#ready for my crucifiction I guess

[aureutr]

I'm not going to bother posting in the tag because the people who need to hear it either already have me blocked or aren't willing to listen. People don't like introspection and considering that they might be mistaken. I'm taking a Tumblr break after this, though I doubt I'll get a response that isn't moving goalposts or more of the same arguments verbatim.

Here we go.

"Dark" Dinluke tropes aren't inherently racist and a lot of the nonsense that's being posted is performative allyship at best and blatant bullying at worst. Or both.

Like, I get it to a degree. The world sucks right now and so many of us feel powerless. As though nothing we can do matters. So it's tempting to go after a target you can actually reach. Like fanfic authors. This is not new or unique to Dinluke. This happens constantly in fandom. Hell, ask the Reylos.

Someone will make a bunch of posts about something they don't like. Except it's not enough to dislike it, they have to have Morally Pure reasons why it's Bad and Evil. It's racist or it's abusive or whatever else.

In Dinluke's case what I can tell is it boils down to A) Pedro Pascal is a POC and B) noncon and general dark fics are always making the POC the bad guy.

Pedro is a white Latino. I've spoken to a few Latine/Latinx people about this because when the first accusations came down my reaction was "oh no, am I unknowingly promoting something racist?" because that's what you should do when confronted with something new. Dig into it and ask people who are actually affected by the issue, if they are willing to lend their time to help you grow.

The overwhelming answer was "What? No. What are they talking about?" While a handful of people cannot speak for an entire demographic, I think they speak louder than the "allies" going on about "racist" tropes.

Plus it's pretty gross to twist someone's actual racial and ethnic identity for your own ends.

As for the second point...the "aggressor" in dark content is.......typically the fandom designated top.

That's it. It happens over and over across dozens of fandoms. You don't have to enjoy any of that content (which is actually tagged really well because the authors want their audience to be able to find it) but it doesn't mean there's some racist conspiracy behind it.

For me, personally, I like BDSM. And in fiction, it can be fascinating or freeing to push past boundaries that are critically important in real life.

Because it's not real. It's fictional. I understand that people who don't share my interests are not always willing or capable of separating the concept of real world rape from fictional noncon, but it sure is tiring to see all the time.

I also love Star Wars, not just Dinluke. And alternate character interpretations. There's so much room to go "ok let's assume X, then what happens??" That's what I love about fanfiction. Hell, my Dinluke week fic is a further exploration on "if Din was Force sensitive when Death Watch saved him and Maul 'adopted' him, then what?"

I love the "then what?" and am not interested in being stuffed into a box because people can't handle the idea of things outside their comfort zone existing. There is no grand conspiracy to trick you into reading stuff.

You're allowed to dislike something. You don't have to make up reasons why it's racist. You aren't solving a real problem. You're just bullying real, breathing people.

I am so disappointed in the number of people I had respect for who only needed the smallest excuse and an "acceptable target" to turn nasty.

Anyway, I'm sure this will be read with reasonable minds and definitely not picked apart looking for a tiny phrase that can be twisted into more bullying.