Greyscale Approach - Tumblr Posts
If you can watch Game of Thrones and know murder, incest and rape are wrong and not become a murderer, sister-fucker or rapist, then you understand proshipping.
If you can watch true crime TV and not actively support the criminals they portray, you understand proshipping.
If you can create gory art and not be aroused by it and understand its an aesthetic or story-telling piece, you understand proshipping. Even if you are aroused by it, but you don't have the urge to go out and gut someone, you understand proshipping.
It is, genuinely, that simple. Creative perspective does not equate to or directly reflect moral perspective or intent.
If you can go to the movies or sit at home on Netflix or read books or consume quite literally anything that depicts topics you would revolt against in a fandom capacity, I'm sorry, but you understand and even partake in one of the core values of proshipping.
The creation and consumption of something are not individually exempt from the notion of it being morally 'correct' to do so. You cannot condemn the creation of something in a fandom capacity then continue to consume it in a 'reality' capacity.
They are the same.
Authors of so-called "bad" characters do not owe you continuous justification, apologies, explanation or written-in denouncing of the character's actions and views. They simply do not.
They likewise do not have to very specifically limit their writing or tailor their writing in order to satisfy your demands of denouncing, "fixing" or understanding of the character's actions and views as "bad."
They don't have to include the specific plot of the character changing or facing consequences or grovelling for forgiveness. They don't have to include paragraphs of author notes saying they don't, in reality, condone the character's actions or views.
They. Just. Don't.
Stop demanding it. Someone can write about horrific serial killer on a murder spree and they don't have to specifically always write the killer getting their comeuppance. They can just actually write about a serial killer killing people. And no, it doesn't mean they enjoy, support or fantasise about said things.
If you can watch movies and read books and understand that it doesn't mean you support aspects of it, then why demand that people who are, in reality, doing no different to what the writers and directors of the movie you just watched have done, apologise or denounce or limit themselves to certain permittable criteria? You yourself don't go watch a murder mystery and announce to the whole movie theatre that you buying this ticket and watching this movie doesn't equate to supporting murder.
Why should authors?
(The answer: they don't. And they never will.)
Okay so I have to say this because I just saw the most ridiculous ridiculous statement anyone has ever had the audacity to put on my dashboard:
"You're the moral evil and part of the problem if you spend your disposable income on fanfiction instead of giving it to people in need."
This is the literal ideology of the billionaires and boomers who tell you to stop buying Starbucks if you want to afford a house.
If I earned this income by spending 40+ hours of my week at a job, earning money to afford basic survival, I'm the only one who gets to dictate what happens to the little I have that doesn't determine whether I eat tonight or not.
My brother in christ, half the time those fanfiction authors are the people in need. There's not a day that goes by that I don't see some form of 'I need financial aid so I'm offering commissions' posts. Fanfiction authors aren't just rich trust fund teens lounging at home with nothing better to do. I paid part of my dog's vet bills with commission money.
You are making a huge assumption about someone(s) you know literally nothing about. Likewise, you're acting as if financial aid is the absolute of all charity. You're condemning a complete stranger online with no insight into what charitable efforts they may be making regardless of if they do or do not pay $2 towards someone's rent or surgery. They could be doing volunteer work. Housing in-need relatives. Feeding stray animals. Creating or curating resources for people both tangible and online. They could be working in aid or relief. And you're really going to tell them they're reprehensible because they spent money on something that they enjoy? When paying for fanfiction is no different to buying a book in a store?
Again: Paying for fanfiction is no different to buying a book in a store. You're paying for words/a story written by someone else. Their time, effort and skill. You ae paying for a product/service. In the case of AO3, you are paying for a safe, regulated, convenient platform in order to access said skills and efforts. The way you'd pay for a library card or an Audible subscription.
In a lot of cases the people responsible for statements like this are either the people who think mural crusading and justice touting online is a form of activism, or they're people who's own aid requests haven't met expectations and are thus resentful of income they feel they are entitled to by default of need.
While the latter is, to an extend, understandable it is still neither morally superior nor 'right' to condemn people for spending their own money in ways which harm nobody and benefit both parties. Someone spending their money on fanfiction, mutual benefit aside, is no different to someone buying a Funko Pop or a candy bar or a collectible shoe.
Fanfiction and people paying for it are not the issue. They are not the magical solve-all of poverty. Just like people not buying a $6 coffee won't solve their inability to qualify for a mortgage or first-buyer's scheme. You are assigning blame to the individual instead of the authoritative persons who are responsible. Attempting to use a moral compass as a means to guilt-trip or harass people into funding you is no less than bullying. It is immoral in and of itself.
To ensure you fully understand how ridiculous you sound, I challenge you, the maker of these statements, to go into town and tell the people buying coffee, cigarettes, books, snack foods, makeup, ect that they are the scum of the earth for not instead donating that sum.