Personal Beliefs Affecting Fandom meme
As a writer, I'm very interested in how my beliefs affect what I write, as well as my interactions with others. And I'm interested in what that looks like in other people, so feel free to do this yourself!
1. There is such a thing as objective truth. And it is worth a lot of effort and angst to discover, and to communicate to others.
I'm not sure exactly how this affects my fandom interactions, except that it means I will draw lines between what is purely preference (a matter of taste) and what may be based on actual moral standards.
For instance, though I don't go looking for fights, you will never catch me saying that incest fic is okay, not the way most of fandom writes it (hot, beautiful, without psychological consequences). Portraying that kind of messed-up relationship as perfectly normal is morally wrong (my personal squick, as the eldest of 7 siblings, would be only a matter of taste).
I am also highly aware of morality and consequences in my fiction, though as far as I know I have never been preachy, and hope I never become so.
2. I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. I will also defend my right to dispute what you say (and your right to dispute what I say).
First Amendment rights, people! One of my favorite things about living in the United States of America. I can say whatever I want, and I can disagree with what you say, and we can have a discussion. These rights are absolutely fundamental to our freedom, and thus, I support the rights of both those who agree with me and those who express things I find distasteful, morally bankrupt, or even dangerous.
I put up with the one to have the other. Fortunately, that doesn't mean I have to approve of everything everyone says. Or that you have to approve of everything I say. *g*
Example: I do not read or write slash; I am a low-key activist for genfic in fandom. I'm not going to tell you to stop writing slash, but I don't have to look at it, or say I support it, and it is my right to cheer on genfic and use my Gen Pride icons. :-)
3. God exists; or, at the least, the possibility that He does cannot be disproved.
This doesn't often directly affect my behavior in fandom, although that really depends on whether the show we're discussing has chosen to create its own spirituality, to appropriate a real belief system, or to ignore the possibility of God entirely.
It does inform my fanfic writing, in the sense that I write the world the way I see it, as well as the way that world is presented in canon. Even if that only means I have an affinity for worlds that are patterned because I believe in a Creator, a great Storyteller, the most complex Pattern-maker to ever exist.
I write at all, really, because I believe in God.
4. Love is an action rather than a feeling, and it is in no way synonymous with sexual desire. Sexual relationships are one type of human relationship, and one way of expressing love; but by no means the main or most interesting one.
I am daily frustrated with our culture's focus on romantic/sexual relationships as the pinnacle of human interaction. From my own observation and experience, it's often the non-sexual relationships (family and friendships of many and varied kinds) that are the most healthy and supportive--and interesting, frankly.
I've got nothing against sex, mind you. God made it, and it is awesome. And I've got nothing against romance. *points to Larry/Megan* I even have an OTP these days! I do think that the focus is entirely unbalanced, and this is a major cause of my love for genfic and buddy shows, as well as a major cause of frustration when fandom becomes all about the 'ships (either slash or het).
5. "Those who cannot conceive Friendship as a substantive love but only as a disguise or elaboration of Eros betray the fact that they have never had a friend." --C.S. Lewis, from The Four Loves
I used this quote because it is one of the best and simplest statements of this belief I've seen. This follows on from #4, as you probably noticed, but the focus here isn't on romance vs. everything else, it's on the reality of close non-sexual (and often non-family) relationships.
Those friendships can be some of the most precious and most affecting relationships we can ever build. I am so grateful for them, and I love any show that can display real, close, believable friendship.
6. "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone."
This is from the New Testament, and I would go look up the reference but it's half past midnight and I want to post. *g*
Basically, what that says, there. I am responsible for not creating wank by the way I respond to trolls and flamers; I am responsible for keeping the peace where I am supposed to keep it (my LJ; my comms); I am responsible for treating every person, even online, even the trolls, as if they are in fact human beings just like me.
But that's it. I am only responsible for myself. I don't have to feel guilty if I say something true and someone makes a wanky mess all over the internets as a result, because that's not my fault.
