Bigotry in the Hetalia fandom.
There's something going on in the R/A comm right now that's got me so upset I want to talk about it here. If you don't follow the R/A comm, this should still all make sense.
( I am angry and it goes behind a cut. )
( I am angry and it goes behind a cut. )
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A lot of people are afraid of causing Drama, even when they feel something they see on the internet is wrong and hateful and speaking out about it is not Drama. People are afraid of rocking the boat, afraid of actually being the in the wrong and getting dogpiled, afraid of being the raindrop that makes the river overflow it's banks and envelop everything in a fandom flamewar.
No one wants to risk the chance of ending up on Fandom Wank.
I know Hetalia can operate in a confusing zone due to it's very nature, but clearly this doesn't fall into that. I'm just sorry that something like this had to affect such a great community. :((
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Believe me, I'm very much aware of why people might not want to say something. What I'm saying is: when you encounter BIGOTRY, don't be afraid to say something. Even if you think it might cause wank: your principles are more important.
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I completely agree with you. It can just be hard sometimes. It's not an excuse, but crap like what you're talking about is part of what pushed me into being a huge lurker in the first place.
So more power to you. You stood up for what you thought was right.
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*checks*
Yes.
Honestly? Thank you for saying something.
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I mean, that's something you expect to see as a joke.
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I was more thinking "Thank you" for calling out to her to stop being so biased. It was interesting to hear her, um, opinion, I guess, on things - just to learn what other people know. But she was very belittling and flippant in her responses/footnotes, and I was uncomfortable with that. So, just, um, "Thanks" for stepping up to the plate and doing something.
*Looks down at other comments.* I guess from the response of the post here and there that others have wanted to voice something, too. :3
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I think there is a mindset of "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all" in fandom, to some extent. (Disregarding things said behind flock or anonmemes, of course, but those aren't public/attributable so there's less risk of backlash, I think.) And sometimes this is a good mentality to have, a la your-kink-is-not-my-kink-but-that's-okay, but when you're dealing with subjects and issues that actually do have real-world repercussions and mirror or display real-world problems that can really harm real people?
Yeah. Speaking out is absolutely kosher, and absolutely warranted. And I think you did the right thing, here. Fuck the tone argument; bigotry is not cool. (And, unfortunately, because of the nature of Hetalia, I think it's something that we as a fandom have to watch out for, because our characters aren't just characters, and the way we treat them may say more than we intended it to.)
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Well, but I think that's also the source of the tremendous promise of Hetalia, you know? Because our characters aren't just characters. We can use them to educate, challenge people's preconceptions, and overcome prejudice, both our own and that of others. I think that's a beautiful thing about this fandom, and I know I'm a less biased person in many respects because of my time spent in this fandom.
But like. Jesus. Just because our fandom is pretty chill in most respects, that doesn't mean it's okay to just nervously giggle when somebody starts spouting ignorance and hatred. I mean, like, if you're into watersports, that's cool, whatever, I'm not into watersports, but have fun with that. If you're into hating another country? That is something I am not okay with. Especially when you start misinforming ( ... )
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Well, but I think that's also the source of the tremendous promise of Hetalia, you know?
Oh, absolutely. That's been my favorite part about the fandom since I started writing for it -- I love seeing what other people do with the source canon almost as much as I love writing fic for it, because you learn so much about how people view and interact with history that way, how they take these things that could be sprawling impersonal sheets of facts and make them personal and make them real. And yes, Hetalia is a gag comic about gay countries failing a lot, but I think there's even humanity in that, you know? Because while they're all a bit daft at times, none of them are ever presented as entirely unsympathetic, and they're just trying to do their best under trying circumstances.
Which is why fics like that one make me so angry, I think, because here you have a way of HUMANIZING history and making it not about Struggles Between Right And Wrong but about people, real people, doing the best they can ( ... )
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Yes, yes, very much yes.
And I don't know if you dug any deeper into the archives on this, but there was another fic by the same author which I honestly found just as (or even more) disturbing, on adjacent grounds: it was about the Alaska Purchase (fine) through the lens of the "It was only rented," ehm, 'interpretation' (okay). Neither of the characters did anything particularly reprehensible in the fic...but the footnotes boiled down to "Yeah, Americans only believe what they believe because they're arrogant pricks who like to believe that Russia has been constantly hard-up for money; the Alaska Purchase probably was just a rental agreement, ~but we'll never know for sure.~ This is all totally historical, btw."
No. No no no no no. Why would you do that? It's just...incorrect! And you can read the Alaska ( ... )
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Sadly the Hetalia fandom in general seems to be going a little stir crazy. Trolling, attempted shipping wars, people not reading rules or using common sense... It's times like these you just want to have everyone take a chill pill and consider what Hetalia brings; understanding. Like you said, fans who become dedicated to Hetalia and it's pairings want to know more about other cultures, cultures they may have been taught to shun or hate. When people forget about that and simply used the characters to vent, examine personal desires, or make a point, forgetting their characterizations and forgetting that these are supposed to be countries [satirical yes, but representations of an entire group of people]... it is simply going with ( ... )
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Honestly, I was just as alarmed by the earlier Alaska Purchase fic, which was just...wildly inaccurate and bigoted in the facts it presented. And many people were saying "huh, I never knew that" or "I bet that's right." I mean.../headdesk.
Shooting a puppy is just, you know. That's "last straw" material.
Hopefully the Russia/America community can stay as drama free as possible.
I really hope so, too. I think it will. R/A folks are a really sensitive, open-minded lot, on the whole. It's just...in this case, I think that was part of the problem. If we don't police ourselves against bigotry, how are we gonna stay cool?
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I think that was because we've just been so spoiled with well researched fic that when one comes out and puts "facts" at the bottom, we assume it's correct and trust the author. That's where this author took advantage of that trust and put their own opinions into the "facts." Its fascinating how things can be manipulated into a slight form of propaganda in the sense that it plants "facts" in our heads.
If we don't police ourselves against bigotry, how are we gonna stay cool?
I concur.
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Personally, with Russia/America I feel there is no side to take. They were both crazy fucks. And it was hot, damn. /way to miss the point errr
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