your ship is not my ship (and that’s okay!)
So it looks like everyone’s getting really aggressive towards each other and I feel like there’s a small group of people who really don’t deserve it.
I want to make something very, very crystal clear, and I want you to write it on your hand so you don’t forget.
If a person does not ship something, it does not mean they are an anti.
If a person does not ship something, it does not mean they are an anti.
If a person does not ship something, it does not mean they are an anti.
An anti, short for “anti-___” (usually a ship name) is someone who is adverse to a ship for personal, religious, political, moral, or other reasons, often rather aggressively. These people speak out strongly against the ship and may even try to antagonize those who DO ship it.
That’s not what the term was originally meant for, but that’s where it has come to, in ship wars.
Believe it or not, there are those in EVERY fandom who do not like a ship, but not because they are against it. It may simply not be that interesting to them. Someone may have ruined it for them. Or maybe it triggers them, or they find it uncomfortable and against what they agree with.
And guess what? Those people can be calm. They can be civil. All they say is “I don’t like it, but I don’t hate on others for it. You can like it, just don’t show me.”
It’s as simple as “Eh, I just don’t like ____.”
And holy shit, you can even coexist with these people.
Example. My friend cannot stand shaladin. It makes him uncomfortable in every direction including upside down. He doesn’t like the age gap. (He knows it’s not a pedophilic thing, he just squicks over age gaps in general.) He told me this when the fandom was first building up.
And you know what? We talk all the time about Voltron. About AUs. About crossovers and fanart and fanfictions. We stay up way into 3 AM chatting about who wears fuzzy slippers and slides around in the castle.
Our conversations have ZERO involvement in ANY ship really. And yet we always have something to talk about.
BELIEVE IT OR NOT, YOU CAN ENJOY THE CONTENT WITHOUT BRINGING SHIPS INTO IT.
BELIEVE IT OR NOT, YOU CAN BE FRIENDS WITH SOMEONE WHO’S NOTP IS YOUR OTP.
There is a HUGE difference between “I don’t like it, but we can talk about other stuff!” and “I don’t like it but you do so we can’t be friends.”
There is a HUGE difference between “I understand you don’t like it, we can talk about other things!” and “But there’s nothing WRONG with it and you’re wrong because ___.”
If your entire friendship - and hell, interest in a show - is all about the ships in it, you’re reducing the entire show and your friendships to a one-dimensional, nonexistent couple. That, in a decade or two, will have NO impact on your life except for the impact you give it.
The show is more than just a pairing. It’s got way more to give than that. Taking it down to just a ship, and valuing its importance on ONLY that ship, is a disservice to the creators, the characters and the story.
I know I’m asking a lot of you shippers and non-shippers when I say this, but you really need to start telling the difference between “antagonist” and “casual non-shipper.”