Discussion welcomed, but flamers will be banned; I learned my lesson about that a month ago.
1. There is such a thing as objective truth. And it is worth a lot of effort and angst to discover, and to communicate to others.
I'm not sure exactly how this affects my fandom interactions, except that it means I will draw lines between what is purely preference (a matter of taste) and what may be based on actual moral standards.
For instance, though I don't go looking for fights, you will never catch me saying that incest fic is okay, not the way most of fandom writes it (hot, beautiful, without psychological consequences). Portraying that kind of messed-up relationship as perfectly normal is morally wrong (my personal squick, as the eldest of 7 siblings, would be only a matter of taste).
I am also highly aware of morality and consequences in my fiction, though as far as I know I have never been preachy, and hope I never become so.
2. I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. I will also defend my right to dispute what you say (and your right to dispute what I say).
First Amendment rights, people! One of my favorite things about living in the United States of America. I can say whatever I want, and I can disagree with what you say, and we can have a discussion. These rights are absolutely fundamental to our freedom, and thus, I support the rights of both those who agree with me and those who express things I find distasteful, morally bankrupt, or even dangerous.
I put up with the one to have the other. Fortunately, that doesn't mean I have to approve of everything everyone says. Or that you have to approve of everything I say. *g*
Example: I do not read or write slash; I am a low-key activist for genfic in fandom. I'm not going to tell you to stop writing slash, but I don't have to look at it, or say I support it, and it is my right to cheer on genfic and use my Gen Pride icons. :-)
3. God exists; or, at the least, the possibility that He does cannot be disproved.
This doesn't often directly affect my behavior in fandom, although that really depends on whether the show we're discussing has chosen to create its own spirituality, to appropriate a real belief system, or to ignore the possibility of God entirely.
It does inform my fanfic writing, in the sense that I write the world the way I see it, as well as the way that world is presented in canon. Even if that only means I have an affinity for worlds that are patterned because I believe in a Creator, a great Storyteller, the most complex Pattern-maker to ever exist.
I write at all, really, because I believe in God.
4. Love is an action rather than a feeling, and it is in no way synonymous with sexual desire. Sexual relationships are one type of human relationship, and one way of expressing love; but by no means the main or most interesting one.
I am daily frustrated with our culture's focus on romantic/sexual relationships as the pinnacle of human interaction. From my own observation and experience, it's often the non-sexual relationships (family and friendships of many and varied kinds) that are the most healthy and supportive--and interesting, frankly.
I've got nothing against sex, mind you. God made it, and it is awesome. And I've got nothing against romance. *points to Larry/Megan* I even have an OTP these days! I do think that the focus is entirely unbalanced, and this is a major cause of my love for genfic and buddy shows, as well as a major cause of frustration when fandom becomes all about the 'ships (either slash or het).
5. "Those who cannot conceive Friendship as a substantive love but only as a disguise or elaboration of Eros betray the fact that they have never had a friend." --C.S. Lewis, from The Four Loves
I used this quote because it is one of the best and simplest statements of this belief I've seen. This follows on from #4, as you probably noticed, but the focus here isn't on romance vs. everything else, it's on the reality of close non-sexual (and often non-family) relationships.
Those friendships can be some of the most precious and most affecting relationships we can ever build. I am so grateful for them, and I love any show that can display real, close, believable friendship.
6. "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone."
This is from the New Testament, and I would go look up the reference but it's half past midnight and I want to post. *g*
Basically, what that says, there. I am responsible for not creating wank by the way I respond to trolls and flamers; I am responsible for keeping the peace where I am supposed to keep it (my LJ; my comms); I am responsible for treating every person, even online, even the trolls, as if they are in fact human beings just like me.
But that's it. I am only responsible for myself. I don't have to feel guilty if I say something true and someone makes a wanky mess all over the internets as a result, because that's not my fault.
Discussion welcomed, but flamers will be banned; I learned my lesson about that a month ago.