse to let go. And I'm including myself in this. The first time I heard the Grindr crash thing, I laughed. I'm not coming to you from moral superiority. I'm coming from a position of "I also fell for this and then felt annoyed about it and made it everyone else's problem in the form of a video essay because I think the truth is actually a more effective political weapon than a lie." So why does this work? I think there are four main reasons, ranging from "understandable" to "I'm not sure that's healthy babe." The first reason: yo, it feels good. Queer people are constantly on the receiving end… Of right-wing politics in a material, tangible way. These aren't abstract disagreements. These are people who've campaigned on the premise that your love is invalid, your identity is a disorder, your existence is a threat to children. And when the power imbalance is that stark, there is something extremeeeelllly satisfying about the idea that the oppressor who thinks they are so much better than you is nothing but a fraud. They can’t even meet their own bar for “deserves rights.” It's the political equivalent of "the bully has a crush on you." We're told that story from childhood. So when someone offers an adult, political version, "they're homophobic because they're secretly homosexual", we’re already primed and lubed, and it slides right in to how we understand the world. And suddenly, the power dynamic feels more manageable, they’re just pathetic self-hating gays, I’m not scared of that. It feels good, and it feels true. And that’s the exact kind of story that goes viral, regardless of whether it’s based on evidence.

The "Republicans crash Grindr when they gather" claim has every quality of what misinformation researchers call “sticky”, as in, it’s sticky. It’s sticks to your brain. And it does so, even after you learn the truth. Researchers call this The Continued Influence Effect (CIE). It’s a cognitive phenomenon where misinformation continues to influence a person's reasoning and beliefs even after it has been clearly and credibly retracted. The paper posits that people continue to use misinformation because, on some level, they still feel it is relevant or useful, even if they know it's false. This paper frames this not just as a problem of forgetting the correction or new information, but as a problem where the feeling of familiarity and narrative coherence from the original misinformation overrides the factual knowledge of its retraction. We believe, because it feels true.

Looking for something new to write? Do you like fanfiction and exchanging exciting surprise gifts? Read on!

Expect references to explicit content below. This list is far from comprehensive, so if your favorite event isn’t listed, give it a shoutout in the notes!

Open Now

Falling In Love, an exchange about characters getting together in the fall, is open to signups through July 22nd. Fic, art, and podfic are all options, with the minimums listed at the link.

Five Figure Fanwork Exchange, an exchange for especially long fanworks, is open for tag nominations through July 23rd. It will open to signups on July 26th. Assignments will be due January 27th.

FriendshipEx, an exchange focused on friendship, is open to tag nominations for about sixteen more hours. Signups open July 23rd.

Go Fuck Yourself Flash is a selfcest-centric flash exchange. It’s open to signups through July 25th, with a 500 word minimum.

Noncon Ex, an exchange for explicit works in which one or more characters are forced into nonconsensual sex, is open to signups through July 23rd, with a minimum of 1,000 words or clean lineart on unlined paper.

Pop the Cherry Exchange, an exchange about characters losing their virginities, is open for tag nominations through July 25th and will open to signups July 26th. Minimums are 1,000 words or a sketch on unlined paper.

Ships Crossing, a fic, art, and podfic exchange for crossover and fusion ships, is open for tag nominations now and will open to signups August 8th.

Slice of Femslash, a femslash slice-of-life flash exchange, is in tag nominations now through August 1st, with signups opening August 1st. 500 word minimum.

Thinking of You, an exchange focused on proxy sex, is in tag nominations now through July 24th, with signups opening July 25th. 1,000 word minimum.

Wingfic Exchange is in tag nominations now through July 25th, with signups opening July 25th. Minimums are 500 words or a clean sketch on blank paper.

Treats

Treats are extra fics written just for fun on top of the regular works produced for an event. Some events allow treats to be posted to the collection generally without a specific recipient in mind.

Falling In Love, an exchange about characters getting together in the fall, is open to treats through September 8th. Fic and podfic minimums are 1000 words, and art must be on unlined paper.

Launch The Ship!, a challenge to write for any ship with zero fics, remains open for additional fics until October. This collection has no minimums.

Multifandom Tropefest is open to treats through September 5th. There is no minimum wordcount for fics, and art must be on unlined paper.

Pinch Hits

A pinch hit happens when, for whatever reason, the writer first assigned to a recipient cannot complete their assignment. Sometimes these have more flexible deadlines or length requirements. Pinch hitters do not usually get gifts in return.

Details under the cut.

Paid service with no ads: Well, if they're not funding it with ad revenue, they need to charge us something.

