So I guess it’s time to just slander the AO3 staff…?
(submitted by @noreallywhat)
ffs, are they really doing this, and acting like the ao3 mods support their bs?
Just Anti Things: how much bullshit can I possibly spew in one post?
It’s incredible how these people are literally no less reactionary and disconnected from reality than your average neo-nazi, really comforting, real glad to have “progressives” like these out there.
i really don’t want to get into it. but! here i go anyway, because i’m so tired of keeping quiet, i’m so tired of suffering in silence for fear if stirring shit back up, so here the fuck goes anyway. multiple times now i’ve had all my hard work ruined by ridiculously fucking false accusations that i’m supposedly a pedophile despite NO proof of it. i’ve had my shit wrecked by “guilt by association” situations, too, where i was supposedly responsible for the mistakes of a friend, shit i wasn’t even AWARE of. all it took was a small loud group of people who decided they wanted to destroy me, and they absolutely accomplished that.
being accused of being dangerous to my fanbase, or even my baby nephew and having people believe it without question (because so many folks take callout posts at face value without fact checking), crushed my fucking soul. i lost 75% of my monthly income and had to go back to relying on my parents for financial support. i’ll be straight up honest. when i took down all my social media last winter, it was because i deadass almost killed myself. i had a plan and everything. cops showed up. it got ugly.
i’m back from that brink, i have a wonderful support system, therapy and medication, but i never fully bounced back after that.
it’s almost a blessing i got riddled with back and wrist injuries and had surgery so that i’ve been forced to take time off from content creating and just take care of myself, it may have saved my life. but that doesn’t mean i don’t have a lot of fears and hangups about what to do from here, because i just don’t know. i’m not big enough online to stay afloat if someone decides to take a big loud shit on my reputation. i’m not safe, i’ve been doxxed, people know my name and address, and the risk vs reward ratio for content making is so skewed anymore that i have lost almost all of my passion to make. just. anything, really. why bother, if anyone can destroy everything that gives my life meaning in a single day?
i’ve stopped animating entirely, drawing became a chore long ago, my creative fire was completely snuffed. i don’t know how to come back, i’m honestly just taking it one day at a time because it’s all i CAN do to function. it’s an ongoing struggle, and will continue to be as long as the status quo remains. something’s got to give, but you can’t critique callout culture on tumblr without someone accusing you of being an apologist for this or that, so i flat out stopped trying. it’s not a fight i can win. you have no idea how badly i want to fade off into obscurity and disappear, take up a different alias and start over, but i can’t. i need to make a living. i’m in too deep. i put 15 years of hard work into building the viewership i have and establishing my presence on social media.
i’m sad and scared every single day. i don’t WANT to give up, because giving up is as good as a death sentence on my happiness. i don’t plan on quitting, not anymore. but fucking hell, can you blame me for feeling like it’s all kind of pointless? my future, which once seemed all figured out, is now a huge question mark. i’ll have to wait and see now, i’ll have to re-evaluate what it means to be a creator, and rediscover why i loved making art in the first place.
all i can ask of people is to take everything you read online with a grain of salt. fact check, be a critical thinker, and make your own conclusions. most of all, realize that lives are literally at stake. falsely calling people out is not a fucking game. we have to stop scaring content creators out of creating. we have to be better.
Jesus, I had no idea, Kylee 😦
If any of ya’ll are wondering why I find callout/purity culture fucking insipid and vile, well, here’s what your “progressive action” produces. Less happiness, less content, less people following their dreams and connecting to each other online, when we need all of those things now more than ever.
I don’t know what to say. You’re in my thoughts.
nuclearmentality replied to your post “If AO3 is unsafe for you, I will build you an archive of your own.”
somehow this seems a bit opposite the views espoused by your earlier reblog re: pedo fics…
idk tho : P
My logic is that if antis/people who Seriously Cannot Deal with dark fic’s mere existence on their platform, even tagged, instead had their own platform to use designed for their needs and preferences, they could leave AO3 the hell alone for the people who do need to use it, or want to–which frankly is probably gonna be the majority of fandom.
