YES. Also: ”The function of fiction is being lost in the conversation on violence. My book editor, Sean McDonald, thinks of it as “radical empathy.” Fiction, like any other form of art, is there to consider aspects of the real world in the ways that simple objective views can’t — from the inside. We cannot Other characters when we are seeing the world from the inside of their skulls. This is the great success of Thomas Harris’s Hannibal Lecter, both in print and as so richly embodied by Mads Mikkelsen in the Hannibal television series: For every three scary, strange things we discover about him, there is one thing that we can relate to. The Other is revealed as a damaged or alienated human, and we learn something about the roots of violence and the traps of horror.”
For the most part, yes, I am grateful for that blessing EVERY DAY. Seriously. Every SJW™ argument that passes my dash, I breathe easier when I see that it’s not for OUR fandom.
Fiction =/= Reality. Fiction has been used for centuries to explore and investigate things we love about Reality, things we don’t understand, even things we find repulsive about Reality. Fiction is in fact Speculative Reality: “What if X happened to Y? How would that improve our understanding of X and Y?”
To investigate the text thoughtfully is one thing, but our fandom veterans -myself included- can see that a lot of this SJW Culture™ seems more about “calling out,” choosing a Problematic™ topic to battle with (there are tons in our canon to choose from!) and using that as an excuse to attack, rather than the desire for a rational discussion. They often do this in the name of Righteousness (for popularity? Or just their own satisfaction?), but there are so many Problematic™ topics that are NOT simply black or white, topics which have been argued about long before the internet, and will continue to be argued about forever! I’ve seen good blogs deactivate (or go on hiatus) for being dogpiled for the slightest headcanon or SJW disagreements, and that’s not what I want to promote in our fandom, regardless of who’s right.
Sometimes, I just want to enjoy something without feeling bad about it. There’s plenty to feel bad about in the world and while in some cases SJWs are useful when they try to attack EVERYTHING, they take the fun out of life.
Life, literature and art have always been problematic. True art provokes. What, do these SJWs want a nanny-state? Or how about a Puritan Revival?
Yes, fight for what’s right, but don’t get in the way of others trying to enjoy stuff.
So wait, I can come back? I can finally come back to my fandom and contribute fan works?! I was also around during the fanfiction purge, knew authors who were slapped with orders from Anne’s lawyers and helped hide secret archives of VC fic so this? This has made my day!
Yes! Welcome back to the party *u* It seems that Certain People are content to live and let live re: fanworks.
(But we are rational about it, we only post to sites like AO3 publicly; we still keep some things as They Must Be Kept, just in case…)
♛What’s this "would be" nonsense, ma chérie? What about IS?
Well alright, in all honesty, I don’t need to be the best, and sexiest, playboy ever. I did take a… sabbatical… for a good chunk of time during the 20th century. All I really require is to be seen as ONE of the best, and sexiest, playboys ever. *smiles widely*
I-want-my-IWTV 