doomhamster | (no subject)

One of the things I just can’t understand re: antis and their ilk:

How can anyone NOT get that consuming or creating depictions of a form of trauma you yourself were the victim of can in fact be cathartic and comforting?

“I can be in control of an event that was wholly out of my control IRL. I can have everything come out so much better… or I can have my favorite character go through the same thing I did and end up totally broken, and that will make me feel a little bit less ashamed of how I broke when it happened to me.”

This isn’t DIFFICULT, folks.

And no, not all people work like this. Some traumatized people are indeed better off just never being reminded of their trauma or seeing it depicted. But here’s the thing: you won’t find darkficcers demanding that such people read our stuff, or write traumatic things into their own stories! We don’t tend to go around denying someone else’s experience based on “trying to avoid any mention of your trauma is not a valid coping mechanism~!”

Threaded | Flat

When you put it like that, it really does sound like antis engage in unhealthy generalisation of their own experiences and base their judgements more on how they react to something rather than, you know, whether it's actually harmful.

(NGL that also explains why anti rhetoric got to me -- I still have a complicated relationship with the idea that fandom is a thing you can Publicly Engage In, instead of a secret you hold close to your heart.)

I have come to see such people as "toxic narcissists," who expect the world to mirror and validate their likes and dislikes, and the workings of their psyche.

Anyone who does not, they see as evil and deserving of attack.

Edited 2018-12-30 15:18 (UTC)

There's also the odd logic that if it's bad for anybody, it's bad for everybody. Which isn't how most (any?) things work. Peanuts are bad for you if you're allergic to them, but a perfectly fine part of your diet if your not. Just to use one really obvious example. If they applied the same logic they use for fiction to food, they'd die. I don't think there's any food that isn't bad for someone.