Twitter wank

[kelios]

I have some things to say about the tempest in the twitter teapot that happened yesterday. If anyone doesn't want to read them, here's your chance to run away.

Yesterday I RT'd a tweet that included the tag DestielSPNFandomEbola. I should have removed the tag, since as I pointed out later, that's not actually something I believe. I think my later comparison to cold sores is a much more apt description. However, the rest of the tweet was something I agree with wholeheartedly.

The more astute among you might have noticed that this does not sound much like an apology. That's because it's not.

I refuse to apologize for being angry at people who attack me and my friends, personally, with targeted hate, on twitter and elsewhere.

I refuse to apologize for being angry at people who consistently viciously and wrongly attack people I admire and respect, not just on twitter but on a wide variety of social media platforms.

I refuse to apologize for being angry at people who equate Martin Luther King Jr and the Civil Rights Movement with not having a fanon ship made canon on a TV show, as was stated in the recent TV Guide Online article written by a destiel shipper.

I refuse to apologize for being angry at people who demean and belittle the struggle that LGBT people face every day against discrimination and hate, a fight I'm currently facing in my personal life even as I'm typing this, by comparing it to not getting your way concerning a TV show.

I refuse to apologize for having and expressing my opinions. I've always been clear that anyone who doesn't like what I have to say is welcome to unfollow me, and I mean that absolutely--I will not make anyone feel bad for doing so, or demand explanations. I'm grateful beyond measure for my friends in this fandom, and for the people who continue to stand beside me regardless of what we do or don't agree on.

Comments

[casey679.livejournal.com]

Random reader wandering in from the rlbivob friends feed (it's a SLOW day at work)...

Is this about the whole attempt to repackage "queerbaiting" away from its original meaning (using someone's sexual orientation or presumed sexual orientation to discriminate or discredit them) to this nonsense concept of shows being allegedly mean to fans by putting in content that could be read as queer without actually making it explicitly queer?

Because if that's what this is about, I am SO fed up with it, too. More than anything, I feel like if they actually cared about queer issues, they wouldn't be revising the term and instead would KNOW its original intent and meaning.

Not sure what you're going through in your own personal life, but hang in there. Sometimes change is fucking slow in coming, but bit by bit, the fight for LGBT (and all the other acronyms as well) rights is getting there. Even this particularly bout of fanwankery is a sign of progress, that people feel comfortable enough to demand explicitly queer characters is a far, far, far cry from Stonewall. They still have their heads up their asses, but at least they're looking in the right direction.

Don't let the idiots get you down. You're not alone.

[kelios.livejournal.com]

In a sense, it is. Many destiel fans have been complaining for years that Supernatural has 'queerbaited' them by implying that Dean and Castiel are or will be a couple on the show (full disclosure: I loathe Castiel, and am not a fan of destiel tho I don't care what people ship in fandom).

In the last couple of years, destiel fans have taken to bashing Jensen as a homophobe because he doesn't consider Dean gay or bi and has chosen not to talk about Dean's sexuality at conventions for the most part. They bombard his and Jared's twitters and spread their accusations all over the internet, harass everyone who makes the show on twitter, and bash the show mercilessly. This is what I have a problem with, rather than the actual ship, because it's simply not appropriate behavior.

I would LOVE an explicitly bi or gay hunter on Supernatural, especially if the char was recurring. But that character is not Dean, who has been declared straight repeatedly by many people who work on the show. Destiel need to move on and stop making things up about Jensen, Jared and the others who make the show.

[casey679.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the response! Yeah, being bi myself, I'd love to see more of that on Supernatural, too. I seriously don't understand the harassment you describe -- the entitlement it takes to think or act that way boggles the mind.

As someone who's been out for more than 20 years, I've had enough of folks telling *me* what gender I should prefer to ever be okay with anyone demanding that someone else, fictional or non, have to be a certain way. And I'm dismayed at the way people seem to think they can tell creators what they can do with their characters.

I don't mind what people ship as long as they don't insist it's the *only* way to ship things, or confuse their fantasy with reality. I thought s10.05 was an awesome tribute to the fans and a very nice way of saying, "Hey, it's all cool."

[kelios.livejournal.com]

I wish I could feel that way about the 200th. I understand what they were trying to do, but unfortunately that's not the effect it's had on the shippers they were trying hardest to reach and shut down. Now that destiel has been officially acknowledged in the show, they feel that it's acceptable to harass Jensen at cons since it's 'on topic' now. They also claim that Jensen acknowledged that he and Dean are okay with it, and are more determined than ever that TPTB want it to be canon.

They've also decided that the digs at wincest fans and brothers fans in the 200th ep mean that they can be even more aggressively rude and bullying toward those fans who stand up to them and disapprove of their tactics.