We Didn't Start The Fire.
I still like my fandom.
Not a lot of people are saying that today, and you probably already know why: at Anime Boston this weekend, several girls cosplaying as Germany and Prussia attended the Hetalia photoshoot and seig heiled the camera.
Outside the Prudential Building, in front of thousands of random passerby.
During Passover.
Three miles from the New England Holocaust Memorial.
What's funny is that if these Mensa candidates had tried to do this in Germany, they all would have been arrested. Since it happened in America, let's just be grateful that those photos didn't end up on the five o'clock news.
The backlash against these girls has been gratifyingly intense, and the fandom appears to be united in a few good-to-know particulars: behavior like this is unacceptable; these twits besmirched not just the reputation of Hetalia fans, but the reputation of all anime fans, not to mention the hardworking people who organized the con; this is hurtful not only to Jews and Poles and other victims of the Holocaust, but also to Germans, who are still struggling to make peace with the crimes committed by Nazi Germany; and just, you know, on a general note, don't seig heil during Passover, you're all fucking retarded.
I've seen a lot of people saying that they're embarrassed and ashamed to be Hetalia fans because of spectacles like this, and I feel that. Empty-headed cosplayers aren't the only reason the Hetalia fandom has such a dubious reputation, but goose-stepping Prussias, and Americas who drag their flags across the floor on their way to the bathroom, aren't doing us a whole lot of favors. Incidents like this are disgraceful, and make me want to sigh until it hurts and say Hetalia, this is why we can't have nice things.
But I've also seen a lot of people saying that things like this make them reluctant to tell their friends from outside the fandom that they're into Hetalia--or that they intend to shun Hetalia photoshoots in the future.
Now, hold up.
I still like my fandom.
Do I like the elements of it that think it'd be cute to heil Hitler for a photoshoot? Not so much, but I don't like the psychopathic manhaters who call themselves feminists, either, or the gay-bashing, vagina-hating Christians who all too often make up the public face of Protestantism in America. I still wouldn't hesitate to describe myself as a feminist and a Christian.
Why? Because I am a feminist and a Christian. And a Hetalia fan.
Why else? Because we're not all like that.
Feminists, Christians, fans, shippers, Americans, atheists, Democrats, Republicans, con-goers, cosplayers, whites, blacks, asians, straights and queers--we've all got dozens of groups that represent us and that we represent, and all of them are going to have constituents who make us want to hide our faces and cringe. Some of them are going to do racist, hurtful, frightening, or offensive things, either through ignorance or out of genuine contempt and malice. Some of them are going to be the kinds of people we wouldn't be caught dead posing with in a photograph. But are they a reason to distance ourselves from the group itself?
Fuck no! Because we're not all like that.
And how are people supposed to know we're not all like that if our smartest, most sensitive, and most respectful members won't own up to being Hetalia fans except when we're surrounded by other Hetalia fans?
I still like my fandom.
Fuck that, I'm still proud of my fandom.
Hetalia fans are the most curious, open-minded, respectful and kind group of people I have ever had a chance to meet. We tackle sensitive issues here, big, thorny, ugly, spiny-black-bits issues, and we do it with humor, compassion, and grace. How many fandoms not only entertain their members, but educate them? How many fandoms flock around fics that aren't just well-written, but sometimes come with half a page or more of footnotes? In how many fandoms is it just as common to hear "I've learned so much!" as it is to hear "Five stars, would fap again?" I refuse to entertain the notion that our minority of nitwits, our occasional handful of dumbass losers who would seig heil in German uniform, somehow invalidates all the good things that Hetalia fans do. The behavior of these cosplayers embarrasses me, I don't like to be associated with them, but it doesn't lessen my devotion to this thing I enjoy, or the many wonderful people I enjoy it with.
We're not all like that.
I still love my fandom.
And I'll say so, any chance I get. I want people who might have the wrong idea about Hetalia fans to hear from me, and the many many fans like me: smart, decent people with a genuine enthusiasm for history, who think it's awesome that we have comics about the Age of Exploration now, and we're eager to fangirl about why, to anyone who will listen. I've never been a con-goer in the past, but this incident makes me want to become one--in cosplay, in Germany cosplay, even. And I want to go to the photoshoots, and talk to people from outside my fandom. And I want people to see how respectful, warm-hearted, and well-informed many of us are about the Unfortunate Implications our fandom skirts every day.
Don't be ashamed to be Hetalia fans, guys. Don't let the bad behavior of a few corner you into allowing them to speak for all of us. If you're one of the good Hetalia fans--and if you're still reading this, I suspect you are--then come out of the back row and say it with me.
I still like my fandom.