I’m interested in enabling all people to coexist in the state most comfortable and humane for everyone. If those who feel unsafe in on AO3 can find a different enviroment that makes them happy and means we can all coexist in peace, I’m all for it, as long as AO3 proper still exists.
The protection of AO3 as a platform is all I care about here. I don’t think we’re going to convince antis not to care about the stuff they care about, so I’m trying out the meager hope that possibly having their own community to control their way will enable them to leave the rest of us alone already.
nuclearmentality replied to your post “You reblogged a post that said “the only harm [non-photographic child…”
of course, it’s important to not discount the impact of propoganda-type works on the course of history
however, more often than not they are more accurately treated as symptoms than as causes
To be clear, yes, that’s definitely true. My shock wasn’t at the idea that BOTN was impactful, it factually was. But trying to pin the stubborn and long-lasting horror of white supremacy, an ideology that’s defined the world for like…centuries, on a single movie? It’s myopic to the point of being dangerously nonsensical.
That was my point here.
Really? You think I haven’t thought about this issue? Is a story about recovery or dealing with trauma, is that “normalizing sexual relationships with children”? Should that be forbidden? Is that harmful? Should someone trying to deal with their own trauma by writing fiction that addresses it directly, should that be forbidden because it’s harmful?
Should I write only the sunniest, most proper fiction that never mentions anything disturbing or awful just in case some reader, somewhere, takes it as normalizing that awful? Is it my job to purge my work of anything that some kid, somewhere, might take in a way I didn’t intend and maybe be messed up by? Fuck no. Because let’s be 100% clear here, you actually can’t entirely predict what a reader will take away from a piece. One does one’s best. And I can’t tell another writer what to write, I can only tell them to be sure they mean to write what they write.
And the problem here is the sweeping condemnation of, what, the number of fics with particular tags? Seriously? As if it’s that simple?
Are you absolutely sure that every work tagged “pedophilia” on AO3 is wankfodder? Every one? None of them are stories where characters experience and process it, or just talk about it? None of them are stories where the authors are trying to process their own experiences? It’s never permissible to even mention pedophilia, lest someone be influenced wrongly? Should survivors never talk about or fictionalize their experiences? Really?
Do not lecture me on the responsibilities of authors–I have thought long and hard on the issue, and have come to the very considered conclusion that I have no interest in purity tests. Rape is bad, but not all stories about rape are bad. Racism is bad but not all stories about racism are bad. Pedophilia is bad but…you get the picture. Just saying “look at all these fics tagged “pedophilia” AO3 is doing a bad thing hosting them!” is so incredibly stupid I just don’t know where to begin. Are some of those fics toxic? Surely. Pretty much every other tag has toxic fics in it, too. Are all of them? I seriously have my doubts.
I am prepared to say that adults having sex with kids is bad, no nuance. I am NOT prepared to say that any fic about that topic is unambiguously bad. Because that’s not true.
I’m not in the business of telling people what to read or what to write. And you can take your list of things people somehow can’t write about because they’re bad and fuck all the way off.
What she and Foz said. And as to the anon’s point of fiction affecting reality re “Birth of a Nation” helping the KKK – let’s be super-clear, here, everyone. BoaN by itself did not resurrect the KKK. A toxic combination of economic motives, political cynicism, cowardice on the part of supposedly non-racist white people, and vicious opportunism caused that. BoaN was simply the best propaganda available for use by white supremacists who already existed, and who had long before implemented Black Codes and the Lost Cause myth and other means of retrenching America’s racist caste system. If BoaN hadn’t happened along when it did? The KKK would have found, or made, something else to use as its rallying cry.
