just read your post about how you like both george AND max which was so interesting, because as a hardcore george fan i'm just really not fond of max (also because of how max used to be and things he said) and i usually roll my eyes at the russtappen thing but i really liked your post!
Hi, anon! Thank you for liking my rambling post about them and I’m sorry that I’m using your ask to rant a bit, but I have to get it off my chest and don’t worry it’s not targeted at you or anyone specifically! Here’s just my take on a few things I’ve seen:
I just always find it deeply hypocritical when people bend themselves into knots defending their favourite driver while viciously tearing down another, as if any of these men exist outside the same system. They’re all beneficiaries of immense privilege: wealthy, powerful, insulated. And yes, that means most of them have, at some point, said or done things that are ableist, racist, misogynistic, or otherwise careless.
This fandom is simply not the place to seek moral high ground or sympathy points by pretending your driver is somehow exempt. When you defend one while hating another, it doesn’t read as principled; it reads as selective. And selective outrage is still hypocrisy. Yes, there is "worse" things than others, but I’d rather criticise and acknowledge it all at once.
The uncomfortable truth is that this sport is built on privileged millionaire men, and expecting them to embody ethical purity is a losing game. I’m not interested in defending them. Frankly, they’re assholes. All of them, in different ways, and that’s precisely why I don’t feel bad about engaging with them as fictional constructs.
This is a sandbox. I’m not here to protect their reputations or rehabilitate their morality. I’m here to play with the versions of them that exist in fandom! To turn them into outside versions of themselves, into dolls, into narrative tools. If we’re going to participate in this space honestly, we should at least stop pretending it’s about righteousness. It’s about fantasy, projection, and play. And that’s fine! Just don’t dress it up as virtue.
So yeah, I have my favourite drivers and some that I don’t really like. Also, because of problematic things they said or done but I’d never pretend my favorite drivers are angels.
