There’s a post currently circulating in the Ninjago fandom with the intent of attacking my character. It contains several screenshots of various posts I’ve made over the years, which I’m sure many of you have probably seen. To the extent of my knowledge, none are directly edited, but many have been taken out of context and/or had external context juxtaposed onto them to paint me in a certain light. With this in mind, I would like to post a public explanation, so that you can know all the facts before judging my character. Please forgive any spelling mistakes and shoddy formatting, I’m posting from mobile.
Accusation #1: The Ninjago Zine rules were written to exclude LGBTQ+ ships and creators
There is a lot of discourse surrounding the various Ninjago ships, and yes that does include canon ones. However, the canon ships are the ones directly depicted in the show, so restricting the zine to only canon ships seemed to be the best course of action and easiest way of moderating content. Canon is canon. No one was obligated to draw or write for ships if they didn’t want to, either. Many still chose to.
There isn’t and never has been a rule excluding LGBTQ+ creators. In fact, we had many LGBTQ+ creators in volume 1 of the zine. Mod Bella and I didn’t look at race, gender, sexual orientation, or anything similar when we chose our applicants. We looked at what we perceived to be the talent of the individuals alone.
Accusation #2: I have posted “Christian-centered negative views on queer relationships” on my blog
The accusation post stated that “it doesn’t take very long scrolling” to find the content in question, however the first listed post was 6-7 pages back on my blog. Not quite the prevalence indicated by this affront. The first listed post is this one:
https://jayzx535.tumblr.com/post/182415631124
It’s a simple post about how love doesn’t equal unconditional agreement. No mention of the LGBTQ+ at all. It’s not a direct attack the way the call-out post implied, but rather a truth that can apply to a myriad of situations.
Post 2: I can’t find the actual post now but the call-out post’s screenshot shows the whole thing. This one is a Christian post (note: before we go further I am a Christian, as I’ve said many times in this blog. If you want to automatically label me as a bigot because of my religion then that’s your choice, but that is the literal definition of discrimination), again talking about the difference between love and tolerance. Again, a broad post which is not a direct attack on the LGBTQ+ as the call-out post claims.
I also cannot find post 3, but the whole post was screenshotted again. This post talks about how our worth does not come from sexuality, people, things, etc. This is the first explicit mention of sexuality, and it merely states that it isn’t what gives us our value– meaning that a straight person is no more valuable than a gay person, or vice versus. Again, not an attack.
None of these posts show any hatred of the LGBTQ+, as the call-out post claims.
Accusation #3: I have “admonish[ed] calls for queer and racially diverse representation as attacks”
This is a half-truth. I have admonished the spirit of many calls for LGBTQ+ and racially diverse representation, and how many harass writers and other content creators for not having enough diversity in their specific stories.
https://jayzx535.tumblr.com/post/176276180409/um-hey-the-point-of-stories-is-not-to-represent
Notice how I DID NOT SAY “all stories should have only straight, white characters”. I said “it’s okay if not ALL stories are diverse”. Some stories don’t have a wide variety of characters, and that’s okay. The point should be the STORY, not the diversity itself.
https://jayzx535.tumblr.com/post/178163807509/hey
Pretty much the same thing. Again, I never condemned representation. I only said that it’s okay if not every story represents everyone. I also condemned misrepresentation, which is another matter entirely.
https://jayzx535.tumblr.com/post/174307090334/
Looking back at this post, I do recognize that I may not have communicated the specifics of my point as clearly as I thought I did, but again, this was meant to make a point against how aggressive some people get when trying to convince writers to add gay characters (“make them gay, you cowards!”). It was directed toward the hostility some people show on this subject. It is not an act of hate against the LGBTQ+. It is a point against the way some people choose to conduct themselves.
https://jayzx535.tumblr.com/post/178336106134/
“particularly screwed up is this post describing minorities speaking out against oppression as “silencing”
Nope. Nope, nope, nope. I did not say speaking out against oppression is itself silencing. I said using the fact that you are a minority as a "get out of jail free” card is not okay. Again, addressing a specific situation in a specific context. It’s right there in the tags: “I’m not talking about threats/hate against a specific people group; I’m talking about those who respectfully disagree”. I NEVER said speaking out against oppression was bad. I said using minority status as a trump card to win an argument is bad. Again. Specific situation, specific behavior being called out.
Once again. I do not hate minorities. I do not hate the LGBTQ+. I don’t even hate the people who chose to attack me like this. Anyone who knows me can testify to the fact that I am NOT a hateful person.
Accusation #4: I am pro-life
This is the only accusation here that is true. I am indeed pro-life. If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ve probably seen my pro-life posts. But let me elaborate a bit more on what that means.
I do not hate those who have had abortions, or even those who perform abortions. Remember my posts about how love =/= unconditional agreement? I disagree with their actions, but I do not hate them as people.
I believe that life begins at conception. If this is true, then by virtue abortion is taking a life. And I believe that taking a life – especially the life of one completely incapable of defending themselves – is morally wrong in almost every case. This includes the case of abortion.
if you believe that abortion is murder, then what’s happening throughout the world is a targeted genocide of a specific group of people (babies– and in many cases the disabled). With that context, it shouldn’t be hard to see why I believe this current situation is not so unlike the Holocaust.
There is also a reblog to the call-out post containing screenshots from the zine discord server. I’m not going to go and refute them because they were posted with no context. However, if you compare what they show to what I’ve said earlier, you will see that they are in keeping with my answers in this post.
I’m also going to add one more thing: I am a Christian. If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you probably know this already. And Jesus himself commanded Christians to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). We are not to hate ANYONE, regardless of race, gender, sexuality, religion, or anything else. We’re even commanded to love our enemies. And throughout my life I have, by God’s grace, done my best to follow those commands. I do not hate anyone. My beliefs may sometimes put me at odds with others, but I do not hate them for it. In fact, the reason for my outspokenness can easily be summed up by this post:
https://jayzx535.tumblr.com/post/177802292819/it-would-be-arrogant-to-tell-someone-that-if-they
Now you’ve heard both sides of the story. You know where I stand, and how I see the world. What you do with that information is up to you. You can shun me, you can boycott the zine if you like. No one’s stopping you. I certainly won’t. That choice is entirely on you, and I will not hate you for it. But I hope you will see through this that I truly mean no ill will toward anyone– despite these misplaced accusations.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”