Broken Entitlement Record, 300th Verse
So, if anyone’s read the Race Wank in SGA fandom (I swear there’s probably a better title, but hell if I know what it is), am I the only one going, “but it’s a damned story and not an affront to anyone in particular”? I mean, I can’t be expected to anticipate every single one of my readers triggers, and I don’t expect anyone else to do that with me either. Jumping on their shit over an AU story is ridiculous. It’s pitiful. It’s spiteful. It’s just a fun story someone wrote, not the damn rewriting of the Bible. You know fandom. That place that used to be fun and interesting. Where we’d all talk for hours over what we liked and disliked.
It’s not a dictatorship here. Not everyone is going to adore Ronon, or think Caldwell is a sexy manbeast. It just isn’t going to happen. Some people are going to like Parrish and hate Sheppard. Others won’t find Ford or Weir appealing. A couple people might even prefer the Genii over the expedition, or think Chaya’s the bee’s knees. Personal preferences are typically the reasons why we write in the first place. We don’t see something we’d like to read, or there’s not enough of it, so we do it instead. Or in the case of some, it hits all our buttons and we want to try it out ourselves. To give back to something that made us smile. Or any other limitless options that the sources inspires us to create.
Of note on this particular wank, not everything is about race. Not everything is meant to examined at such hypersensitivity and with instant assumptions that the writer is “racist, racist, racist; you racist whore” without bothering to ask why it was written that way. Sometimes a story is just that: a story. If it’s not your cup of tea, avoid it. Click the exit or back button and go find a story you have liked before. Writers can’t be expected to cater to every single person’s whims. It’s not fair to the writer for one thing. Because what might set Joe K off won’t necessarily make Wendy Y even pick up on it. Not everything is an affront to every single person’s sensibilities. (Previous paragraph argument applies here, too.)
Yes, I get it, sometimes things are as bad as they seem. I do understand that. I’m given a wide berth because I’m short, fat, Southern and not a blonde. I look less like Cindy Crawford than the Mona Lisa. Got it. But you know what? You learn to just avoid people if you think they’re a certain way. It saves you a lot trouble and issues later on. And if someone tells me, point-blank, “I didn’t intentionally do anything in that way, but if that’s what you saw, I’m sorry it offended you since that was never my intention” then the discussion is dropped. If I keep harping on something (and lord knows I can harp better than a first chair angel), it’s a reflection on my issues, not theirs. So maybe I should look at my own mess and see what’s bothering me; how I can make it better to get centered again.
In short SGA fandom: get over it. It’s like being pulled under by two waves of entitlement this week, and it’s old. Really, really old. Time to move on. I know. Let’s discuss the fact we’ll get to see the shows again in a couple weeks, finally after everyone else that had season rights has. Let’s squee over that for awhile, shall we?