#important issue

User inflnite-survivor-choco has resorted to encouraging their followers to send strobe gifts to people in the epileptic tags. The "rape imagery" in question was an edit of their comfort character tied into Christianity, which they have childhood trauma associated with. However they are dragging innocent people in this tag, who were never initially involved in the situation, into this.

Please be careful, everyone. This is not the first time they've encouraged their followers to send strobes.

Right. So. The topic I want to talk about is the topic of disliking characters. It’s always been a controversial topic but I just want to talk about it for a bit. I am in no way trying to change anyone’s opinion on any character, I only intend to bring awareness to spreading hatred and unkindness in relation to these characters.

Let’s start with talking about disliking characters. Everyone relates to different characters and enjoys some more than others. That’s totally understandable! Some characters may have done terrible things and that’s why we don’t like them, they may just not gel with you and that is completely fine. You don’t need to give a reason for disliking a character. However on the flip side of that, no one has to give a reason for liking a character. It may be a character that many many people hate eg Jace Herondale, but that still doesn’t mean that somebody who likes them has to justify it. Let’s use Jace as an example. Let’s say that somebody likes him and his character. They DO NOT have to explain why. Adding to that, they CANNOT be branded as somebody who ‘only likes straight white males who have daddy issues’ or something of that variety (unless there is blatant discrimination shown from that person against other sexualities, races, religions etc). You do not know why somebody likes a character and therefore cannot go around assuming that somebody is discriminatory. What if the person relates to that character? What if they see themself in that character? What if they have grown with that character? You don’t know how someone feels about a character therefore you can’t go around assuming things like that. Key word being assume - don’t think that you know it all because most likely, you don’t.

Now that we understand that, let’s talk about the hatred. There is so much bloody hatred in this fandom and I’m kind of sick of it. Let’s say you don’t like a character. That’s fine! That’s completely fine. Do you know what’s not fucking fine? Shitting on that character. Filling tags full of hatred. I understand that you may severely dislike a character but that doesn’t mean that you should go around upsetting those who do and making them feel bad for liking that character. A friend of mine has been told many times to ‘find a new favourite character’. Excuse me? Who gave you the right to say that? Who gave you the right to come and decide who somebody should like or not like?

Have none of y’all heard the saying ‘If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say it’?

Yes, fandoms are a place to discuss and a place to find others who think the way you do, but it is NOT a place where you can come to upset other people’s fandom experience and make them feel guilty for liking somebody. Going back to Jace, some of you are so, so hyprocritical. Alastair made mistakes when he was young but he’s grown from it. The fandom accepts that and wants him to grow. Will made mistakes and grew from them. The fandom accepts that and loves him. Grace made many mistakes. We don’t know if she’ll be redeemed. Some of the fandom (coincidentally some who hate Jace), have decided that all is forgiven and that she should be shown all the love and should be wrapped in a blanket. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying any of those characters shouldn’t be loved by the fandom. Again, it’s up to personal preference. But can you see the hypocrisy here? Jace made mistakes. He grew. But here the fandom thinks ‘I pretend I do not see it’. Some of you still call him homophobic. Tell me something. Would a homophobic man happily walk his (male) parabatai down the aisle to marry another GUY? Would he? I think you’ll find the answer is no. Jace happily walked his parabatai down the aisle to marry a guy. He is not homophobic. So... y’all see what I’m saying here right? We can’t make others feel guilty for liking a character that everyone hates even though they have the same redemption arc as others who everyone loves. Again, I’m not trying to change anyone’s opinion, I’m just trying to shed light onto why hating and making others feel guilty is NOT okay.

Overall I just want to say, like the characters you want to like. Dislike the characters you want to dislike. But please, for the love of God, be KIND about it. There are ways to discuss subjects without making others feel guilty for liking something/someone or spreading lots and lots of hate on them.

You bring up a really great point! It’s far easier to select “vibes” accurately rather than the author’s envisioned appearances of the characters because media is currently quite white-washed, and yes, it is still fun!

Tamsyn Muir explained in this post that she imagined some characters to be Middle Eastern, Pasifika, Tongan, Samoan, Chinese, and of course, Māori. Only seven of the necros or cavs in GtN were Pākehā/white, which is less than half! Still, it’s understandable to see inaccurate fan art because not every reader will find the author’s unpublished commentary.

