Tangentially Related to the Addition of Warning Tags, some words on why such tags are lacking. · 4:58am Dec 20th, 2017
This Isn't War is not a story about suicide, you brainless, cynical wastrels.
CELESTIA BLAST IT ALL, WHY ARE THERE SO MANY PIECES OF WALKING MISERY WHO THINK WAR STORIES ALL HAVE TO END WITH DEPRESSING SUICIDE? DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY VETERANS HAVE RE-INTEGRATED? DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY OF THEM HAVE RICH, FULFILLING LIVES WHERE THEY CAN GO WHOLE DAYS WITHOUT HEARING THOSE THRICE-CURSED ECHOES OF GUNSHOTS WHENEVER SOMEONE STARTS A CAR BAD? I HAVE SO MANY FRIENDS WHO HAVE BEEN THROUGH SO MUCH SHIT, BUT DO THEY ASK FOR MY PITY? DO THEY ASK FOR MY TEARS? DO THEY EVEN ASK ME TO UNDERSTAND THEIR STRUGGLE?
YOU CAN BE COCK-BUGGERINGLY SURE THEY DON'T! ALL THEY WANT IS TO BE ALIVE, AND REJOICE IN THE WORLD THAT THEY HELPED TO KEEP ALIVE, BUT YOU PATHETIC IGNORAMUS MONGRELS THINK THEY'RE ALL JUST WAITING FOR THE CLOCK TO RUN OUT ON THEIR PATIENCE AND FOR THEM TO KILL THEMSELVES, DON'T YOU? YOU BRAINLESS, HEARTLESS PIECES OF SHIT!
If you read This Isn't War, and thought it was about suicide, take a moment to try to write down how someone doing a Sonic Rainboom, who has never done a Sonic Rainboom, and has no frame of reference for it, would think about it. Then go back and read my ending.
And if you're wondering why I didn't spell it out, it's because I'm not an idiot. I recognize that the sheer exultation and realization that Rainbow Dash is pulling off something truly mythical would be complete tonal dissonance, horrifically jarring and weird. So the story ends where it does, the latest possible moment that could still preserve the tone I was going for. And by horrific accident, a whole fucking mess of you got completely the wrong idea.
And no, I'm not in the mood to accept culpability for it being 'ambiguous'. Those last few lines are all about Rainbow Dash chasing a thrill. If you think she would ever regard dive-bombing the ground with no intention to pull up as a thrill, then you've never held a bread knife to your stomach at 3 AM on a Wednesday, not daring to look out at the sky because you're afraid you'll see God's face.
And I'm not being specific to psych you out. I'm being specific so that you can let it sink in that I know precisely what a suicidal person would be thinking right there. And I'm spelling that out here because people who think suicide is thrilling are so stupid it needs to be clearly enunciated for them. That's a word meaning 'to make the sounds of the words with your mouth so other people can tell what the sounds are'.
Now get out. Fuck right off, forever. I don't care that you're unfollowing me, or just deciding not to associate with me anymore because blah-blah death of the author, or whatever. This space, this person, is not someone who wants to entertain your deluded fantasy that the world is all glumness and death. There are good people out there, and good things worth living for.
I am done letting people say the world is a bad place. I've seen darkness you people can't wrap your minds around, and I still laugh and live and managed to fall in love with two people at once, who both fell in love with me and each other. So grow up, stop pretending that the only good fairy tale is one that ends with a beheading, and join us in the real world, where thousands of dollars get donated to charities by normal people just going to church, and where people smile.
*Applause*
*Unfollows so he can follow a second time*
I reread the story just to be sure I remembered the ending right. Are people seriously telling you to add that tag? Seriously!? The absence of a sad or tragedy tag before wasn't enough indication . . . sigh. Well said though, keep up the great writing.
I can see how someone might reach that conclusion, but it would require ignoring a good portion of the narrative.
Particularly the part where if given the choice, Rainbow flat out admits she would choose the world over the war. War is suicide, and if you're lucky, it's an unsuccessful one. If anything, this story is an affirmation of the desire to live.
YOWZA
I didn't follow you before but I sure as shit will now lol
I am not disagreeing with you, just, what prompted this? As far as I can tell, there hasn't been that many comment to that effect on the fic. At the very least, not recently.
Amen. I don’t think you need the attention of those pessimists anyway. Let’s all just enjoy the amazing writing, and have some happy holidays
4753925
The addition of warning tags. Now that a warning about suicide lacking from a story is enforcable as a breakage of the rules, nobody has any excuse to pretend it's about death. That, and while it may not have been a large percentage, it was an annoying and persistent viewpoint that was even enforced by the Royal Canterlot Library feature commenting on how ambiguous the ending was. I've been getting angry about this for a very long time.
*claps*
Well said, mate. Well said.
It never even crossed my mind that people would interpret the Rainboom as suicide. I had to go back and re-read the ending to figure out what you were yelling about.
4754188
Dunno, it just felt a bit emotional for something that is an old issue.
Anyway the fact remain that since you never specified what happend exactly, it IS up to interpretation. And I can see how one could read it as a scuicide.
Still, even ignoring the tags, the first thing that it brought to mind was a sonic rainboom, not a suicide. And that come from a depressed cynical guy.
4754276
I am very good at holding grudges, my friend.
It was about suicide??!!
Honestly the internet isn't what it used to be . People getting triggered about this, people getting triggered about that. Can we have the internet that simply does not care back anymore?
Yeah, my bad on that one. I was a wee bit of a cock in my comments to that effect on the fic, and since regret my words. I still see how it was mistaken by so many, but there was no call for me to be a toss pot about it.
4763842
Apology sincerely accepted, friend.
4763844
Thanks, takes a weight off. Felt bad about that for a while.
4763845
Don't need to stress yourself, man. Honestly, half the reason I wrote this blog post at all was because I've wanted to unload all these pent-up frustrations, and the new Suicide tag just made it topical. Aside from that, I'm actually fairly over it.
You know, the funny thing is, I feel like this blog could easily be construed as an overreaction.
But I still agree with every word of it.
Thanks for having the courage to rant about this. I agree with you 110%. People need to stop living in this fantasy world where everything's terrible and all of the people who believe in good only do so because they "aren't smart enough" or "haven't grown up yet" or any of a million other excuses. We are allowed to believe in good. We have the right to believe, no matter what anyone else thinks. And if they really won't accept our help and insist on wallowing in their black-tinted glasses - too bad for them.
You've earned yourself a follower, KM.
4783766
I find it ironic that we're referring to the view of the world where everything is horrible as a fantasy, when the people holding that view try to dismiss the concepts of justice and goodness and right as just that, a fantasy. Funny how that works.
4783797
I know. It's so backwards. But, unfortunately, it isn't easy to change people...and some people really have undergone too much to be happy easily again. But that doesn't ever mean that happiness shouldn't exist.