Do I hate racist art? Yeah. But I deal with that by a) heeding warnings about it, and picking when (or if) I want to engage with it so that I minimize harm to myself, b) complaining about it when the people who publish it seem oblivious to the fact that it is racist art, and c) when I’m ready, writing anti-racist fiction that engages with it. I believe wholeheartedly in the notion that the job of the artist is to speak truth to power. But truth is many things. Truth is, sometimes, people writing out their rape fantasies so they can try to understand themselves better. Truth is people erasing the black characters from fanworks featuring their favorite media properties – and then getting called on it, and learning from the ensuing discussion. (Or not learning, and getting dismissed by a big chunk of fandom for it… and meanwhile, more quietly, truth is other fans learning from their fuckups.) Truth is critique, not blanket condemnation. (And not uncritical aggrandizement either.) This shit is too complex to handle with simplistic, black-and-white thinking. Love it or hate it, discourse ™ is the way to go.
Word.
Also read @nkjemisin’s books if you haven’t already.
did i really just read “a single movie revived white supremacy” as if it ever in the history of america ever, ever died? i am literally agog at this degree of delusion
Oh yeah, and here’s my hot take about people (especially men) in fandom using their platform to take steamy shits on cis, straight women:
Your misogyny is still misogyny, and it’s still disgusting! Sexism is still a real thing that affects women all over the world, many of whom are straight and cis! Oppression on one axis is still oppression! Reducing straight cis women who write fanfiction or draw fan art that you don’t like into villains eternally deserving of being on the receiving end of cruel jabs often littered with sexist language reinforces and normalizes misogynist perspectives! It encourages internalized misogyny! It harms real life living and breathing women! It assumes that all women in fandom who identify cis and straight right now in this moment will continue to do so forever, an assumption that is fucking laughable, and you god damn well know it!
Your queerness does not absolve you of your ability to be a misogynist!
And, by the way, if you are a queer woman who enjoys laughing it up with the group about how awful those evil cis straight women are, please know, the moment that your morality and the morality of the bullies you are surrounded by diverges even slightly, your identification will become subject to scrutiny. Please know the moment that you question or otherwise think beyond the groupthink, your identity regardless of how not cis or not straight you are will not prevent you from being lumped in with the cis straight women that you denigrate today.
Please find and surround yourself with people who respect women. Full fucking stop.
there’s something really disgusting and horrifying about people who pride themselves on being “progressive” and then fill their posts with misogynist slurs and insults, but because it’s about cishet women somehow that makes it ok
don’t just believe people who turn up in your inbox telling you shitty things about other people. I know it’s scary but you’re allowed to sit back and say “I’m not going to acknowledge this until I have all the facts” instead of instantly folding and apologizing and taking their “information” at face value (possibly because you don’t want to be considered shitty by association). that is some red scare witch hunt bullshit.
I can’t focus on anything enough to write about Homestuck today, so I’m gonna talk about something that matters a lot more instead. I know this isn’t like, part of My Brand, but Puerto Rico is part of who I am and why I’m here. And since I couldn’t be part of the day of action officially, this is what I’m doing instead.
So here’s what it comes down to:
I can’t stop thinking about the Homestucks in Puerto Rico.
And yes, it’s myopic to focus on a people suffering who happen to be part of a fandom. Everyone is human and nobody deserves this kind of suffering.
Puerto Ricans deserve help because they’re people, full stop.
But people weren’t designed for numbers to track this scale of suffering, and even having spent part of my life there, the devastation my little island is going through has been more than I can relate to, or even imagine.
So it’s this particular memory that sticks out for me, and those particular people that stand in for the unfathomable many who are suffering right now.
I’m going to tell you guys a story, and try to put the place I remember into the context of the Island’s current struggle, and the sorely lacking support of the American government.
Then I’m going to talk about what we can do to help.
I can guarantee that at least one of those things is something you can do. Even if you can’t do anything but blog about fandom and talk to friends online–and trust me, I get it if that’s where you are. There’s still something important I want you to consider trying.
