If you are willing to hear a counterpoint on the whole Glen and Gigi debacleā¦
When you said that people who didnāt feel like itās right to gossip about it were āholier than thouā or something like that, you effectively started to create a division in the fandom, whether you intended to do it or not. The ācoolā ones, who are on board with making those assumptions, and the āsquareā ones who donāt want to take part in any of it. Us versus them. Take it or leave it.
And yeah ādonāt take fandom too seriouslyā and yeah āGlen and Gigi people we donāt and will likely never knowā, but the fact is that Glenās fandom exists and itās generally a great place to be. You are a rather big part of that fandom. I donāt know how many followers you have, but Iād bet itās a good number, and deservedly so. You are a great author, and youāre also known for your generosity in sharing specific Navy knowledge that none of us have. Iāve seen you answer so many questions in such a detailed manner, itās amazing.
So when people like you, with a perceived positive influence over the fandom, starts mocking āthe other sideā of it, itās not good for anyone. The ones who side with you get lit up, for sure; but the others have probably gotten tired of it at this point and will start disengaging, unfollowing, blocking, if they havenāt already.
Is it really worth it? Perhaps thatās what Iām asking. Is it worth starting, and insisting on, a rift in an otherwise healthy fandom for something so⦠idk, inconsequential?
So I let this sit in my inbox for a little bit because 1. Work has exploded over the last week, not sure if youāve been tracking the news and 2. I wanted to make sure I was reading this correctly and could find the time and correct mental space to give it a fair shake. Iām always willing to hear other perspectives, though I donāt think that necessarily means I need to adjust my own opinions to align with them. That all being said:
1. Iām not sure why youāre saying that I created division in the fandom by saying that people were acting holier than thou - if you look through the asks I received, that ādivisionā was clearly already there.
My first post ever about this was me asking what was going on, because I hadnāt had the time to piece together everything. I received a few answers from people generally going over the timeline. Then, the first post I disagreed with was this one, where I felt like I was pretty polite in my disagreement when I talked about public figures and the expectations surrounding celebrities and those in the public eye. Disagreement doesnāt equal division. The first instance of someone personally attacking me was this one, where they said:
āPeople like you will find any excuses to gossip about those who don't even care about your existence.ā
The phrase āpeople like youā already created a division, so Iām not sure where *I* personally created or āinsistedā on ādivision in the fandom.ā Even then, I felt I was very reasonable in my response, when I said I didnāt understand why they were so upset as it was very literally the definition of a celebrity, and gossip has been around for millennia.
The first time that I ever mentioned anyone acting āholierā than others was this one:
āPeople who don't care simply don't care, whether it's her or him. Personally I don't give a shit if he or she cheated since it doesn't affect me. I like Glen's acting, I don't care about Gigi since she doesn't do anything interesting and that's that.ā
That, in my personal opinion, very much places whoever that anon was in a virtue-signaling status, and I also felt it was inappropriate to say that they ādonāt care about Gigiā because supposedly ā[Gigi] doesnāt do anything interesting and thatās that,ā as if it was a fact.
Youāve mentioned that I was āmocking the other side of it,ā but I really do not see where I was doing that. You may be referring to these two posts here and here: where Iāll admit, I did get a little sassy, but it was in response to the personal attacks. At no point in any of my answers prior did I ever say anything about āthe other sideā or āmockā anyone.
āI literally said that Gigi doesn't do anything that interests ME. She doesn't create anything, why should I care? I also don't give a shit about Glen's family. I just think you're all pathetic dicks for making up shit and getting excited over famous people problems.ā
āThe fact that you came back just to help spread rumors and speculation about Glenās private life and relationships by tagging everything to his tag just screams attention seeking. You crave all these anonymous responses cos you know people love drama. You clearly donāt care that youāre helping to spread dirt to his name. Such a shameful online behaviour. Especially if youāre an adult. And to think I previously had respect for you from your previous contributions to the tgm fandom. Sad.ā
I mentioned this before in my previous posts and answers, but this isnāt my first rodeo with the Glen Powell fandom, which I personally believe gets more toxic by the day. When Devotion was being released, I posted my thoughts and reviews about the movie in advance, as I was lucky to attend a few early screenings due to my connections with DoD/Navy. Many of my criticisms were genuine, and anyone whoās been following me for a while could probably tell you that I love the source material and it was my most anticipated movie of the year. Even then, I received anon asks criticizing me for ādestroying the fandomā and being ātoxicā and āruining Glenās career.ā Someone literally said that Tom Hudner and Jesse Brown would be disappointed in me, an ask I had to delete because of how absolutely insane it was. Itās very similar to whatās happened now. I donāt believe that you mean any ill-intent by your ask, but it seems like itās now turned from toxic, personal attacks to trying to guilt me somehow for stoking division. Disagreement is not division, and if there was division, I guarantee it was there before I personally started asking questions. Frankly, I will stand by my opinion that Iāve remained fairly neutral and have publicly stated my doubts on some of the more far-fetched rumors. That is not āstartingā or āinsistingā on ādivisionā.
2. Youāve used my āroleā in the fandom to justify why I shouldnāt behave a certain way, and aside from all the reasons that Iāve listed out above showing that I didnāt behave that way in the first place, I donāt think my follower count has anything to do with - well, frankly, anything. I didnāt ājoinā the Glen Powell fandom, there was never a membership card or a terms of agreement. I started writing and posting on here for fun, I engaged with other people for fun, I read other peopleās works and support them for fun. I didnāt realize that by posting Hangman imagines and fics that Iād somehow signed up for not being able to express my (what I believe to be reasonably neutral) opinions without being criticized for āmocking the other side of the fandomā and stoking ādivision.ā The craziness and hypocrisy of it all is that these criticisms are coming from people who insist on Glen Powellās ability to do whatever he wants and his need for privacy, while there seem to be no limitations on personal attacks on me or expectations of how I conduct myself. I am not a public figure, but Glen Powell is.
Sorry for the long answer, but hopefully that answered your ask sufficiently and proved that I did give your opinion due consideration, though ultimately I disagree with it. Frankly, I think everyone is overreacting. Iāve said it before, but my opinion is that something likely happened between Gigi and Glen, that calls for privacy and for gossip to stop are unrealistic given the role gossip plays in human society and the expectations of celebrities in Hollywood, and that I havenāt seen any actual evidence of infidelity. I donāt want to wave my āfree speechā banner around because this isnāt a First Amendment scenario, but I frankly do not understand why or how the āfandomā is at a point where if someone says those above things, that has somehow created a civil war. If thatās the case, that a few answers from me specifically āstartedā and āinsisted onā this so-called rift, I donāt believe that the fandom is as āhealthyā as you say it was.
And sorry if you thought my quotes and hyperlinks were overboard, but if anyoneās going to come for my character, Iām going to have receipts.