You know...
I was looking at Hetalia fanart on DA when I stumbled on a "I-Hate-Seychelles" group. I looked through the comments and all I can do is shake my head sadly. You know, I really dislike hate groups. What point do they have? They only cause drama and hate. Why can't people concentrate on the characters they like instead and ignore the characters they hate? There are a few Hetalia characters that I don't like. I don't bash them or draw hate art with them. I simply ignore them. I don't even want to name the characters I dislike because what would be the point? Will I get people who agree with me? Or people who are offended by me? Here's one journal that one of the co-founders wrote:
i tryed to be nice about it but you guys pushed me TO DAMN FAR,YOU GUYS ARE THE PROBLEM NOT US SO STOP FUCKING WHINEING ITS FUCKING ANOYING AND I DONT EVEN HATE HER THAT MUCH I DONT WISH DEATH OPON HER,AND IN REALITY ITS NOT OUR FALT FOR HATEING HER ITS YOR GUYSES GODDAMN FALT FOR PARIING THE GODDAMN CHARACTOR WETH EVERY OTHER CHARACTER,I EVEN LIKE HUNGARY MOR THAN HER,MABY IF YOU ASSHOLES WOULD'N PAIR HER UP WITH EVERY ONE,AND DON'T EVEN THINK IM ONE OF THOSE FANS THAT HATE HER JUST BE CAUZ SHES A GIRL,I WILL EVEN NAME THE GIRL CHARACTER THAT I LIKE,Belarus,Ukraine,Hungary,Belgium,Wy,Taiwan,Liechtenstein,WE ALL HAVE A OPINION DEAL WITH IT!!!!! also if you guys where real fans you wouldn't mind if people have a opinion,iv seen mor hate for the series and anime it self than for her so were not dumb retard assholes you guys are.
How are they the problem? Didn't anyone think that making this hate-group was going to get you negative attention from people who like Seychelles? And if you don't hate Seychelles, why are you a co-founder of a hate-group? If you don't like her being paired with other characters, how about you draw and write the pairings that you do like? You're wasting energy by putting so much effort into bashing a character. It's not anyone's fault that there is a lot of fanart of Seychelles. You can influence things by drawing the pairings you prefer and if enough of you put your effort together, you can make that pairing more popular. Bashing on a character only makes people who like that character angry and defensive and the bashed character will become more popular. Why do you think there is a movement of showing appreciation to Seychelles more? It is to counteract the hate some of the Seychelles-haters are causing. If there wasn't any hate, people wouldn't be protecting Seychelles this strongly.
You don't need to insult people. Insulting will only anger the people who are against you more. When you want to argue a point, never throw an insult to the other side. They will only hear your insult and the rest of the argument will be lost on them. I've tested that theory again and again. When people insult me in an argument, I don't insult back, I only respond to the argument. Most people calm down and listen. Others insult me a few more times before leaving in a huff, sounding almost a bit frustrated.
And on the topic of "we have our own opinions, deal with it". We all are entitled to our own opinions. If you exercise the right to say "WE HATE SEYCHELLES, ANYONE WHO DISAGREES IS DUMB", others will also have the right to say "Well I think you guys are being stupid and immature". I'm not saying that the other should say that, but its the logical hate=hate transaction. If you rephrased your opinion to "We dislike Seychelles, we prefer Belgium", others will either say "I like Seychelles but I like Belgium as well" or "Belgium is stupid, I prefer Seychelles". And if you just said "We like Belgium", people are more likely to agree rather than bash you. (a handful still might disagree, but in general they stay silent)
Because in the end, opinons are like stones. As we grow older, we get more and more stones. Most of us store these stones in our pockets. But on the internet, people like to throw their stones. Most do to express their stones (opinions). Other throw stones to see if anyone will catch them and throw them further to others. Some will catch the stones, some will turn and let the stones drop. We can throw those stones near or far. We're allowed to throw stones. But we have to take responsability for throwing those stones. If you throw a stone fiercely and hurt someone with it, you have to be ready to take responsability for it. If someone says that they hate gays, they have to take responsability for it and face the people offended by their opinion. If someone says that they hate someone and want them to die, they have to accept responsability as well. We can all yell about being allowed to voice our opinions, but we all too often forget that we have to take responsability if it is an opinion that will offend or hurt someone. If you say "I love chocolate", sure, people will agree or disagree with you. If you say "Seychelles is a whore, some people will agree but others will strongly disagree, maybe be even offended by your opinion. It is your opinion, but you have to accept that others are allowed to voice theirs as well. You can't tape their mouths shut.
Well that's what I think anyway. I can freely say that I don't support the AmericaxIreland pairing. People will be offended by that opinion, but I'll take responsability if anyone verbally attacks me about it. I'll stand my ground, accept that others like AmeIre but I will underline that I don't see this pairing working out and we'll leave it at that. I will not call the AmeIre supporters "idiotic" and I will accept their opinions, as long as they accept mine as well.
But my main point is, there is too much hatred in the world. Call me a wimp, call me cowardly, call me whatever you like, but I will not change my opinions. There should be less hate-groups and people should counteract popular pairings/characters by drawing what they like instead of what they hate. Sadly, I don't know how long it will take for people to accept that.