If you have the spoons and mental wherewithal, and you care at all about what I do here, or about Homestuck, or about the friends you’ve made and the people you’ve met through fandom, or about any story that has ever moved you to reach out and make a friend,
Then I hope you can find the time to read and signal boost this.
No pressure. I know it’s hard and we’re all tired. Still,
It would mean a lot to me.
(A description of PR’s Capital city, dated Oct 10th.)
Upd8 culture isn’t something that all the fans here have been exposed to.
Fans have gotten flashes of it like on 10/25 last year or, of course, with Hiveswap’s release. But back during the days of Homestuck’s height in popularity, we were all wired, all the time.
An Upd8 could happen any second, and anything and everything could change with any upd8. This was the height of update culture, and it was like being on a neverending rollercoaster. It was a sense of communal excitement and thrill that made me feel connected to everyone sharing the ride.
(The Federal Emergency Management Agency fails to keep up with the Island’s food shortages.)
I went to a con with friends only once in PR, but while there, we hung nearby a Homestuck meetup. I didn’t really engage with them, but I did have MSPA Notifier on my phone, and it just so happened an update hit.
I was the first to notice.
(x) (Jason Maddy, Marine Vet’s Facebook Page)
I remember grinning and telling my (Non-Homestuck) friends to watch.
That was the first and only time I got to yell the word “UPD8” to someone else in person. The result was spectacular.
The explosion of yelling and the flurry of activity was too overwhelming to follow. Suddenly, teens were yelling and scrambling to get near the closest screen.
The one who sticks out in my head is a God Tier John–pretty sure the outfit was homemade–pressing his tablet up against a wall.
(Trump throws rolls of paper towels at a crowd in a Hurricane relief center.)
For a good ten minutes, we watched as what was a pretty chill meetup beforehand talked and traded screens with fervent excitement.
My friends, exposed to nothing but my self-indulgent blather about the comic up until then, looked at me in bewilderment and asked: “What did you do?”
But of course, I didn’t do anything. I was just a lucky messenger.
What moved me, what moved us all with the same joy and excitement, was a shared moment of love for a story. A common passion.
I didn’t make friends with any of them that day, and I wish I had now.
Really, I just wish I knew if they were alright. Any of them.
I wonder if they enjoyed Hiveswap in the few days between the release and Maria, or if they got the chance to play it at all before the electricity grid collapsed. I wonder how many got off the island.
How many have stayed behind.
How many are LGBT, now cut off from access to what was my only lifeline on the largely conservative island? I think about the reports of sky-high rates of depression and PTSD pouring in whenever I can bring myself to listen.
I hope all of those kids are still alive and well.
I should mention: All of these tweets and news reports are verifiably true.
I can confirm them myself, because I hear the same thing whenever I manage to get in contact with anyone on the island.
My family hears supplies are coming, but never seem to see them arrive.
The woman who drove me to school contacted me today, saying the same thing. Wherever there’s contact on the ground, there are reports of inadequate support and desperate need. Food in grocery stores is near running out.
Everyone I know who is able making plans to leave.
Everyone I know cries and hurts most for those who cannot make these plans.
Those who are stuck. Those who will be left behind to survive the nightmare.
What can we do for them?
Of course, donating to verified and trustworthy charities is an option.
For those of us who are able:
Donate to Puerto Rican Farmers.
The Hispanic Federation’s Disaster Relief & Recovery Fund.
Eco-Kit uses Amazon to distribute life-saving survival tools.
But maybe even more important than that is adding our voices politically:
Petition for Immediate Large-Scale Relief Package for Puerto Rico.
Use this handy Call Script to find and call your representatives.
We can also simply talk, learn, and educate. It goes without saying that this devastation is in part a product of climate change. But we can also talk about the Jones Act that slows aid to Puerto Rico.
We can reckon with Puerto Rico’s long history of colonial subjugation by the U.S. And we can increase understanding of the massive debt crisis that threatened the island even before the hurricane.