And I'll tell you why.
Not a lot of people are saying that today, and you probably already know why: at Anime Boston this weekend, several girls cosplaying as Germany and Prussia attended the Hetalia photoshoot and seig heiled the camera.
Outside the Prudential Building, in front of thousands of random passerby.
During Passover.
Three miles from the New England Holocaust Memorial.
What's funny is that if these Mensa candidates had tried to do this in Germany, they all would have been arrested. Since it happened in America, let's just be grateful that those photos didn't end up on the five o'clock news.
The backlash against these girls has been gratifyingly intense, and the fandom appears to be united in a few good-to-know particulars: behavior like this is unacceptable; these twits besmirched not just the reputation of Hetalia fans, but the reputation of all anime fans, not to mention the hardworking people who organized the con; this is hurtful not only to Jews and Poles and other victims of the Holocaust, but also to Germans, who are still struggling to make peace with the crimes committed by Nazi Germany; and just, you know, on a general note, don't seig heil during Passover, you're all fucking retarded.
I've seen a lot of people saying that they're embarrassed and ashamed to be Hetalia fans because of spectacles like this, and I feel that. Empty-headed cosplayers aren't the only reason the Hetalia fandom has such a dubious reputation, but goose-stepping Prussias, and Americas who drag their flags across the floor on their way to the bathroom, aren't doing us a whole lot of favors. Incidents like this are disgraceful, and make me want to sigh until it hurts and say Hetalia, this is why we can't have nice things.
But I've also seen a lot of people saying that things like this make them reluctant to tell their friends from outside the fandom that they're into Hetalia--or that they intend to shun Hetalia photoshoots in the future.
Now, hold up.
I still like my fandom.
Do I like the elements of it that think it'd be cute to heil Hitler for a photoshoot? Not so much, but I don't like the psychopathic manhaters who call themselves feminists, either, or the gay-bashing, vagina-hating Christians who all too often make up the public face of Protestantism in America. I still wouldn't hesitate to describe myself as a feminist and a Christian.
Why? Because I am a feminist and a Christian. And a Hetalia fan.
Why else? Because we're not all like that.
Feminists, Christians, fans, shippers, Americans, atheists, Democrats, Republicans, con-goers, cosplayers, whites, blacks, asians, straights and queers--we've all got dozens of groups that represent us and that we represent, and all of them are going to have constituents who make us want to hide our faces and cringe. Some of them are going to do racist, hurtful, frightening, or offensive things, either through ignorance or out of genuine contempt and malice. Some of them are going to be the kinds of people we wouldn't be caught dead posing with in a photograph. But are they a reason to distance ourselves from the group itself?
Fuck no! Because we're not all like that.
And how are people supposed to know we're not all like that if our smartest, most sensitive, and most respectful members won't own up to being Hetalia fans except when we're surrounded by other Hetalia fans?
I still like my fandom.
Fuck that, I'm still proud of my fandom.
Hetalia fans are the most curious, open-minded, respectful and kind group of people I have ever had a chance to meet. We tackle sensitive issues here, big, thorny, ugly, spiny-black-bits issues, and we do it with humor, compassion, and grace. How many fandoms not only entertain their members, but educate them? How many fandoms flock around fics that aren't just well-written, but sometimes come with half a page or more of footnotes? In how many fandoms is it just as common to hear "I've learned so much!" as it is to hear "Five stars, would fap again?" I refuse to entertain the notion that our minority of nitwits, our occasional handful of dumbass losers who would seig heil in German uniform, somehow invalidates all the good things that Hetalia fans do. The behavior of these cosplayers embarrasses me, I don't like to be associated with them, but it doesn't lessen my devotion to this thing I enjoy, or the many wonderful people I enjoy it with.
We're not all like that.
I still love my fandom.
And I'll say so, any chance I get. I want people who might have the wrong idea about Hetalia fans to hear from me, and the many many fans like me: smart, decent people with a genuine enthusiasm for history, who think it's awesome that we have comics about the Age of Exploration now, and we're eager to fangirl about why, to anyone who will listen. I've never been a con-goer in the past, but this incident makes me want to become one--in cosplay, in Germany cosplay, even. And I want to go to the photoshoots, and talk to people from outside my fandom. And I want people to see how respectful, warm-hearted, and well-informed many of us are about the Unfortunate Implications our fandom skirts every day.
Don't be ashamed to be Hetalia fans, guys. Don't let the bad behavior of a few corner you into allowing them to speak for all of us. If you're one of the good Hetalia fans--and if you're still reading this, I suspect you are--then come out of the back row and say it with me.
I still like my fandom.
And I'll tell you why.