SoâŠ.. within the last 24 hours I have uh⊠been contacted multiple times, several of the anons came within a very small time span of each other so it felt a little bombarding.
And I donât really know how to respond to this?
First I guess I should explain that this is about a post I made about why I thought the proposed ship name momentarily replacing McHanzo, âhainoonâ, was maybe a little bit problematic in the way it reduced a character down to their ethnicity (and I have not been the only person to raise this point). I posted a screenshot of a public conversation with the person who came up with the name over on twitter as well as linking to the twitter thread. The point was to prove I wasnât making the conversation up or improperly paraphrasing it. Iâve seen from their Twitter that they felt it was in an accusatory manner (I also got a tumblr notif that they left a message in the notes of my post but I canât find it? Maybe they deleted it?). I showed the post to four separate friends before posting to make sure I wasnât coming off accusatory. I said twice I was not accusing anyone of anything but if thatâs not how it came off then thatâs my fault. I should have known better and I own that. I have removed the screenshot and the link to respect their wishes.
As to the dm and the anon messages⊠um
I never said I didnât have a problem with how Hanzo or Genji were represented in OW? I didnât mention anything because I didnât think it was related to the conversation. As for their representation I am Chinese American and thus less experienced in the tropes and stereotypes written specifically about Japanese people. I also do not speak Japanese or read kanji, I used a Japanese translator to get the words I mentioned, because I am familiar enough with the Japanese language to know one of the similarities it shares with Chinese is multiple words sharing the same phonetic sound. OW is created by a very majorly white writing and creative team. Anything that is made about the people not represented on the creative team is inherently going to have problems and even be varying degrees of problematic. Also I have much less control individually over what a whole professional video game team does vs a ship name slowly gaining popularity. I donât really have a platform or a substantial following on my tumblr but I can still put my own opinions out there for whoever does engage with my posts to see.
Um no I am not Japanese. I said in my post that I was Chinese American. I have also made several posts about being Chinese American on my tumblr, I made commentary that was rather upset/outraged blizzard gave Mei box braids for the MMMEI thing they did. I also made posts back in January about the Atlanta spa shootings. I WOULD NEVER try to speak over any Japanese voices talking about the situation nor would I claim to represent all of the Asian community (I would never dare to say I represented all of the Chinese American community). I havenât seen much discourse or even any by Japanese people about this. If Japanese people feel I have spoken over them I AM SORRY. If I was overstepping by bringing up the internment of Japanese people as a non Japanese person then I apologize for doing so, that came from my own ignorance and I have also removed that from the original post as well. My point was to show just how dangerous reducing someone down to just their ethnicity can be, not to weaponize mass trauma of an ethnic minority. I take full responsibility for any damage I have done. Speaking for or even being perceived to be speaking for a community you do not represent is actively dangerous towards that community.
There was no intention to ruin someoneâs livelihood over a ship name. I said in my post âIs âhainoonâ itself actively harmful to Japanese and on a large scale Asian people as a whole? I would say no, itâs just an attempt to make a cute ship name (and also Hanzo is a fictional character, he cannot personally be affected by this)â. I was not aware that my post was actively directing any type of negative attention towards the artist, my post has as of right now 63 notes. 37 are likes and 5 are reblogs, the rest are messages in the notes. Also the artist never on any of their platforms that I know of has talked about an increase in negative attention. HOWEVER if any type of hate or threats or just in general dirty language or accusations have been sent to the artist, then that was never my intention. That was caused by me and I accept full responsibility and I am sorry. Iâm also sorry that I in any way felt malicious or accusatory, regardless of my intent that is how I came off as. Iâve already said it and Iâll say it again, I personally think it is the right move to rename McHanzo. The quicker we can divorce Jesse McCreeâs name from blizzard the better. And I fully support that they are actively trying to do that, thank you. I like the work that they do and highly recommend supporting them.
Anyway, this has been a very⊠overwhelming 24 hours. I will be leaving this post up for a few days with hope that the artist might see. I just wish for them to see my genuine apology for any grief I have inadvertently caused them. They shouldnât have had to go through any of that, and if they have been on the receiving end of anything similar or worse than what I have experienced (which has caused me multiple times to break down sobbing and contact friends for support) then I truly cannot express how earnestly sorry I am. I hope that you have a secure support system and will be okay after this.
Iâll be deleting my account after this though. Iâm sad because Iâve had it for years and made wonderful friends here. Just existing as a queer Asian-American woman is exhausting as it is and this was where I escaped to mostly make shit posts and talk with friends. But I have been thoroughly overwhelmed and fed up with whatâs transpired out of something that was never meant to hurt anyone. If you are a mutual who still wants to keep in contact please dm me.
Thank you for reading through my whole post.
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