Hi y'all! As i'm becoming more and more involved within the survivor dogs community again (which has been for the most part lovley), I'd like to make a formal public statement regarding a personal boundary of mine that's somewhat recently cropped up.
Regarding the user known as "Ravetic" across multiple platforms, I will not be publicly associating with her nor any projects and/or people that publicly platform her in the foreseeable future.
Ravetic is known for her beautifully done survivor dogs animatics and animations; and to my knowledge has been a pillar of this tiny community for some time. However, I regret to inform that Ravetic has been involved within circles that perpetuate alt-right and disgustingly bigoted ideologies (particularly bluefang studios, which is still being advertized on her channel via a youtube community post to my knowledge) as well as having parroted bigoted dog whistles herself.
People who willingly and comfortably run in those online circles are not people i'd like to invite into my own, regardless of any other context that may alleviate the severity of doing so. This is simply a matter of catering to my own personal wellbeing as a black queer individual myself. My primary concern is not specifically Ravetic, but the crowds she's associated with. Crowds that I find repulsive and deeply unsafe.
My personal experiences with Ravetic have also not been pleasant. When called out for parroting a racist dog whistle, in the following conversation I noticed that my imput (as the only openly black person in that discussion) was met with far greater hostility than that of my white peers, even those who were as firm and confrontational as I was. Constantly Ravetic asked me leading questions in attempt to (consciously or subconsciously) frame me as cold and unempathetic for not entertaining "white people enslaved by black people" as an appropriate or necessary topic of discussion.
Discord exchange screencaps here
Even as the conflict was "resolved" (it wasn't, imo Ravetic showed little to no intrest in correcting this behavior and continually made excuses as to why what she said wasn't harmful) I recieved no apology from Ravetic whatsoever. The only person who recieved an apology was one of my white peers who had originally called her on this behavior, as if they were the one who was primarily affected by such language.
And again, i'd like to reiterate that this is a personal boundary. This is not a callout post, This is not a witch hunt, This is in no way a call to action for people to deplatform Ravetic. Leave her alone, if you're pissed just block. If you harass her or anyone who associated with her at any point in time because of this post, go fuck yourself.
I am making this statement for the sake of transparency, as to not bring cause for speculation as to why Ravetic and any of her public associates (that continue to be so after being made aware of this information) will not be involved in any future projects I spearhead for the community and vice versa.
I am not telling you whatsoever how to approach Ravetic and I hold no ill will toward those who choose to remain in community with her. Many have reasons that I can respect, even if I do not feel comfortable being in community with them myself because of that decision.
I also want to make clear that I have absolutely nothing to gain from this. I, like everyone else within this fandom, want this community to thrive as a safe and creative space for fans of this series. Again, Ravetic is an incredibly talented artist and animator and I would have been excited to work with her in the future if not for the aforementioned concerns and negative experiences i've had on a personal level.
I earnestly hope Ravetic comes to understand the gravity of her actions, makes an active effort to unlearn her worldview, and publicly and formally denounces these alt-right communities and ideologies in the future. However, as of now I will be blocking her and anyone who I find continues to direct attention toward her platform, as it's my personal belief she and the communites she's entrenched in have no place in the space I wish to curate.
Thank you for understanding, this will likely be the last time I adress this any further.
