#because why

[thewisewill80sbyers]

We are not crazy.

[theblack-dog]

In this fandom, you're either a Curtis brothers fan, a Johnny and Dally fan, or one of those degenerates who's favorite is Two-Bit or Steve.

[rosierosesss]

Am I hard to love?

[leocherry3]

Parrot's new episode. Theo covering Parrot from the rain while he waits for no reason

p.s. check reblogs! it was for a reason

[papertigers09]

Ticket to Heaven ep 4 scenes.

[judethswrld]

cool.

[justafewberries]

People literally think I’m a racist incest shopper because I ship Haysilee mind you I’m a brown woman and they’re not even related we’re so cooked as a fandom bro

I think this speaks to a larger fandom issue where people can’t seem to chill out anymore. It’s not a slight to Lenore Dove (who doesn’t exist) if you ship Haymitch (who also doesn’t exist) with someone else. Maysilee. Chaff. Effie. Hazelle. Whoever it is. None of these words on a page exist outside of the text.

I think much of the ship war discourse comes from vanity, anonymity, and the desire to feel better than someone. To accomplish this, the discourse quickly nose dives into ad hominems to force the watching audience to take sides. There’s a compulsion to associate oneself with the more moral-seeming position. It’s easier to encourage the choosing of sides when someone makes clear accusations against someone’s character. Those who throw around labels without truly understanding if they apply or not are not only diminishing the power of the words they choose to use, but discouraging both parties from a dialogue, valuing the size of their crowd over the depth of their discussion.

Beyond dialogue, none of these characters are real. It’s all text on a page. This is a kind reminder that Lenore Dove’s not canonized as any particular race. Literally no one in thg is, aside from Rue and Thresh. We know skin undertones, we know characteristics, and we can speculate. As controversial as the decision is, Collins intentionally left race vague so anyone could see themself in her characters. If we take the movies as canon, that locks Katniss into being white, too. It locks Louella into being white. It locks Haymitch into being blonde and white. Etc. etc. Regardless of any of this, shipping Haymitch and Maysilee doesn’t make anyone racist. None of these words on a page are real.

The only real component in the conversation is the person behind the screen. Often the dialogue around these “ship wars” becomes very holier-than-thou, wherein there’s no real conversation, but a pre-solidified idea that you’re going into the debate with the irrefutable, morally superior stance. From what I’ve witnessed, a lot of “ship wars” devolve into a meta argument about morals and ethics, when there’s not really a genuine conversation to be had in the first place. You’re not more moral, nor better than anyone, for shipping anything.

Do not let your feelings about your interpretation of the text influence you to say something rude about another community member. Our thg circle is not growing. Let’s not take it upon ourselves to shrink it faster.

All this to say: be kind to one another. Live and let live. Someone not shipping Haymitch with Lenore Dove doesn’t mean they’re dumb, or racist, or sexist. It doesn’t mean anything other than they want to play dolls the way they want to play dolls.

And if you really don’t like a ship? analyze it textually. Don’t analyze the user who ships the pair you don’t. Break it down and explain why you don’t like it based on the text. Think about how that ship could play out. Think about what it would mean meta textually. But don’t attack someone for playing dolls.