Hey, Same Person Who Sent In The Ask About Pro-ship And 'anti' Definitions And Such -

hey, same person who sent in the ask about pro-ship and 'anti' definitions and such -

(sorry if this is incomprehensible i'm tail end of an all-nighter and my brain is fried lol) thank you, reading through it makes a lot of things make sense, and honestly, I definitely do find myself on the 'neutral' or therefore pro-ship side (as it appears to be), or just that "live and let live" idea. writing a fic about an abusive relationship doesn't make you an abuser or an awful person, and its always been so strange to me how people will say that 'writing it means you are it', to put it loosely. i have my own personal limits in how I like to consume and portray these things, but i literally have zero qualms if someone else's limits and tastes are different than mine because 1) not my business 2) nobody's holding a gun to me head to make me consume their content 3) doesn't mean they're an awful person who ought to be arrested or however some people make it out to be. if someone writes a rape fic that's between them, their audience and the google doc it was written on. it also kinds ties in to the whole idea of censorship and my opinions on it for me, with how vague some people seem to be about it - if you're calling to ban all fics that "romanticize abuse", that itself can be abused to take down the works of queer or disabled people, people who are open about different types of relationships, etc etc. what i'm trying to say is if you try to ban any fic like that, you're probably also going to ban fics of people in poly relationships, or who have an unusual kink that you don't like, because it's vague enough to be able to suppress people. am i making sense here? probably not, but I do hope you get what I'm saying here, sincerest apologies for my incessant rambling.. it's just been a long, long time since I've been able to say these views that I hold (I don't think I ever have, actually. Not to this extent anyway).

thank you, thank you very much. definitely going to be sticking around this blog for a while, I think ^^

What you've described is effectively being pro-ship. However, there's no obligation to use labels. SALS is still a somewhat popular acronym and there is also profiction, which a lot of people are more comfortable with using to describe how they relate to fiction vs reality. Fandom spaces are all down to the individual.

I'm glad I could help you better your understanding, give you a space to speak openly, and I never mind rambling or long messages.

Upcoming US Senate Vote on KOSA

KOSA “amounts to a blank check for censorship”. Concerned individuals can urge US senators to vote “no” ahead of this week’s US Senate vote on advancing KOSA: https://bit.ly/3YhRqS2. Read Fight for the Future’s full statement at: https://bit.ly/4di9T5n 

You can also review OTW Legal’s concerns about KOSA at: https://otw-news.org/2p88fj2w 

honestly, I’m really happy that you made that “we need to be allowed to be free from politics in fandom” post. And I’m really happy that it made some people angry.

Because you’re right. I’m a living example- I’m a person who just feels so much guilt if they don’t participate in this ritual of self-sacrifice in the way of helping others. And I feel like tumblr activism has come to a point where it’s not even about helping each other or mutual aid, it’s about guilt-tripping people and saying “well, you wouldn’t want to be Mr evil terrible guy, right? Right? So signal boost this! Or else you’re literally an evil transphobic homophobic racist Zionist fascist bigot”

we all have to be selfish sometimes. We have to. Selfishness is inherently neutral and we need it to survive. I’m a real example of what happens when a person tries to live a life without selfishness- guess what, I’m the worlds biggest doormat and I’m basically miserable because I’m too afraid to tell people that I just can’t do it anymore.

I’m a person who needs help right now. I’m a person who needs assistance right now. But I don’t think any of them really care. They just want someone to make into their strawman. The world isn’t black and white like that, though

The majority of Tumblr activism isn't about helping other people.

Its about giving people an outlet for their own emotions, and showing other people you're not a bad person. I have no doubt a lot of the people falling victim to this actually believe they're helping, and likely have good intentions, but realistically I see so many people just using "activism" to lash out at others and moral grandstand.

Weaponizing activism blatantly defeats the purpose of activism. There's no standard to the people who need help, and just because someone can't necessarily be an extreme activist doesn't void them from being the recipient of it.

I hope you get the help and respite you need and if I can help you or facilitate finding people to help you I'm happy to. I can also gather some resources for self-help and methods to reduce stress if those are beneficial.

And remember:

Fandom is not inherently political.

The point of activism is to make change, not to get notes on a post.

Those with broken legs cannot run. Don't cripple yourself trying to help others.

