Wank the Wankers
This stemmed from a comments in 
thete1's comments. I was going to just let the whole issue go until I saw that the same user had posted in Te's journal.
These days, you'd better not disagree with F_W, or you might get called a racist. In fact, you're not allowed to disagree with them about anything anymore, even if it has nothing to do with fandom. Recently, there was a kerfluffle on F_W where an individual posted many offensive race-related things in her private LJ, and instead of questioning the individual, they wanked about it on F_W.
I originally posted in defense of the individual, essentially saying that the individual's written comments are incongrous to the person I know in other respects (in hopes that the individual would then answer the group's comments, but that's a moot point now), and perhaps, since fandom was not involved, it would be better to ask the individual about the comments. In no way did I condone her views, and I think this is stated oh... about ten or so times.
Most of my tenure at the thread included a debate with darkrosetiger. Well, when I didn't agree with the way the group handled the situation, it was automatically assumed (incorrectly) that I agreed with everything the individual said, therefore implying that I'm a racist. Because damn, if I disagree with the ethics of Thing A, by default, I must be then defending the ideals of Thing B, right? *bangs head on desk*
Perhaps it was too difficult to expend the necessary three braincells to attempt to see my point of view.
And furthermore, she called me condescending, because I was obviously trying to be "the white boy patting [her] on the head" because at one point I told her that she was being arrogant... I'm sorry. I'm still laughing my ass off about </i>that</i> one. Then, when I apologized and tried to tell her that though I'm not a minority, I can see why she's so upset, she told me "to stop digging." But, as usual- Hey- I don't know how to reply to your post, so I'm going to ignore and not address the actual points that you're making and just start calling names and in hopes that you go away. Intelligence personified, thy name is F_W. *snerk*
See, her main point was that because the only part she saw was me engaging the group in discussion about their part, then I was therefore condoning the individual's views. Not only did I point her towards comments I had left for the individual, but I also told her that I had spoken to the individual in other ways. But you know, I can't see that, and it doesn't support my comments, so let's just ignore that and call names.
As far as the "patting her on the head" thing. Look. My disagreeing with her had nothing to do with her race. I would have disagreed had she been white/black/Asian/polka-dotted. And I didn't tell her to "make nice with the racist" as she has stated many times- my point was that don't lower yourself to the individual's supposed level and then proclaim moral superiority. It had nothing to do with her being black and everything to do with a disagreement.
I don't agree with racist comments, nor do I agree with a mob mentality of a group that convenes solely to bash others. If we want to get technical, the Nazis did both, and in my opinion neither the group or the individual has any right to claim moral superiority (which is what happened).
Recently, she sent me a note asking me to "please go away" because I was raising her blood pressure. Honestly, she's part of a group that mocks all day long. Explain to me why in the hell anyone should give a shit about her blood pressure, since she obviously doesn't care about others'. Her blood pressure can go through the roof for all I care (hey- was that condescending?) But anyway, yay for wanking the fucking wankers.
And I think it speaks to the intelligence factor of the group that they couldn't tell my sex despite the picture of me with "Christina" written across it in big letters.
However, my tenure at F_W did teach me something: Idiots will always be idiots- and sometimes, it's better to just let them stay in their own little idiot-commune. Any strain of original thought might explode their little brains.
I do concede that I cannot criticize the Wankers for being immature, because after all, it is in their userinfo. I can criticize the group for their involvement in the thread I'm talking about, because as the title states, it should be about fandom. And it wasn't.
Anwho, I recently wrote a shorter, friends-only rant on the topic, and I figure I'll open it up, since I'm basically taking my frustration public, anyway.
Fandom_Wank is a piece of shit. I used to be a lurker when it was on LJ, when it was about minor kerfluffles about, oh, rants centered on who fictional characters or boyband members were fucking. Things that were funny, because they were so trivial.
Now, it's just this massive little hate machine. I'll admit that there are people out there who have ideas or have said things that I don't agree with and/or offend me.
You know what I do? I either a) personally write them a decent message to discuss these views, or b) have sense enough not to read those specific journals. I do not run off to report what I've found and join in on the massive bashing of an individual. Again, said individual may have said things that I find offensive. It's called the high road, people. Find it.
From what I've seen over the past two days F_W has decided to target non-fandom kerfluffles or start out with a minor issue and then rip a person apart for things that have no relevance to fandom. Some things that the individual has said have been correctly quoted and discussion has ensued, but for the most part, quotes have been twisted and snarked upon. From what I can tell, very few people bothered to even notify the individual to talk honestly and decently about the ideas. For as much as can be said about ideas/journal posts that are/may be construed as racist, other things can be said about a group that congregates to viciously taunt and throw stones at others.
There is no moral high ground here. There is a general right to ask that the individual explain his or her controversial views, or even to critique those views in a public forum. However, much of what I've seen on F_W is not intelligent criticism, but stone-hurling. It is not the voice of reason. In my opinion, that makes the group as morally questionable as the individual.
So, I suppose that my general point is: Grow up, kids. People are going to have controversial ideas that you consider grossly misinformed and wrong. That's fucking life. Free speech exists for those you consider both 'right' and 'wrong.' Either act maturely and engage in discussion, or fucking ignore it, because a mob mentality doesn't make you any better, nor will it make one iota of difference in the end.
lm made some insightful comments on the first post. She may either repost them, or feel free to check them out should you wish. But anyway, the frustration has been vented.
