saysthemagpie | (no subject)

I... am going to stay off Tumblr today I think. at first I was genuinely baffled by the comments I was reading and had to text multiple people being like "wait did I miss something huge?" and now I'm just genuinely annoyed. I respect that people can interpret things differently and that we all have different thresholds for what we find funny or what we think is appropriate subject matter for comedy. I'm totally down to read people's thoughts on that and I think it's an interesting and important conversation to have, especially as part of a broader cultural conversation about how to talk about sexual harassment allegations against men who hold positions of great cultural, economic, and political power. what bothers me, as always, is the wild bandwagoning effect that Tumblr encourages and the way that digital media environments built around likes/reblogs deliberately polarize the conversation by rewarding the most polemical reactions while divorcing those reactions from context & failing to provide mechanisms that would make constructive dialogue possible.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

As usual you're a voice of thoughtful reason. I personally thought the joke was funny, which apparently makes me a Horrible Person™. I guess I should mention that I am older than the average fan, American, have watched a lot of late night tv and am not easily offended. I am also a survivor of sexual assault and a Democrat. I think pedophilia is the worst type of crime BUT I also think more people were outraged by the joke than they were by Roy Moore. The reason? Bc the fandom is a toxic place full of people who feel they have the right to never be offended about anything ever and also believe that Harry must be perfect at all times and always do the right thing. Guess what? He's a 23 year old white, rich male with minimal formal education. He's a pretty amazing guy who does an amazing job at being kind and good much of the time, but he's not perfect. Agree or disagree with me, but there's no need for bullying or hatred bc of it, you know? If I've offended someone, they can walk away or simply choose not to interact with me. Or- how about this?- have a meaningful conversation abbout it. The all or nothing mob mentality of the fandom is dangerous and teaches a toxic way of interacting that makes me concerned for the future of social interactions on a larger scale. Sorry for the long-winded response!

honestly the good part about this whole blowup is how it enabled me to make some new fandom pals. there are seemingly few people out there who are older, capable of nuanced textual analysis, and not prone to outrage, but now i know a few more of them.

oh, god, now we're on to discourse about harry kissing james. LET ME ENJOY MY NICHE WEREWOLF SHIP IN PEACE DAMMIT