the stars are yuri

This is what Roerich's paintings look like:

I finally got around to making this since its all i can think about every time i see this scene xD

Once again. I can understand the kneejerk impulse here, I do. It sucks to imagine, say, a creator scrolling online coming across some needlessly vitriolic post about something they worked on. But anyone is allowed to go "That's dickish" and move on, or people can engage with "I think this is oversimplified blah blah" if they want to but at the end of the day it isn't some kind of crime against the hobby or a fandom or even a singular person if someone just shoots off "This sucked I wasted my night" in their own accounts.

Like. A lot of people are trending towards thinking I'm talking about the importance of constructive criticism and like, sure, I think that is probably a more interesting avenue of analyzing something's flaws, but once again if you're not like, addressing an artist or interested in doing a deep dive that doesn't mean you're Not Allowed to be flippant or quick to judge. It's kind of startling how many times I've seen someone be like, "I can't stand this album" on their blogs, untagged, had that shit shared, only for it to come across someone's feed and for them to respond with "Why? What's wrong with it? People are allowed to like it, why are you being so negative, why are you tearing people down for no reason, this isn't even real critique," as though the intention in the first place ever was or ought to have been substantive critique in the first place.

OK sometimes you don't like a certain art style. That's fine. Doesn't mean the art is bad, it's just not to your tastes.

That doesn't give you the right nor even a reason to be a dick on the Internet because you don't like something. If you want to be a dick, do it to someone who has time and energy to give it back. Because at that point you deserve shit in return.

If someone is outright asking for constructive criticism, that still doesn't give you the chance to be a dick. It means they want help learning something they're putting time and effort into.

Why do I need a "right" or "reason" to post anything online? Why is it that my enjoyment of something is intrinsically justifiable, but my lack of enjoyment requires justification? And based on whose standards? If I can thoughtlessly tweet out a "This album rocks," without expecting people who hate it to demand a longform review from me to explain my enjoyment, I'm not sure I understand why I can't say "This album sucks" without having to go into the trenches about its positive qualities and negative ones. Why do I need to formulate every opinion I have in the form of an art school critique addressing nobody at all?

Why can praise be thoughtless but criticism must, at all costs, be formulated in art school constructive form in case the creator happens to see it and get their feelings hurt or a fan finds it harmful? Particularly when someone could very well have their feelings hurt by thoughtless praise of something as well! I'm not even trying to claim a more substantive form of criticism isn't more interesting or more valuable for one's interpretive abilities. I just think this notion that there is a moral obligation in all online spaces-- no matter how siloed-- to tiptoe around the potential hurt feelings of a hypothetical audience that may or may not even be courted, is at best stultifying for any real plurality of opinion and at worst enabling people whose insecurities about their own hobbies lead them to confidently dictate what people say in whatever passes for privacy in an online space nowadays.

I dunno, I've read works of brutal polemic that I've found immensely creatively engaging, thoughtful, and substantial in its knowledge of a particular form or medium. I've read works of praise I've found miserably trite. Why is the former not allowed to exist because of its dickishness? Why is the latter beyond critique itself?

Why do you think someone being a dick is "expecting" someone to listen to your opinions? Why do you think that person is "expecting" any sort of audience at all? I am critiquing the inherent assumption that people who are "rude," however this is defined (and I believe it is ill-defined specifically because so much of this is conflated with whose feelings are hurt rather than the actual substance of whatever hypothetical comment is centered here), are by necessity addressing a creator or their fans, and have repeatedly emphasized in multiple places that there is a difference between approaching someone and insulting their tastes and creations versus airing an opinion in the (admittedly, increasingly decreasing) privacy of an online space.

thhis polll is nuts to me bc in 2020 during the portland wildfires and the pre vaccine era of the pandemic, i tried to sign up for a "mutual aid n95 giveaway" list, via my twitter account, and they banned me for having an anime girl pfp (it was rakka from haibane renmei) and having a locked account (i had a job and was closeted). i messaged them like "is there any way i can appeal this?" and they said "no" because apparently my anime girl icon and locked account meant i was either "fash or a creep or both." anyway they approved my roommates so they both got n95s but didn't share them with me. because i had an anime girl icon on twitter and didn't want my boss to find out i was trans.

Even if someone is into lolicon/shotacon it does not mean they are a dangerous person or undeserving of support. it does not mean everything they do needs extreme scrutiny. And it does not mean they are evil rapists who need to be culled. We can no longer give ground to the idea that the media you watch (or even the porn you jack off to) is somehow an indicator of your propensity towards abusing anybody. We can no longer give ground to the idea that it is ok to harass, stalk, and ostracize people because they are watching an 'icky' cartoon, and that this poll is simply 'choosing it's targets wrong'

Nobody can stop you from thinking something is gross, but let's stop pretending that this is anything besides base disgust masquerading as "concern about CSA/rooting out pedophiles" like. Truly nobody who wants to "root out pedophiles" is doing anything to actually help victims of CSA, or examining the conditions that lead to CSA occurring. They are making bullshit like the poll in the screenshot. They are organizing harassment campaings and creating blogs dedicated to stalking trans women, they are getting trans women term'd and often much worse.