#but don't attack random people who may be living wildly different lives who *do* enjoy that

[bloodyrakshasi]

I just saw a post that said that fictional characters cannot be abused- they absolutely can. These fictional characters are representations, and the trauma they face can more often than not, in some way or another, be replicated in real life.

On that note, I fully believe in shipping whatever you want to. Why? Because although fictional characters can undergo abuse, they are also not real. If you are shipping abuser x abused irl then yes, we need to have a talk, but in the fictional realm the world's your stage.

I genuinely do not get why people feel the need to police the media that other people consume- that's their own right. I definitely don't agree with certain ships and can't read fanfics of them but how the hell am I supposed to judge someone enjoying that? You know nothing about this person. For all you know, this could be the only light in their life- are you really going to shame someone for having this?

And besides, shipping something problematic is not the cause of problematic behaviour. It never will be. Perhaps it might be the result of it (i disagree, but for argument's sake), and if so, what effect will that ship have on them? It's only a symptom, attacking it will have no effect.

ALSO, how is this any different to the libraries in america banning books?

There's a difference between disliking something and attacking someone. For example, as someone into the grishaverse, I've noticed that a deeply polarising subject is darklina (I don't care about darklina or malina, so consider me a neutral party). Some people like it, some don't. I know people who have gone as far as to block that tag from their dash, which is totally! okay! Encouraged even. But the trouble comes when you attack another person for liking it.

Now that's for consuming, onto producing.

The ethics of fanfiction are wildly different than that of original fiction. Firstly because, as a fanfic author, you are writing for fun. You are not commercialising your craft, which also means you don't have that much of a responsibility towards what you are spreading- it's only going to reach a small percentage of people anyway. This is why published authors get bashed for toxic relationships but fanfic authors generally get a pass for it- because fanfic is primarily for indulgence. It is primarily written "for fun".

(By the way, I don't mean to trivialise fanfiction, i love fanfiction)

This is why if someone ships a problematic ship I will not care. But if this ship becomes/is canon, then I will criticise the author. It's not that deep.

There's a fine line between it's just fiction and let's critique the values and messages this piece of work espouses because it is harmful and fanfiction or any fanwork will lie safely in the territory of the former. Try criticising fanfiction and you will feel like a fool. Why? Because these authors of fanfiction are not making money off of their work. It's that simple.

[onetruesporkbot]

Apparently, to some would-be gatekeeper, snarky criticism of bad writing, and snarky memes emphasizing those criticisms, are equal to death threats against creators.

I got notified by email that I was mentioned by someone I don't know, in this really long post about Tumblr users attacking creators, one of whom, allegedly, made threats against the lives. The post included some my past posts, some written, some photoshopped pictures I made, voicing my displeasure about James Tynion IV and his writing (specifically, how bad it is). The post was...not well structured (which may in part be because of Tumblr's format), and was not easy to read...or skim, for that matter. I don't think it's right to threaten a creator's life, so on that much we agree, but calling me out felt more like...

I don't advocate threatening writers or artists, no matter how much I dislike their work. If I find a severe lack of redeeming qualities about said work, I will point it out. If someone wants to disagree with me, that's fine. But to equate "here's why this comic/writer/retcon/story is total crap" with "GRRRR, ME WISH DEATH ON WRITER ME NO LIKE"...is intellectually dishonest on its face.

The post included "orders" for people to "leave the fandom" and "stop buying comics". Funny, since DC's been certainly inviting me to do so with so many terrible decisions for the past decade. Setting aside the erroneous attempt to command a complete stranger you took no time to genuinely engage with (regardless of what excuses were made), I have every right to share a viewpoint you don't have (or like), even if it's about a creator you enjoy. Plenty of people dislike things I like, I just don't make a crusade about it.

Don't lecture me about "thinking the characters were real" (but sure, if they were real, they'd TOTALLY think the way YOU think they would, and that's not a hypocritical fallacy at all). Someone did a bad job; his work made a poor-but-lasting impact on characters he never seemed to "get" as well as he claimed he did. He had absolutely nothing new to say or do with these characters, and warped them into something barely recognizable. They would be done more justice by abandoning the restrictions of pointless, reductive changes and hollow narrative ploys. One of my favorite characters was done horribly, and kept to a horrible standard, for inexplicable reasons. I've been told "everything's fine, they fixed things," only to find...that's not quite the case. I'm apparently supposed to be wildly impressed by minimal efforts in course correction, and just like something because it alleges to have a character I like, and if I don't like it, don't say anything. But I guess I'm crazy and evil for having a personal investment in a character and CARING ABOUT COHERENCY AND COHESIVENESS IN STORYTELLING AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.

If that's not important to you, random blogger-person, then I can't control that. No more than I can control how you seemed to ignore OTHER posts I made, where I was much more diplomatic. But if you're not going to actually attempt to form a remotely cogent argument, and instead make some "rallying cry" to "kick people out" and lump drastically different approaches together...because you think you make the rules?...then you've already lost whatever argument you started.

I will continue criticizing as much as I please, if the mood strikes me. I will not make or endorse death threats, because I don't approve of such actions. However, if my words get a little...harsh...coarse...vulgar, if you will...that is due to factors that are, frankly, none of your business. You come off as one who, like many I've encountered before, choose not to see beyond their own opinions, and instead pretend to understand the opposing side when they clearly don't. Maybe you wrote this in a particular frenzy of emotion and got carried away (it's happened to me, too). But to suggest some Simpsons images and rehashed memes are the same thing as threatening someone's life? That's when you've need to take a few steps back and reassess.

I don't like the crappy, crappy, terribly awful and crappy reinvention for Cassie Cain. I feel she could be written better without that crappy, crappy, terribly awful and crappy reinvention.

Boo.

Freaking.

Hoo.

James Tynion IV may be a super guy at parties, I don't know. But I find him a barely serviceable writer, most of the time, and pretty bad the rest of the time. That is not me wishing or threatening death on him, or anyone. If you like him, go ahead and like him. Me criticizing HIM is not me criticizing YOU. Anyone criticizing anything you like, is NOT an attack on you.

I challenge you to meditate on that fact.

P.S. I actually haven't used Tumblr much for over a year...haven't much felt like it...but someone went and gave me a reason.