- If you are NOT a POC, you cannot deem something as ‘not racist’

- If you are NOT LGBTQ+, you cannot deem something as ‘not homophobic’

- If you are NOT Muslim, you cannot deem something as ‘not Islamophobic’

- If you are NOT disabled, you cannot deem something as ‘not ableism’

IT IS NOT A HARD CONCEPT TO GRASP.

IF A POC SAYS SOMETHING IS RACIST, LISTEN TO THEM. IF SOMEONE IN THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY SAYS SOMETHING IS HOMOPHOBIC, LISTEN TO THEM. IF A MUSLIM SAYS SOMETHING IS ISLAMOPHOBIC, LISTEN TO THEM. IF A DISABLED PERSON SAYS SOMETHING IS ABLEISM, LISTEN TO THEM.

+ Bonus

If people who have faced discrimination in the past eg the LGBTQ+ community when CC was saying that Magnus is pansexual and not bisexual etc, are unhappy about an issue, as someone who is not part of that community, you have NO RIGHT to tell that community to ‘stop holding grudges’ or ‘get over it’ or that the author has ‘grown’/‘progressed’. Especially when said author continues to discriminate eg when CC sent out that tweet, the fetishising tweet. To the people not part of the communities being discriminated against: YOU DID NOT FACE DISCRIMINATION. YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TELL THE PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY HOW TO FEEL.

If you are also in the community being discriminated against and you forgive the author, DO NOT FORCE THAT ONTO OTHERS. They are valid for being upset. They are valid for not forgiving the author. Do not guilt them into forgiving them. Do not make them feel silly for ‘holding a grudge’. You cannot force your opinion on others by guilting them into it.

So. We all need to sit and have a chat. The TSC fandom is OUT OF CONTROL. I’m serious ok? It’s out of the control. When I came to Tumblr thinking yay a way to enjoy fandoms and make friends, I didn’t expect to be witnessing ship wars and fights and arguments on every corner I turned to. I’m sure a lot of people agree to be honest.

So many big fandoms can control their issues, but the TSC fandom? No, it’s unheard of, uncalled for, unseen. Some of you, in my opinion, are just looking to fight over anything. Be it a ship, a character, ANYTHING. Yes, there are issues, and yes they should be addressed, but not like this! Not in a way where people don’t want to come to Tumblr anymore because it’s just fighting and ship wars.

Some of you are really turning the TSC part of Tumblr into TikTok and Instagram. When you go to Instagram what do you see? Fights and arguments. What do you see when you go to TikTok? Horrible comments and arguments. That’s what the TSC fandom has become. Just think for a second. That’s not ok.

There’s been a big rise in hate anons and ship wars. Let me just say, hate anons ARE NOT OK. They never have been, never will be. It’s cowardice and just horrible. Why bring someone’s day down? And why do it with a mask on?

A second thing is the ship wars. They are NOT OK. You can ship whatever you want (as long as it isn’t incest, pedophilia etc) and no one is allowed to judge you for it. No one can stop you. But why do some of you feel the absolute, unsatisfied need to projectile dump your feelings about a ship, onto someone else? It’s not funny, it’s not clever. It’s just petty. Another thing, bashing and belittling another ship to make yours seem better is NOT THE WAY TO GO. AT ALL. Don’t do it. (For example: the Thomstair vs Arianna ship war. Some of you belittled Thomstair by saying hOw diD yOu gUyS sEe tHe loVe?? and some of you belittled Arianna. That is NOT ok. Why can’t we just enjoy what we’ve been given and agree that both ships have little page time? Why can’t we all stand together? Side note - I’m not blaming either party here you were both in the wrong). For some people, ships are very important to them so you can’t go around bashing other ships because it can really hurt some people’s feelings. It’s not right. Some of you definitely need to pull up your big people pants and start respecting people and discussing things properly and kindly or just not discussing them at all. Key word here: DISCUSS. Not yell, not bash, not argue, not fight. DISCUSS.

