There's something I've wanted to get off my chest for a while now. I also know there will be people who will disagree with what I'm gonna say and that's alright.
I've been on Tumblr for a little while now and I've seen it happen on multiple occasions. Bloggers getting harassed because they have different ideas about something.
This involves Self-ship, shipping characters with OC's, pro-shipping, writing dark content, etc.
Harassment is never okay guys! Never ever!
Yes, you may have an opinion about something, but let's not play moral compass because you think it's your responsibility to do so.
When it comes to claiming characters and sending hate to others because you think the character belongs to you. Please just be kind to one another. You're living on a planet with almost 8 billion other people.
Also, 2D is still 2D. We shouldn't forget this. Many of us want to escape life by self-shipping or creating stories around OCs. I do it too! But we still have to keep in mind this isn't real life.
I think it's worrisome to see people sending each other hate over subjects like this.
You write dark content? That's fine!
You Self/OC-ship? That's fine!
You pro-ship? That's fine!
And you know why? Because it's fiction. Don't tell me supporting this means you're a bad person. Again, fiction is fiction.
Some people enjoy reading or writing dark content. This doesn't mean they are horrible people.
You need to keep in mind people have their own preferences and this doesn't mean they encourage certain behavior!
Writing about triggering things helps some people cope with trauma. Apart from this many books from popular writers we know write about stuff like this.
Let's take The Hunger Games as an example. We all know that these books involve killing, but does that make Suzanne Collins someone who encourages killing others? Not at all.
So many manga display horrific things. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure displays animal abuse, but does that make Hirohiko Araki an animal abuser? Not at all.
This is where we distinguish fiction from reality.
This is a sensitive thing under people these days, oh I know. It still doesn't fail to amaze me to this day.
Guys let's be clear about something. Love doesn't know age! Many of you will disagree, I'm aware, but let's talk about shipping 'underage' characters.
What is age? We all age, duh.
Biologically seen a person's brain is fully grown at the age of 25. But why do we say a person is an adult when they turn 18?
This is society's way of drawing the line for things like, getting your driver's license, buying alcohol or cigarettes, etc. Can a person make the right decision at 16, 18, or 25? Well, that's different for every person. Some people are very mature at 16, and some are still not at 25. Keep this in mind while reading the next part.
Shipping a 16-year-old with an 18-year-old? That's a two-year age gap. But just because society labels 18 as the adult age, it's wrong? Age doesn't mean shit when you look at the facts around the development of human bodies. Some people tend to forget that.
Meanwhile, kids get their virginity taken at 12 years old. Those same kids make a problem of shipping 'minors' with a character 2 to 4 years older than them.
The bottom line is, let's not play moral compass. Don't go on TikTok or whatever to gang up on people. It's just wrong.
There are many more things I'd like to say, but I think this is the most important part. Seeing bloggers leave Tumblr because of this is just sad. The extreme toxicity within some fandoms is just alarming, and that's why I'm addressing this.
Just be respectful even if you don't agree. Not everyone has to share the same opinion!