*sigh*
I have a paper to go write.
-C
thete1's comments. I was going to just let the whole issue go until I saw that the same user had posted in Te's journal.These days, you'd better not disagree with F_W, or you might get called a racist. In fact, you're not allowed to disagree with them about anything anymore, even if it has nothing to do with fandom. Recently, there was a kerfluffle on F_W where an individual posted many offensive race-related things in her private LJ, and instead of questioning the individual, they wanked about it on F_W.
I originally posted in defense of the individual, essentially saying that the individual's written comments are incongrous to the person I know in other respects (in hopes that the individual would then answer the group's comments, but that's a moot point now), and perhaps, since fandom was not involved, it would be better to ask the individual about the comments. In no way did I condone her views, and I think this is stated oh... about ten or so times.
Most of my tenure at the thread included a debate with darkrosetiger. Well, when I didn't agree with the way the group handled the situation, it was automatically assumed (incorrectly) that I agreed with everything the individual said, therefore implying that I'm a racist. Because damn, if I disagree with the ethics of Thing A, by default, I must be then defending the ideals of Thing B, right? *bangs head on desk*
Perhaps it was too difficult to expend the necessary three braincells to attempt to see my point of view.
And furthermore, she called me condescending, because I was obviously trying to be "the white boy patting [her] on the head" because at one point I told her that she was being arrogant... I'm sorry. I'm still laughing my ass off about </i>that</i> one. Then, when I apologized and tried to tell her that though I'm not a minority, I can see why she's so upset, she told me "to stop digging." But, as usual- Hey- I don't know how to reply to your post, so I'm going to ignore and not address the actual points that you're making and just start calling names and in hopes that you go away. Intelligence personified, thy name is F_W. *snerk*
See, her main point was that because the only part she saw was me engaging the group in discussion about their part, then I was therefore condoning the individual's views. Not only did I point her towards comments I had left for the individual, but I also told her that I had spoken to the individual in other ways. But you know, I can't see that, and it doesn't support my comments, so let's just ignore that and call names.
As far as the "patting her on the head" thing. Look. My disagreeing with her had nothing to do with her race. I would have disagreed had she been white/black/Asian/polka-dotted. And I didn't tell her to "make nice with the racist" as she has stated many times- my point was that don't lower yourself to the individual's supposed level and then proclaim moral superiority. It had nothing to do with her being black and everything to do with a disagreement.
I don't agree with racist comments, nor do I agree with a mob mentality of a group that convenes solely to bash others. If we want to get technical, the Nazis did both, and in my opinion neither the group or the individual has any right to claim moral superiority (which is what happened).
Recently, she sent me a note asking me to "please go away" because I was raising her blood pressure. Honestly, she's part of a group that mocks all day long. Explain to me why in the hell anyone should give a shit about her blood pressure, since she obviously doesn't care about others'. Her blood pressure can go through the roof for all I care (hey- was that condescending?) But anyway, yay for wanking the fucking wankers.
And I think it speaks to the intelligence factor of the group that they couldn't tell my sex despite the picture of me with "Christina" written across it in big letters.
However, my tenure at F_W did teach me something: Idiots will always be idiots- and sometimes, it's better to just let them stay in their own little idiot-commune. Any strain of original thought might explode their little brains.
I do concede that I cannot criticize the Wankers for being immature, because after all, it is in their userinfo. I can criticize the group for their involvement in the thread I'm talking about, because as the title states, it should be about fandom. And it wasn't.
Anwho, I recently wrote a shorter, friends-only rant on the topic, and I figure I'll open it up, since I'm basically taking my frustration public, anyway.
Fandom_Wank is a piece of shit. I used to be a lurker when it was on LJ, when it was about minor kerfluffles about, oh, rants centered on who fictional characters or boyband members were fucking. Things that were funny, because they were so trivial.
Now, it's just this massive little hate machine. I'll admit that there are people out there who have ideas or have said things that I don't agree with and/or offend me.
You know what I do? I either a) personally write them a decent message to discuss these views, or b) have sense enough not to read those specific journals. I do not run off to report what I've found and join in on the massive bashing of an individual. Again, said individual may have said things that I find offensive. It's called the high road, people. Find it.
From what I've seen over the past two days F_W has decided to target non-fandom kerfluffles or start out with a minor issue and then rip a person apart for things that have no relevance to fandom. Some things that the individual has said have been correctly quoted and discussion has ensued, but for the most part, quotes have been twisted and snarked upon. From what I can tell, very few people bothered to even notify the individual to talk honestly and decently about the ideas. For as much as can be said about ideas/journal posts that are/may be construed as racist, other things can be said about a group that congregates to viciously taunt and throw stones at others.
There is no moral high ground here. There is a general right to ask that the individual explain his or her controversial views, or even to critique those views in a public forum. However, much of what I've seen on F_W is not intelligent criticism, but stone-hurling. It is not the voice of reason. In my opinion, that makes the group as morally questionable as the individual.
So, I suppose that my general point is: Grow up, kids. People are going to have controversial ideas that you consider grossly misinformed and wrong. That's fucking life. Free speech exists for those you consider both 'right' and 'wrong.' Either act maturely and engage in discussion, or fucking ignore it, because a mob mentality doesn't make you any better, nor will it make one iota of difference in the end.
lm made some insightful comments on the first post. She may either repost them, or feel free to check them out should you wish. But anyway, the frustration has been vented. *sigh*
I have a paper to go write.
-C