#opinionatedscreamsintothevoid

[opinionatedscreamsintothevoid]

Part of feminism is recognizing that media effects reality, btw. Part of being an LGBT ally is recognizing media effects reality, btw. Part of being a disability/neurodivergence ally is recognizing media effects reality, btw.

The way things are represented in media is important to public reception and society's view upon it - whether it's mainstream media or a small creator - the influence matters, even if it doesn't feel like it directly impacts anything.

Bad representation of minorities plays a large part in bigotry toward them, abusive dynamics being romanticized in media makes it easier to overlook red flags, sexual assault being normalized in media makes it easier to shrug off. (Need I remind everyone the idea of: "men always want it" is still very prevalent in media and real life?)

That's not even mentioning how porn, specifically, has influenced people's perceptions of intersex people, in particular.

Media affects people's perceptions, it affects how people see the world or think about what happens around them. It's just sociology. Desensitizing, or worse, normalizing abuse or sexual assault, will only lead to bad outcomes, even if it's coming from a fictional story. This is seen easily in the wake of Fifty Shades of Grey coming out. Subconscious is affected, which can dictate our actions in some capacity. That's why it's also important to analyze our subconscious biases.

That's why you can't make racist caricatures in cartoons and media anymore. That's why it's frowned upon to make bad representations of LGBT people. That's why movies like Sia's "Music" are so damaging. That's why even internet personalities who make comics or drawings that glorify nazism end up reported and dog-piled on. Making content that romanticizes, glorifies, or sexualizes toxic ideas and concepts is making propaganda for those toxic ideas and concepts, even if that isn't your intention, even if you're just a "Small creator".

If enough "Small creators" start doing something, it'll start spreading. That's how trends start, after all.

As they say: "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Even if you don't mean to hurt people, if you make propaganda, even if it's fictional, even if it's not your intention, you will hurt people, you're just not hurting them directly.

[opinionatedscreamsintothevoid]

The amount of people who don't understand that 'absolutely no censorship' is a bad thing is very concerning.

I get it on a surface level; censorship is something often abused by dictatorships and authoritarians to silence minorities... but it's also something that halts the spread of harm?

There's a reason, after all, why the 'Cuties' movie got instant backlash. There's a reason why a woman got arrested for writing a book about a man who 'fell in love' with a three-year-old. There's a reason why people instantly give backlash to artists online when they make racist caricatures. There's a reason why, when the MAP movement tried to be a thing, people instantly pushed back, especially when they tried making 'pride flags' and 'MAP headcanons'.

Reason being: The mountains of evidence that art and media shape our perceptions of reality and morality at any and all ages, not just children, which you can find with a five-second Google search.

Look, I don't advocate for harassment at all. Coping mechanisms aren't always healthy, and some can cause genuine harm to the people around you, even if not directly. I've struggled with toxic coping mechanisms myself, and I know it feels like it's helping, but there's a reason this kind of thing is illegal.

Don't surround yourself with 'yes men', don't let yourself stay stagnant in a situation that's making your mental health worse and desensitizing you. Making content like this isn't actually helping anyone, and posting it is even worse; you're putting it out there for abusers to groom people with, for abusers to convince themselves that what they're doing is okay.

I know getting rid of a coping mechanism, even a toxic one, isn't easy, and your trauma is valid.

But here is another thing I know: You're worth dropping toxic coping mechanisms. You're worth getting better, and you're worth all the time and effort of healing. No matter how broken you think you are, no matter what was done to you, no matter who did it.

You're worth getting better, and you're worth so much more than this toxic coping mechanism.

[opinionatedscreamsintothevoid]

P*oshippers/Supporters: "No censorship, censorship is bad! It's just a book/movie/art, it doesn't matter if we romanticize something bad!" Movies/Books/Shows/Art: *Is racist, sexist, ableist, queerphobic, or romanticizes nazis.* P*oshippers/Supporters: "AAH! No! Censor it! Don't include that, that's bad!"

Hypocrisy, folks.

Censorship by itself isn't bad, censoring things that aren't harmful is bad. 'Art' that acts as propaganda for harmful ideals, even when it's not your intention, IS harmful.

You're not a horrible person for having relied on a bad coping mechanism, plenty of people have, but continuing to use that coping mechanism when you know it's harmful to others and yourself IS bad.

