#but seriously dont put content creators on pedestals

[thechekhov]

👌Content™

[damnfandomproblems]

https :// www. tumblr.com/damnfandomproblems/703405919773589504/i-think-that-whats-not-being-considered-is-that?source=share this is fair but yall are missing the point unless it is important to the story THE PLOT UNLESS IT IS SOMETHING THAT IS ABSOLUTELY NESESSARRY race, ethnicity, nationality whatever does not matter its all just a side bit of information that you do not need to know say you in a high-school of somewhere and you go on a fieldtrip (like a filler episode of an anime or something) and you go explicitly to learn about a different culture or people than your own. while to many these people seem the same this would be an excellent time to explain the differences between the two as a sort of educational episode. to show off lesser known cultures and people or its important lore that two or more different groups are opposing each other and its important the reader knows the difference between the two or more. but this is not necessary in EVERY story. sure it could be a fun little trivia information sometimes. a passing comment from a character like "wow you know seem to know so much about this stuff!" "yeah! i lived there most of my childhood i picked up a few things" and its not really that important other than that. i mean seriously how important to you is it that you know the exact details of what people are in real life. how often do you ask your coworkers or peers or whatever exactly where they are from or what they are besides maybe sometimes in small talk? if it is often why? why is that the only thing you care about? if an author wants to include that information that's perfectly fine. its also fine for you to want more representation either or yourself or to learn about others. but here something yall need to learn. content creators are not your personal entertainment making slaves that you get to order around. all these anime and manga yall consume were not made for you. they are people and they make content for themselves. they are making content because THEY enjoy it. its not their RESPONSIBILITY to provide representation for you. yall seem to think that whatever you want should be served to you on a silver platter. no. what you get is what other people decided to make and share on the internet. either have the money to commission someone or make the content yourself. as a content creator myself we are not your slaves. we work for ourselves, not you. your allowed to enjoy or hate our content, but you don't get to demand or dictate what we should or allowed to make. if someone hasn't made something to your liking then make it yourself. if you want a story about a certain thing then MAKE IT. we arent fucking machines. we are real people just like you so start treating us like it. you like "slice of life" over "action"? then you would create "slice of life". but someone else enjoys "action" over "slice of life"? but you want them to make "slice of life"? too fucking bad. they aren't interested and you dont get a say in what they make. its the same with race. or any other topic. you wouldnt create "action" over "slice of life" because it doesn't interest you so why would you force someone to do something they have no interest in. race is not as important as yall think it is and you need to stop putting it on some pedestal. I don't understand why this even needs to be explained. yall really act like its the end of the world because the content you want isnt being created and served to you within seconds. i cant believe yall act like its actually a fucking problem that some races and cultures aren't being constantly talked about in entertainment media. especially in media where it hold no importance to a story. this is not the big important problem yall think it is and it could be solved very quickly if yall would just start making content yourselves instead of expecting everyone else to do it for you its baffling. sorry again for the long ask

This is the ask the anon is responding to.

[transbian-technoblade]

TL;DR: CCs are people. They should not be the face of your activism. Stop trying to make them into that. You are actively fucking over actual minorities and social movements and cheapening the value of allyship by doing so.

See, twitter is obsessed with this idea that as long as you say the right things, you’re an unpromblematic king whom we stan. But if you say the wrong things, you’re the spawn of hell and you must secretly hate all minorities and want them dead. On the face of it this is very obviously performative activism. It’s specifically what I like to call “trans rights!” politics. See, the whole “can you say trans rights” meme originated with people poking fun at someone who earnestly said (paraphrased) “I would be so happy if Joe Biden just said “Trans rights!”” Of course leaving out the part where Biden actually does anything to give trans people human rights. They would say things like “I would be so happy if Markiplier just said trans rights”, as if that would constitute actual support for trans people. And people started using that meme seriously as a way to gauge whether or not someone is transphobic. I get wanting to feel validated and safe by your favorite CC, but you can’t just expect them saying a thing that’s incredibly easy to say and the barest possible minimum for allyship and just take it at face value. And this is where the deeper problem comes in, something that many young activists, especially on twitter, have forgotten:

It was never about intent.

Lets use Donald Trump as an extreme example. So let’s say that everything Trump has ever said on tv was a lie. Deep down, he knows that systemic oppression exists and must be dismantled and has some amount of sympathy for minorities. But as soon as he goes on television he lies about his beliefs saying that racism is actually good and other such bullshit. It doesn’t matter whether or not he believes what he’s saying. The material reality is that he’s inspired people who truly do hold those beliefs to be more comfortable expressing them, both verbally and physically. He has caused material harm to people of color, regardless of whether he believes what he says or not. Racism is not a thing that people are, it’s a system which all white people take part in, knowing or not.

When a CC messes up and says or does the wrong thing, yes, it doesn’t matter if it was just a mistake, but it also doesn’t matter if that makes them secretly evil within their heart or whatever. What matters is that they can be educated, learn from their mistakes, and have the room to grow, because it means that other people who aren’t CCs will be given that opportunity too. Because here’s what could be considered an uncomfortable truth about CCs — they are not the same as celebrities. They do not have PR teams or damage control. They don’t get a script to read off of that tells them exactly how they’re supposed to vapidly apologize in order to make the bad publicity go away. They aren’t household names who have a huge influence over what people do or think. They don’t do what they do because it makes them rich and famous. Yeah some of them get lucky like that and god knows why. But they are performing a job by entertaining people regardless of the size of their audience, they’re not running for president. And yeah they can have pretty sizable platforms (although their demographics tend not to be the most diverse because they’re located primarily online). But listen. As a trans woman of color myself, the idea that someone like Dream or TommyInnit or Whitey McStreamerMan should be the face of modern/online activism is fucking insane. DONT. PUT. CONTENT CREATORS. ON. THESE. PEDESTALS. If you want to be a good ally to political minorities, DONT LOOK TO PRIVILEGED ASS ENTERTAINERS AS DEMONSTRATIONS OF GOOD ALLYSHIP. ACTUALLY LISTEN TO THE EXPERTS — TRANS PEOPLE AND PEOPLE OF COLOR. CCs are in the process of learning just as much as you are, probably more so in a lot of cases. But the only reason why you care so much is because they are doing their jobs. Quit acting like just because they’re well known on the internet that they’re not allowed to make mistakes and say the wrong things and get overwhelmed. You know you’ve been there before. None of us get to claim purity. There’s a reason systemic oppression is called systemic.