Hate is the New Black

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=120 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="01078642egerdp.jpg"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=428 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="00f64643.jpg"> <div> <B>Hate is the New Black</B></div> <div>  <A NAME="hate_is_the_new_black"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> It's everywhere I look these days.  Fandom wanks, author wanks, mock pages, hate memes.  Got a couple BNFs (Big Name Fans) leading the charge with their personal LJs.  People hate the episodes, hate the shows, hate the actors, hate other fic authors, hate the story lines in fics, hate the way certain people write, hate people who've un-friended them, hate life, hate their kids, hate their partners, hate their bosses, hate their co-workers, hate their jobs.</div> <bR> <div> Hate hate hate.</div> <bR> <div> And I can understand getting to the point where taking a spike between the eyes would be easier than dealing with one certain thing *just one more time.*  I can.  I've been there lately.</div> <bR> <div> We've all posted our extreme distaste over certain fic authors - I think my feelings on the telepathic beagle thing is well documented.  Hell, I've been roasted over the flame of fandom myself.  Had someone stir up the pot, get everyone in a tizzy, got the war over one of my fics going hot and heavy then came running to tell me all about it so I'd get indignant and wade into the battle with both barrels blazing.  When I didn't, that person ripped up my shit big time.  Why?  I wouldn't feed the fire she'd started and since she was "the BNF" of the fandom, she took that as a slight toward her personally.  I don't care if someone doesn't like my fic - they don't have to read it.  They certainly don't have to like it.  That easy.  I don't post to public lists - I have my own site.  You have to *choose* to read my stuff - I don't throw it at you willy nilly.</div> <bR> <div> There's a difference however, of saying, "this fic didn't work for me because it was ill conceived from the start, the grammar was blocky and chunky and I found the ending completely unsatisfying," and saying something like, "this stupid cunt couldn't think her way out of a paper bag and she's so stupid that...."  Then gathering the little sychophants around to help bash the target when they *dare* to raise a dissenting voice to the instigator and the hatred.</div> <bR> <div> Yeah, you get the idea.  Walking away is usually the better part of valor.  Usually.</div> <bR> <div> I've been watching people do this for the last year now, and while it started out as "I can't *believe* someone would write fic like this*, it's now migrated to unmitigated hate.  When it gets to the point of character assassination of someone these people don't even *know*personally, then that's where I gotta draw the line.  It started with name calling and personal character bashing . . . now we're into slander, liable and defamation of character.  What's next?  "Oh yeah, I live near her.  I trashed her car (ripped up her yard, killed her dog) just like you said someone should because she's such a (insert insult of choice)."</div> <bR> <div> 'Oh that won't happen.'  Oh yeah?  You watch.  One of these days...</div> <bR> <div> I'm watching this stuff go on, keeping a sort of 'half-eye' on the LJs that are owned by the worst offenders and it suddenly dawns on me . . . it's not the show that's driven the people away.  It's the other people in the fandom.  It's the BNFs that think they're so far superior to everyone else that no one else except the 'exclusive few' should be allowed to post on lists, or write fic, or - heaven forbid - be nominated for a fanfic awards.  Because, according to one BNF, it's "insulting to be nominated" among so many "crap" writers.</div> <bR> <div> I'm included in that last bit.  Being a crap writer that is.</div> <bR> <div> And it's all condoned.  It's condoned because we're conditioned to enjoy seeing others subjected to pain - emotional or physical.  It's why Fandom Wank and Mock the SG Fic have so many people who read it - people get shredded to little pieces and we all sit back and go "yeah, rip that so & so a new one!  Kill that stupid (insert degrading term here)."</div> <bR> <div> Hate shouldn't be the new black - the one piece of online-fandom apparel that's a *must* have in the fandom wardrobe.  If the show's so disgusting - don't watch any more.  Please.  Face it, it's not going to get any better just because someone's holding out hope; the beloved characters aren't coming back permanently; the writers aren't going to have a sudden epiphany and begin writing relevant story lines; the pretty lead female *will* be paired up with the pretty lead male; it's tv, it's not real; it's just supposed to be some mindless entertainment.  The writers on the shows are bored, the actors are collecting paychecks, and nobody gives a crap.  Just - go do something else during that hour - or two - or four.  Go . . . mingle with some other humans and discuss something meaningful like, how to better your community or improve the school system or stop the bombs falling in the Middle East . . . something.</div> <bR> <div> Fic is just pretend, a fantasy written down and shared with others; bad writers are not bad people, no matter how much of an insistance is made by angry BNFs that they must die horrible, torturous deaths because they are ZOMG teh stooooopid.</div> <bR> <div> People, really.  Enough is enough - there's more nonsense in the world to bring us down, with the wars, and the security restrictions when we're traveling, and the shootings and killings . . . do we have to continually go after one another, too?  If the love for the show is gone, just be an adult and go do something else.  If reading someone's fic gives you a case of the screaming heebie-jeebies, then don't read that author's work anymore.  Let the rest of us have a good time without worrying where the next slam is going to come from.  Is that so hard?</div> <bR> <div> Apparently so.</div> </td> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=120 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="01178643.jpg"> <bR> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=52 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="00f64643.jpg"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="161" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 45 ><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="39" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="29"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Plotexpo.com"><U><IMG SRC="0181d270.jpg" border=0 width="29" height="39" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER WIDTH="15"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="45" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="15" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id58.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Threads, Moebiuses and Swan Songs"><U><IMG SRC="017271d0.jpg" border=0 width="39" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id166.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Drabble page"><U><IMG SRC="016271d0.jpg" border=0 width="39" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>