I've Had People Chew Me Out Simultaneously For My Fanfic Supposedly Promoting Harmful Messages *and*

I've had people chew me out simultaneously for my fanfic supposedly promoting harmful messages *and* for saying that maybe their feminist credentials need checking if they promote a real life influencer who encouraged his viewers to blame and harass real life victims.

That's called not having a braincell. And also being a massive hypocrite.

Ok so...I've been thinking: is it true that there's an actual irredimable media?

IMO media is only truly bad when its specifically intended to cause harm or is just a blatant act of bigotry. Media is media. Media is supposed to tell a story, invoke thought, express things. Such things don't need redemption.

I mean I'll be blatantly honest and say after watching A Serbian Film I just... Didn't get it. If there was a message within it beyond the corrupt and horrific world of extreme pornography then it was lost on me. But assuming that was the message, the film did its job well. It told a story. The things shown in the film are the story. Contrary to my view, most people think its a horrific and damning piece of media that needs to be outlawed and everyone involved shot on sight.

Unless a piece of media was just a flagrant display of bigotry or something truly intended to be blatantly offensive with no ulterior goal, thinking of media as something that needs to be redeemed is just... Pointless, honestly.

JoJo Rabbit, for example. Many people were outraged that such a terrible era was turned into a slashy comedy, but those people also missed the very important messages conveyed in the movie. Does the film owe them redemption, or do they owe the film self-reflection?

Would I be the asshole if I bought Harry Potter merch anyway or is it just antis or others shaming me? I'm not a fan of Harry Potter, I just want to buy what I want without being shamed into "supporting" bad things.

I don't want to be known as an Israeli supporter because I buy Starbucks.

The thing is, the issue with buying these things is that the money you give those companies then contributes to supporting something awful. Which means if you know that, and you're still willingly giving these companies money, you're either declaring you just don't care or you're declaring you support what they're doing.

Like I said; if you genuinely can't live without Harry Potter merch, buy it secondhand. Or buy fanmade merch where absolutely none of the money is being funnelled into anti-trans and anti-queer movements and goal corporations.

Here's a scenario for you:

I'm walking down the street and there are two stalls. Both are selling the same thing. One of the stalls has a notice saying all the money raised today will go into funding animal abuse. Dog fights, ect.

The other stall has a sign saying all the money raised today will go into funding the stall owner's ability to keep making products as an alternative to the other store, so you can get the same product without funding the horrific abuse of innocent animals.

Now again, remember: they sell the exact same thing. Exact same price.

So. Do you think I'm a bad person if I choose to buy from the stall that funds animal abuse? Even though I really, really love animals and have the option not even two feet away to make the same purchase knowing it means the other stall gets less money for their horrible goal?

Because that's what Starbucks and JK Rowling and Nestle and Chick-Fil-A do. When you buy their products, you're actually putting money in their pockets which then gives them the ability to fund things like anti-trans movements, conversation camps, child slavery and xenophobic wars.

JK Rowling can't donate 75k to anti-trans movements if she doesn't have 75k to donate.

You're not being "shamed into not supporting bad things." Frankly if you have to be shamed into not supporting those things I think that answers your question anyway. But you are being given facts to make choices with.

And you can't stop people from looking at the choice you made and deciding if that makes you a bad person or not.

I've seen antis complaining about AO3's archive warnings bc it has the rape/non-con and underage warnings. Like, they're there for people who don't want to read fics with those topics to more easily hide them in their search. Instead of having to hide 1000 tags that relate to rape, you can just hide that one, it LITERALLY HELPS YOU NOT HAVING TO SEE THAT CONTENT WHY ARE YOU COMPLAINING.

Antis: Omfg if you're going to write it at least take 1947473 precautions to make sure I never ever have to see it!!

Antis when you use the 1947473 precautions:

By the way, censorship won't stop at extreme smut and icky kinks and big bad gays.

Because, that's the problem in kicking a few rocks down the mountainside. Once you trigger a landslide, you can't stop it.

If your comfy feelings and nostalgia are still more important the rights of human beings to simply exist, buy fanmade merch. Buy merch secondhand off resale sites. Stop buying directly from the source, stop buying licensed material which directly lines her pockets.

Pirate the fucking movies instead of streaming them directly and racking up numbers that keep her shit in profit.

another reminder to stop buying/watching/reading anything JK Rowling associated