The Pandemic of Hatred · 7:26pm Jun 5th, 2020
I’m sorry I have to make this blog post. But I’m even more sorry that I haven’t made it until today.
I have two things to say to FimFiction. Not the MLP fandom at large. FimFiction.
The first thing is easy: Black Lives Matter. If that bothers you, find the nearest mirror and have a word with yourself.
The second thing I want to talk about is the lucky winner of its very own header:
Silencing Hatred is Not a Catch-22
There’s been a lot of sharing going on, especially of a Wootmaster Twitter thread regarding the rise of right-wing extremism in our humble little fandom. It’s a great thread, but I want to talk about the more recent thread he made regarding deripbooru’s decision to ban artwork they believe “promotes racism or attempt to downplay the Black Lives Matter movement”.
Some are mad at the decision, you see. Grrr, they say. Grrrr! This is authoritarian! A violation of freedom of speech!
Of course, it’s not. We all know that the mods of derpibooru, like those of fimfic, can do whatever they want with their website that doesn’t break one of the very few laws that regulate the internet. But whether it’s morally okay to ban hate speech seems to be a touchy topic these days.
I dunno. I’m pretty sure we're in the clear on this one.
And I didn’t think this was a prevalent opinion until I read this twitter thread, as well as the plethora of other blog posts made today by the lovely people in this community. But, apparently, this isn’t just an opinion that some FimFiction users have, but one held by some of the moderators of this very website.
Listen, friends.
You don’t have to entertain racists, or white supremacists, or homophobes, or TERFs, or even Nazis, or whatever hate group is currently asking to be heard, for the sake of fairness.
I’m willing to bet that, if you don’t agree with a certain hate group, it’s because one of your intrinsic values as a human being is to ensure that everyone has a voice. That nobody is silenced or oppressed based on their race, gender, nationality, etc. And yes, you may grumble through the corner of your mouth, that technically includes the Nazis. Drat.
We’ve all seen members of these hatred factories attack others for trying to silence them on moral grounds. It’s one of their favourite hobbies. The President of the United States recently took it up.
But consider: No.
Consider: The foundation upon which these groups operate is completely antithetical to your value. They don’t want everyone to have a voice. They want a certain group of people to be silenced. It’s their whole thing. They float these jokes, memes, tweets, artworks, whathaveyous, that disparage entire groups of people and make them feel unwelcome on their own planet.
It is okay to silence that kind of hatred, because they started it.
Do they say these things because of some deep-seated trauma? Possibly. Were they once someone who knew the difference between right and wrong, until they were radicalized by someone more evil than them? It’s likely. Were they writing Tolkien-inspired My Little Pony fanfiction some short years before they were charging after black people with a sword? Probably. And doesn’t that mean we should respond to them with love? Shouldn't we at least try to hear them out?
Nah.
I don’t want to hear them out, because they don't want my friends to be heard out.
And whenever I hear them talk, I do not feel inclusive, or enlightened, or like I've spent my time well. All I feel is pity. Why? Because I grew up in Canada.
I can open the news any time I want and see how lucky that makes me. But it’s not just the fact that I can avoid feeling the flames of the United States outside my doorstep, or that I don’t live in any of the many countries with ass-backwards leadership that are WAY worse than the States. It’s what I gained growing up in an area of the world that celebrates diversity with every breath it takes.
We are not perfect. We have police violence. We have racism. But it’s because of where I live that I had the opportunity to go to school with people of African, Asian, and European descents. That I was able to room with two Indians for four years, who introduced me to the difference between “white people spicy” and “brown people spicy”. It’s because I live here that I have the privilege of having a gay friend.
These people that whine about being silenced are speaking with opinions that have not fully formed. These are people who have never experienced their whole world falling apart and been rescued by the touch, or the words, of someone who looked nothing like them. These people have never stumbled upon an expression they’ve been secretly longing to find their entire lives, hidden, untranslatable, in someone else’s native language. These people have never seen a film like If Beale Street Could Talk or Schindler’s List or Boy Erased, and watched the credits roll by in a state of complete annihilation. These are people who have never met the nice muslim lady down the street who can whip up a life-changing chicken shawarma.
And that’s sad.
These are people with an incomplete perspective of the world. Maybe someday, they’ll get the code. But until then, these people are confronted, every day, with what they’re missing--the strength and wealth that diversity brings to every community--and they choose to throw up their walls and reject it anyways.
Well, fuck ‘em.
I’ve spent a long time ignoring these people. But that’s not enough, it’s never been enough, and I don’t want my fandom poisoned like this anymore. I love it too much.
This isn't a plea to the fimfiction moderators. It's to everyone here. Take a stand. Even if it's just a simple "No", it's worth it. And if you have the power in your online space to silence those who would silence, go right ahead, and don’t let anyone make you feel bad for it. You can help stop the virus from spreading.
Remember those whom you might be protecting.
You and me both, friend. Politics are exhausting. Although I’m not sure why you’re saying this, because I haven’t seen any politics lately. What I have seen is a lot of useful perspectives on the subject of oppression and violence and what is happening to this fandom and website. You’ve likely already seen these before mine, but in case you haven’t, definitely check out Wanderer D, MrNumbers, Aragon, and Cynewulf.
I hope we all feel better soon. But we don't get there without putting in the work.