YOU CAN NOW REPORT STOLEN CONTENT ON WATTPAD WITHOUT BEING THE ORIGINAL CREATOR

Wattpad Help Center: Reporting 'Published' Content If You Are Not The Owner

You can now report stolen content which has been wrongfully uploaded to Wattpad by thieves if you are not the original content owner by reporting it as a 'copy' of existing content.

I do not currently have any first-hand information on how reasonable or effective this is. Wattpad is not known for its readiness to protect content owners, however this is absolutely a step toward reforming the website and its policies on copyright and content protections.

However the only way to actually prove how important it is to protect copyright and just how badly Wattpad needs to start taking content theft seriously to actually and properly use this feature. If you are scrolling Wattpad and see "collections" or "re-uploads" of stolen works, please take the time to effectively report it.

Wattpad is full to the brim of stolen fanfiction and fanart. This is a step in the right direction toward teaching people proper copyright and consequences.

Your post regarding specifc places for things and some places dont need a vent channel it helped me realise that the people i follow online were damaging to my health. They were constantly sharing real people who died horrifically and saying things like "if you dont share you're supporting violence " while i only joined social media to view art.

I actively speak about real life events offline with my family, we always talk about whats happening in the world once a week and mention anything new within the local and worldwide news. I didn't understand why social media was worsening my mental health around these topics since i could speak about it in real life with my family. i assumed i was horrible for simply not wanting to see it online, When your post about a safe space came up i realised why it made me feel so bad, the artists i followed no longer were posting art and were just constantly sharing news daily about horrific events. It became inescapable and i was unknownly doomscrolling for hours on social media while hoping to see art (that just made me feel bad viewing after seeing so much death) , my only escape was going offline. I already made new accounts just for art and Im so thankful for your post since i did avoid everything that was about real world events since the account is only for art and i feel so much more.. i guess happier.. but definitely more mentally healthy if that makes sense? It felt like my mind was drained or foggy when scrolling through social media, and i wasnt actually paying attention before but now its a lot more, clear, healthy and positive. Im able to think properly and actually pay attention and appreciate the good things online

I'm so glad I was able to help you on your journey to bettering your wellbeing. Its an aspect of why I run this blog and talk about the things that I do.

So very often people don't actually register or realize what parts of their lives are causing stress. They attribute it to 'working too much' or 'not sleeping enough' without realizing that there are direct causes for things like not sleeping enough. And I'm not saying every single part of life comes back to activism, but very often we don't even realize how much negativity and forced awareness we're exposing ourselves to.

I used to religiously follow accounts on Instagram which posted about animal abuse. Other than a handful of celebrities my Instagram feed would be the most graphic videos you could imagine of people hacking into live dogs with axes, boiling cats alive in huge vats of water, jockeys tearing at horse's mouths until their teeth were loose and they were leaving a trail of blood as they walked the winner's circle.

I used to think if I wasn't constantly forcing myself to acknowledge that these things were happening, if I wasn't constantly reminding myself the extent at which these things happen, I was a bad person. I wasn't a real animal lover. If I truly loved animals why wasn't I sharing these videos? Why wasn't I sitting there with thousands of other people acknowledging what animals go through while I sit comfy at home doing nothing?

It got the point where I'd be throwing up constantly, I refused to sleep because I was terrified of the nightmares and my hands would shake as I opened up the Instagram app because I dreaded what I'd see today.

It wasn't helping me. It wasn't helping the animals. I'm just as aware now of what animals go through without having to see any of it.

But now, I have the wellbeing to actually devote myself to meaningful activism. Not just tormenting myself to no outcome. Now, I have the willpower and the energy to sign petitions and do research and take steps in my own life to better the welfare of the animals in my care.

Now I can sleep at night and wake up well-rested with the energy and the motivation to do things both for myself and for other people. Now, I can scroll Instagram and leave polite, correctional comments on misguided videos about animals. Now I have the knowledge to devote my attention and my efforts to where it actually makes a difference and changes animal's lives.

It is such, such a hard thing to drag yourself out of. We're so conditioned into thinking suffering shared is suffering lessened. We're so conditioned into believing that by spamming words anywhere we can we are the direct cause of change.

Its a hell of a learning climb. A steep one. But I genuinely believe the world would be better off for learning and changing as we both had the courage to.

someone was sharing info on how to keep yourself and also kids in general safe online, their sources came from credible orgs like RAINN and an anti reblogged the post and went “that’s great and all but I won’t share because this is proshipper rhetoric”

This is just kind of sad. They really think information about online safety is wrong