Another thing. Some people just come here to complain. I understand that the lack of WLW relationships is wrong and the treatment of POC characters is wrong. I really do understand that. But if you want a WLW main ship, why don’t you read a book with a WLW main ship? Those do exist. I know they’re in the minority but they do exist. So instead of complaining and complaining, why don’t you find a book with a WLW main ship so you can feel repsresented, but also stay in the TSC fandom if you enjoy the stories or certain characters? I’ll give you some example WLW main ship books: Huntress, Annie on my Mind, Ash, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, A Line in the Dark, You Should See Me In A Crown. Those are a few I know of, sorry if they’re not your type of book. Anyway, so before any of you come at me and say wHaT WLW mAiN sHiP bOoKs? I’ve given you some examples. I know WLW is very much a minority in books and that should be addressed but please can people stop complaining and complaining about it. I understand that it’s a pain when in a book series you love, you can barely relate, but there’s so many books out there that you can relate to! It just gets overwhelming to see post after post after post shipping non cannon WLW ships to a point where it’s just kind is strange? (Eg Tessa x Jessamine - Jessamine liked her brother?). Honestly, I don’t mind people shipping the ships they love but please don’t force the opinion onto others. I’ve seen that when someone says something like what I’ve said, people jump down their throats and accuse them of not liking WLW. I like girls as well ok? So please don’t come at me.

Honestly just why do some of you feel the need to fight and argue and complain? Why can’t you use Tumblr for what it was intended for? A platform for fandoms and fun. Not a war site for animosity and hate towards others. I honestly feel like a parent having to put some of you in line, with this post. I hate doing this but someone had to say it. Sorry if I’ve offended anyone on my rant but the TSC fandom is out of control, and Tumblr just isn’t the same anymore. It’s not fun and it makes people scared to go into the fandom. It’s at the point now where I come onto Tumblr and straight away just think, ‘What ship war is it today?’ or Whatever argument is it today?’.

Please don’t make the TSC fandom toxic and a horrible space to be in - if you are going to argue with someone, just a take a moment and think ‘Is it worth it? Is it worth creating all this tension and animosity and upset?’ I think you’ll find the answer is no.

So we all need to sit down and have a chat. The TSC fandom physically makes me want to cry sometimes. At this moment in time, I am this close to deleting all my content and leaving the TSC fandom. Have a look at this:

Now I wonder......what post may the first picture be for? Real content? An important issue being addressed?

No. It’s a MEME. A bloody meme which took me about 5 minutes to make.

Now what might type of post may the second picture be for?

Well let me tell you. It’s a content post which took me 5 DAYS to make. 5 days. I spent 5 days making it for it to get 270-ish notes. Yes, this sounds like a lot and no I’m not just complaining for myself. This is an issue which needs to be addressed because for some reason some of you still haven’t gotten the memo. 270 notes sounds like a lot right? Well compare it to 700+ notes. 700+ notes for a MEME. In my opinion, that’s out of order. It’s not fair, it’s not right.

Content creators spend days and weeks making their content. If you haven’t noticed, that’s a LONG time. They spend all that time making content for it to get at the most maybe 500 notes? That is not ok. Content creators spend their time making things for the fandom. They do it by choice. They decide that they want to entertain and make others happy and so they make content for the fandom. Is the way to repay them? By giving a meme they made in 5 minutes more spotlight than a post which took them weeks to make?

It’s demotivating as hell. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: this isn’t TikTok or Instagram y’all. This isn’t the place where funny videos are the ones with the most likes. This is Tumblr. This is a place MADE for fandoms and made for content. But no. It’s become a place where memes have dominated and real content sits there, gathering dust, going completely unnoticed. It’s so disheartening and discouraging.

I’ll give you an example. I spent a week making a content post. Did I post it when I finished it? No. It spent a week sitting in my drafts because part of me knew that at the most it would get 200 notes. An idea which I love and really enjoyed bringing to life would barely get any attention because ‘Oh look haha a hilarious meme’.

Do y’all see what I’m getting at here? Content creators are discouraged to the point where they want to delete all their content and just pack it up and leave. Can we blame them? No. They spend time and effort making things and it goes unnoticed.

Another point: to those of you who take content for granted, here’s an idea. Why don’t you make some content. Why don’t you write a fic or draw something? Why don’t you make an edit? Why don’t you make some content that you’ve worked hard on, to see that your efforts go unnoticed because everyone’s too busy looking at a meme? Yeah. It hurts. You don’t realise it until you’re in that situation.

Overall I just want to say: TSC fandom get your shit together. Forget the memes and the shitposts, boost the content. Boost the art and the edits and the fics. Not the memes which took around 5 minutes to make. The TSC fandom has become notorious for reblogging memes but not content and we need to stop. Reblog that fic, reblog that piece of art, reblog that edit. Yes, appreciate the memes but always remember that that’s not what’s holding the fandom together. Start appreciating content because before long there’s not going to be any content left for you to appreciate.