Oh, Fandom: Old School QAF Edition
Wow, it's been QAF homecoming weekend with the revelation that good ol' Randall and Brian were -- shocker! -- the same person. In fact they were both an older woman. (That post is a little tldr; but the bottom line is that this woman, Carol, pretended to be two gay men for a decade.)
I haven't thought about any of these people in many years, so it's been a trip reading through old threads, etc. I actually never liked Randall or Brian's fic and was never involved with them on a personal level. My bullshit meter always pinged off the charts in regards to not only their names (Randall -- similar to Randy Harrison) and Brian Kenny Hennessey -- similar to Brian Kinney), but their whole personas and life stories. (Randall was a genius lawyer at 21! Sure you were, Randall.)
I think some people are being very kind in light of Carol's betrayal. I'm not personally affected and am not in their shoes, so to each their own. But IMO it's not okay to LIE to people for that many years. People who truly thought they knew R&B and were their friend. It's cruel.
Many of us hide parts of our identity online (spoiler alert: my name really isn't bigboobedcanuck!!) but this is different. It's not okay, no matter how generous some people are being in the face of her death. It's too bad she died, and I'm sorry for her family and people who loved her via her creations of Randall and Brian. But we all die, and that doesn't excuse what we do while we're alive.
Like I said, I'm not personally/emotionally affected, so this is a more clinical POV. I think it's insane (good gravy, the time and energy involved!) that she kept up these personas for a DECADE and tricked countless people into believing these men existed and were their friends. Dick move. It obviously fulfilled some need in her, but IMO it doesn't make it less mean-spirited to create a lie that people were emotionally invested in for so many years.
It's sad on so many levels.
It's funny to look back at old threads and see that those of us who called bullshit on R&B were considered so nasty and awful. Man, it all seems like another lifetime ago! I'd forgotten all about this. We laughed it off because people could and would believe what they wanted no matter how illogical, and we knew one day the truth would come out. Too bad it had to be like this.
I haven't thought about any of these people in many years, so it's been a trip reading through old threads, etc. I actually never liked Randall or Brian's fic and was never involved with them on a personal level. My bullshit meter always pinged off the charts in regards to not only their names (Randall -- similar to Randy Harrison) and Brian Kenny Hennessey -- similar to Brian Kinney), but their whole personas and life stories. (Randall was a genius lawyer at 21! Sure you were, Randall.)
I think some people are being very kind in light of Carol's betrayal. I'm not personally affected and am not in their shoes, so to each their own. But IMO it's not okay to LIE to people for that many years. People who truly thought they knew R&B and were their friend. It's cruel.
Many of us hide parts of our identity online (spoiler alert: my name really isn't bigboobedcanuck!!) but this is different. It's not okay, no matter how generous some people are being in the face of her death. It's too bad she died, and I'm sorry for her family and people who loved her via her creations of Randall and Brian. But we all die, and that doesn't excuse what we do while we're alive.
Like I said, I'm not personally/emotionally affected, so this is a more clinical POV. I think it's insane (good gravy, the time and energy involved!) that she kept up these personas for a DECADE and tricked countless people into believing these men existed and were their friends. Dick move. It obviously fulfilled some need in her, but IMO it doesn't make it less mean-spirited to create a lie that people were emotionally invested in for so many years.
It's sad on so many levels.
It's funny to look back at old threads and see that those of us who called bullshit on R&B were considered so nasty and awful. Man, it all seems like another lifetime ago! I'd forgotten all about this. We laughed it off because people could and would believe what they wanted no matter how illogical, and we knew one day the truth would come out. Too bad it had to be like this.