You're only a bad person when you refuse to change for the better, and everyone can be a good person if they try.

I would support your efforts to replace a bad coping mechanism. I would support a victim who went through disgusting things and actively works to be better and stop relying on harmful coping mechanisms. I won't support an unhealthy coping mechanism that feeds abusers and acts as propaganda to spread the same harm someone went through.

[opinionatedscreamsintothevoid]

We have had decades upon centuries of proof that fiction doesn't impact reality the way you antis think it does. But here you are, denying the actual historical evidence because it's inconvenient for you. How sad.

Source?

Meanwhile, you can see media affecting reality through the most basic things by themselves: commercials, propaganda, and media representation. Moral lessons in cartoons, even, are smaller ways that media affects people's perceptions and ideals, causing ripple effects into the real-world.

Commercials are designed to make people desire a certain product over other products, for example.

Propaganda manipulates perceptions to garner support for a cause. There's plenty of examples including the infamous 'Donald Duck nazi cartoon'.

Media representation shapes people's views on minority groups. This is why minority representation matters.

There's also the fact that movies/tv shows have resulted in larger consequences: People used to underestimate and dismiss sharks before the Jaws movie, but the film completely shifted their perception. Now sharks are feared and were also hunted to endangerment, to the point the original author regrets making Jaws in the first place. Fifty Shades of Gray caused a sudden spike in hospitalization over bedroom-related injuries and effecting perception on fetishes.

Let me make this clear: I'm not saying you can't have abusive/unhealthy relationships in your media. I'm saying that it shouldn't be glorified/romanticized. I'm also not saying I want people to hold the audience's hand and talk down to them about right or wrong (Since I know that's a big strawman a lot of proshippers use)

I'm saying that if you have p*dophilia, abuse, or i*cest in your story, don't make it out to be a good or a healthy relationship.

The MAP situation exposed support for those real-world terrible individuals. Why feed into that with content geared toward that audience?

[opinionatedscreamsintothevoid]

Every time a proshipper/comshipper is trying to deny the fact of media effecting reality they end up saying something like: 'Oh, but people aren't just gonna suddenly be okay with pedophilia!' and every time I see them try to use that as a shield for their behavior/content, I immediately remember that there WAS a point in the very recent past when twitter had the 'map situation'.

The 'map situation' being when people were supporting pedophilia, supporting that pedophilia be 'accepted' and 'added to LGBT', and supporting 'pro-contact maps' being in contact with children while spreading misinformation about consent, how capable children are of giving it, and brain development. They even made a 'pride flag' and other propaganda (Media which is literally made to affect how you think.) to push that idea.

I'm honestly surprised more people aren't remembering that.

That shit got an entire cartoon cancelled and caused great harm to the lgbtq community, how did people just forget that happened?

[opinionatedscreamsintothevoid]

You know what I've noticed? People seem really defensive about buying/playing Hogwarts legacy.

Like, they'll plan on buying the game, and any time someone says something to them about it, they'll get offended and start becoming hostile.

For example: A friend of mine(/nbh) mentioned they didn't want people to interact with them if the person bought the game. The guy claimed they were supportive of trans and Jewish people, but when this friend of mine said they weren't comfortable interacting with people who were buying the game regardless, they immediately started saying that my friend was bullying and targeting them.

Honestly, it seems to me that they're trying to convince themselves of it, more than anything else. Considering all that was said was not to interact, which shouldn't affect them at all other than just... not talking to them? What a disproportionate and knee-jerk reaction to give to something as simple as a DNI mention.

[opinionatedscreamsintothevoid]

Why have people stopped caring about the media they consume?

I mean, between 'Demon Slayer' having piss-poor writing, the 'Loki series' romanticizing in*est and abuse/victim-blaming, and the multitude of 'romance movies' that also romanticize abuse/victim blame? (Fifty Shades, Twilight - which also romanticizes grooming, Kissing Booth, etc.)

I'm just starting to notice a very concerning pattern with current media.

I can't be the only one seeing it, right? It feels like we're on a steady decline in quality but an incline in popularity towards things that are extremely 'problematic'(For lack of a better word) and poor quality?

[opinionatedscreamsintothevoid]

If there is ever a point where you have to say: '-But they're not biologically related', or 'But they're technically not related', etc, that's an instant red flag. CEASE.