I will continue to post about this when I am able and have useful information to spread, but it may also help to follow blogs such as @tumblricans if you’re able.
But even if you can’t do any of this:
Believe me, I understand.
I know how hard and unbearable it all is.
Even if you can’t do anything but talk to people online, try to keep your mind off it, try to focus on fandom and friends and whatever gets you through these days,
There’s still something you can do.
Choose to be kinder. Here, in this space that you share with so many progressives, coming from so many walks of life, that have all been hurt by this world through so many cruel and unusual punishments. Even if nowhere else.
Choose to be kinder here, in this nebulous place where many of us come to forget our sorrows and share our joys and pains with others.
Try to remember that everyone has a story. That everyone has something they’re dealing with, and you have no way to know what it is. Try to choose kindness and compassion over instinctual judgment and ideological superiority.
Extend this kindness to creators as well as your fellow fans and users, because the people who make art for us are people who are struggling and trying hard just like me and you.
Extend this kindness to yourself and your friends in your moments of weakness, just…remember to extend it to your perceived “enemies” on this website, too.
In the grand scheme of things, they simply don’t exist.
Fandom spaces on Tumblr and Ao3 are predominantly made up of lgbt women, and lean highly towards progressive sentiments besides. Wherever we turn to this hyper-critical behavior, we are making threats out of allies.
It’s not necessary, and worse, it drives us apart.
Remember that ultimately, we are all in this together. The world is a scary place right now. There are people out there in the world who deeply and truly want to hurt us. You can even find them online, if you really want to.
But like…fellow fans invested in the progressive agenda? Creators making progressive art? They are not your enemies, and for the progressive agenda and anyone identified as basically any kind of minority, the shit is hitting and will increasingly continue to hit the whirling device.
We all need support now more than ever, and it is really only going to come if we begin to choose to support each other.
And that’s important work to do. Because the kinder we are, the closer we are, the better we can connect. The better we can organize. And the more good we can do for places like Puerto Rico or people like Rune.
Sometimes, making the world a better place is just a matter of being nice to each other. That alone could well have the power to change everything.
Thank you for reading all this.
I love you.
Keep rising.
Puerto Rico: US officials privately acknowledge serious food shortage
Let people grow.
When I was younger I was very right-wing. I mean…very right-wing. I won’t go into detail, because I’m very deeply ashamed of it, but whatever you’re imagining, it’s probably at least that bad. I’ve taken out a lot of pain on others; I’ve acted in ignorance and waved hate like a flag; I’ve said and did things that hurt a lot of people.
There are artefacts of my past selves online – some of which I’ve locked down and keep around to remind me of my past sins, some of which I’ve scrubbed out, some of which are out of my grasp. If I were ever to become famous, people could find shit on me that would turn your stomach.
But that’s not me anymore. I’ve learned so much in the last ten years. I’ve become more open to seeing things through others’ eyes, and reforged my anger to turn on those who harm others rather than on those who simply want to exist. I’ve learned patience and compassion. I’ve learned how to recognise my privileges and listen to others’ perspectives. I’ve learned to stand up for others, how to hear, how to help, how to correct myself. And I learned some startling shit about myself along the way – with all due irony, some of the things I used to lash out at others for are intrinsic parts of myself.
You wouldn’t know what I am now from what I was then. You wouldn’t know what I was then from what I am now.
It distresses me deeply to think of someone dredging up my dark, awful past and treating me as though that furiously hateful person is still me. It distresses me to see others dredging up the past for anyone who has made efforts to become a better person, out of some sick obsession with proving they’re “problematic.”
Purity culture tells you that once someone says or does something, they can never go back on it. That’s a goddamn lie. While it’s true that some remain unrepentant and never change their ways and continue to harm others, it’s important to allow everyone the chance to learn from their mistakes. Saying something ignorant isn’t murder. Please stop treating it that way. Let people grow.
Flying through Storytelling 