Paid service with ads: Well that's bullshit.

this essay series is old enough to register to vote in the United States, and its author is the same Denise of Dreamwidth who keeps writing new explanations of why KOSA-type regulation of the data thieves will fuck over anybody on the internet who wants to refrain from collecting personal information—for reasons including but not limited to how hackers can't steal and governments can't subpoena data that didn't get collected to begin with—because every time Netchoice sues another government over another KOSA-type law, it is a slightly different law that needs a slightly different explanation of why it is unenforceable for several different pragmatic reasons in addition to being unconstitutional in several different ways

Dreamwidth is still ad-free and venture-capital-free and refusing to do business in jurisdictions that would require it to collect more personal data than it collects now, and therefore Dreamwidth is proof that internet business models do not need and should not have any of ads, venture capital, and data theft; this has been true long enough that my own Dreamwidth account is almost old enough to vote

Looking for something new to write? Do you like fanfiction and exchanging exciting surprise gifts? Read on!

Expect references to explicit content below. This list is far from comprehensive, so if your favorite event isn’t listed, give it a shoutout in the notes!

Open Now

Falling In Love, an exchange about characters getting together in the fall, is open to signups through July 22nd. Fic, art, and podfic are all options, with the minimums listed at the link.

Five Figure Fanwork Exchange, an exchange for especially long fanworks, is open for tag nominations through July 23rd. It will open to signups on July 26th. Assignments will be due January 27th.

FriendshipEx, an exchange focused on friendship, is open to tag nominations for about sixteen more hours. Signups open July 23rd.

Go Fuck Yourself Flash is a selfcest-centric flash exchange. It’s open to signups through July 25th, with a 500 word minimum.

Noncon Ex, an exchange for explicit works in which one or more characters are forced into nonconsensual sex, is open to signups through July 23rd, with a minimum of 1,000 words or clean lineart on unlined paper.

Pop the Cherry Exchange, an exchange about characters losing their virginities, is open for tag nominations through July 25th and will open to signups July 26th. Minimums are 1,000 words or a sketch on unlined paper.

Ships Crossing, a fic, art, and podfic exchange for crossover and fusion ships, is open for tag nominations now and will open to signups August 8th.

Slice of Femslash, a femslash slice-of-life flash exchange, is in tag nominations now through August 1st, with signups opening August 1st. 500 word minimum.

Thinking of You, an exchange focused on proxy sex, is in tag nominations now through July 24th, with signups opening July 25th. 1,000 word minimum.

Wingfic Exchange is in tag nominations now through July 25th, with signups opening July 25th. Minimums are 500 words or a clean sketch on blank paper.

Treats

Treats are extra fics written just for fun on top of the regular works produced for an event. Some events allow treats to be posted to the collection generally without a specific recipient in mind.

Falling In Love, an exchange about characters getting together in the fall, is open to treats through September 8th. Fic and podfic minimums are 1000 words, and art must be on unlined paper.

Launch The Ship!, a challenge to write for any ship with zero fics, remains open for additional fics until October. This collection has no minimums.

Multifandom Tropefest is open to treats through September 5th. There is no minimum wordcount for fics, and art must be on unlined paper.

Pinch Hits

A pinch hit happens when, for whatever reason, the writer first assigned to a recipient cannot complete their assignment. Sometimes these have more flexible deadlines or length requirements. Pinch hitters do not usually get gifts in return.

Details under the cut.

It is a legitimate tactic for defusing a situation that could otherwise escalate to become quite nasty.

The drawing shows a person holding on a bus pole looking worriedly to their left where someone is angrily and aggressively shouting at a muslim person wearing a hijab.

Four panels follow. First says “1. Engage in conversation, sit beside them and say hello. Try to appear calm, collected and welcoming. Ignore the attacker (capitalized)”. It shows the previous character, the bystander, smiling and saying “hi, how are you?” To the muslim person.

Second says “2. Pick a random subject and start discussing it. It can be anything: a movie you liked, the weather, saying you like something they wear and asking where they got it…”. The image shows the bystender sitting next to the woman idly chatting, saying “the weather lately is so… My sister told me about this movie…” The muslim person is smiling while in the foreground, the attacker is fuming, a writing on them says “ignored’

Third says “3. Keep building the safe space. Keep eye contact with them and dont acknowledge the attacker’s presence: the absence from response from you two will push them to leave the area shortly.” The panel shows the bystender and muslim characters talking while the attacker walks away angrily. A text on then says “irrelevant”

Fourth says “4. Continue the conversation until the attacker leaves and escort them to a safe place if necessary. Bring them to a neutral area where they can recollect themselves; respect their wishes if they tell you they’re ok and just want to go.” The panel shows the bystender and muslim characters smiling at each other, with the bystender’s arms around the muslim person’s shoulders.