Black Lives Matter,
M-
Well said, man. Well said.
I should probably write my own thoughtful middle finger to fascist and racist ideologies soon. Maybe once I have some time to do it. For now, I'll just sum it up in a few phrases.
Fuck racism.
Nazis are piss babies.
Black Lives Matter.
The problem with discussion of freedom of speech in the United States especially, where that and other freedoms are such a core part of our national identity is, well, it's only ever presented as freedom.
Like, you're free. You can do whatever you want! Please ignore the encroaching police state, you have freedom!
What we never talk about is how freedom is power. Being given a voice like what the First Amendment supposedly offers means we Americans have power that others do not. (I don't know how true that is anymore, of course.) And what do they say about power?
With it comes responsibility.
Americans do not use OUR granted freedoms responsibly, and that's just one of many reasons why we're in this state and are having such a hard goddamned time clawing our way out of it. You're given this huge power, and you decide to use it to be an asshole? For shame. My god.
Thank you for joining the voices speaking out.
Hell yeah, Miller. You've spoken really well, and addressed a key part of the argument for keeping fascists out of our space. Thank you!
Black lives matter, and fascism is for losers.
5278043
Augh, you're so right! They're babies of piss! Fuck, I should have used that.
5278047
True talk. Freedom is hard to think of as power when it isn't literally firearms.
This is a very well-written blog. Thank you for it, Miller. This kind of thing is exhausting, but the fact that more and more people are outspoken about it is making it a little less miserable.
One of the most common stupid arguments you find around is the people who say telling nazis to shut up is a bigoted act, because "bigotry means intolerance, and you're not tolerating the fascists! So who's the real fascist?!"
Lovely. Massively stupid, too. Tolerance of an intolerant position only means the intolerant position wins. Racism, fascism, and all the related ideologies, are built on the idea of some people being inferior from birth, by nature. Being aggressively against these ideologies means you're saying some people should shut up because of what they choose to believe.
The argument is complicated, it has many layers, but when you get down to it, even if you accept somehow that telling someone to shut the fuck up is the same as attacking them, here's a basic fact: you can choose to not be racist, and the anti-racists won't attack you. You can't choose not to be black.
So yeah, this blog got it exactly right. If you ever think, hey, maybe I should let this Nazi talk for the sake of equity? Consider the following: no.
If there's one thing that I've learned in the last few days, it's that I picked very good people to follow on here. Great post, Miller.
Before I start:
Black Lives Matter.
One of the most insidious tools that can be wielded by a hate group, is the pretense of righteousness and the deflection of guilt. The first place a lot of them will go to is a preconstructed strawman argument that illegitimately attacks a valid argument or statement. Possibly the most egregious one, is the insistence that saying “Black Lives Matter” is racist, and that people should instead say “All Lives Matter.”
It’s just as infuriating as when a bunch of people decided to have “straight pride” parades last year in defiance of pride month.
But back to my point, the idea is to distract from the real issue at hand. When you tell a racist bastard that you’re not going to put up with their racism, the first thing they will try to do is use your own systems against you. “Oh, how come you can say the peaceful inclusive stuff you want, but I’m not allowed to say the racist crap I want?” Or the ever popular 5 year old response of “what I’m doing isn’t racist, you’re racist.” Damnit, it makes me want to punch things.
Freedom of speech is supposed to be a tool to prevent oppression. NOT TO ENSURE IT.
Black Lives Matter.
Well said man! The strange dichotomy in this fandom between those who espouse "love and tolerate" rhetoric and those who embrace the 4chan approach of "say everything and lean into whatever riles the most jimmies" is more visible now than it's ever been.
Mr Minus you have my utmost respect, but if you want to stop this pandemic, you should do the opposite of what you're doing.
If you want to your arguments to win you should interact with conservatives not with people on your side of the isle. In your zeal to denounce fascists, you berate everyone who disagrees with you.
And that will only create more hate.
Remember not everyone who dislikes what the Black lives matter movement turned into hates black people. Take her for example
If you really want an actual fully formed opinion, I'm more than happy to discuss what we conservatives stand for.
5288037
Yeah, I'll pass on that. I've never had a pleasant conversation with you, and we've never even spoken about politics before. I'm not surprised you're the type of person to read a blog post saying "Fuck hate groups" and interpret it as "poor sad little Miller never talks to conservatives, his opinion is so malnourished, here, let me offer my assistance,"
Do us both a favour and don't respond to this comment. Just lose my number.
5289342
Yeah our first conversation was unfortunate. To say the least.
I apologise for that.
But now that I've done that I can promise this was the last time you've heard about me.
Very well said, Miller Minus.
I see this as an especial problem with all sorts of groups. One area is especially infuriates me with is religious types who claim that society is oppressing them and preventing them from worshipping.
No they are not. There is no 'grand agenda to destroy religion'. There is no 'war on Christmas'. It's just people who can't accept that not everybody shared their opinion.
Those who have never experienced true oppression have no right to claim they are being 'oppressed'.
my problem is not with the group, my problem is the way they present themselves, in my opinion this group poorly represents the ideals of black america, they destroy their own communities and business, and at times its like the group dosnt even care about their own people. going after people of their own race simply for disagreeing with them or say being conservative like justice clarence thomas. we have to look out for everyone regardless of political opinion, that's what they mean when they say "all lives matter"