*waves to all*
May. 30th, 2007 05:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
weaselettThis would be one and only (unless something else happens in this saga *g*) response to the recent LJ dramas.
I had thought, from a few recent posts that all of the paranoia was all just due to another one of 'those' rumours - but apparently it is not so *g*.
I recognise freely that a lot of the events could just be coincidence - and that a number of the deletions were good (and well done to LJ for deleting those particular journals) - but a number weren't.
I have never really ventured into the side of fandom that has been the most effected - that being RPGs, Harry Potter etc - BUT I read things that include these kinds of things (I'm a crime novel girl a lot of the time....not to mention some of the amazing hurt/comfort fics that exist in the SG-1 fandom, one written by someone I used to have contact with which dealt with the subjects in an amazingly sensitive way) I would, personally however never put anything of those particular things in my interests.
I understand the blame for all of this can be spread across to a number of people and companies. So I'm not going to point fingers.
I also have no issue with people being deleted for ignoring the terms of service etc.
Nor do I have any issues with the legal concerns involved (2 years of a Law A-Level taught me much) - we all have rules that we have to abide by and laws that we have to answer to.
However I think it would be fair to say that this has not been handled as well as it should have been. I am also slightly disgusted by some of the people who may have been involved in this whole sorry situation.
Partly because due to this, the real bad guys are going to be EVEN harder to catch and stop.
Over here at least (I can't speak for anywhere but Britain as far as this goes) a lot has been done about the issues that this 'purge' was aimed at dealing with - Newsround (kid's news program) has been dealing with this for years now. Kids are being educated not to be victims. We have as big a problem with these issues as many others countries, but we have yet to start incurring these types of actions. We have been dealing with them in a much more controlled way - stopping the offenders by catching them and stopping them, avoiding catching innocent people in the crossfire and doing everything possible to avoid driving the offenders deeper under cover. No, it doesn't always work, but at least it considers the possible consequences beyond hunting the bastards down.
While I don't have any interest in wincest, tamcest (or whatever they call it) etc - I don't have a problem with people writing it. It is not in anyway condoning those crimes. People should be free to write whatever they want, without having to fear a witchhunt.
In some cases they are even writing about something that has happened to them - it can help people a great deal as you have control that you didn't have at the time. If it helps someone deal with something awful that happened to them, all the power to them.
Freedom of expression and of speech are very important things.
I would be much happier with what has happened if -
a. Fandom was considered - the fact that as pointed out in this post http://kitsune13.livejournal.com/144578.html a lot of FICTION involves these issues (including one of my favourite books 'the lovely bones') being a large factor in this.
b. The action had actually had a more 'tangible' result - i.e as stated above - if offenders had been caught rather than just driven elsewhere.
c. There was come consideration of culture. LJ is made up of people from more than one culture - yet in one example I've found, there was a reference to it being due to compliance with 'United States law' as well as the TOS. I'm sorry kids, but I'm British, my law isn't the same as yours. Nor is my culture exactly the same.
It continues to amaze me that so many people can be so unaware of the world around them. This isn't the same place as it was ten years ago - or even a hundred years ago (when there was a completely different social perception of these things).
There was a better way in which these issues could have been dealt with, had someone just taken the moment to think about it.
In summary - I understand the basic 'good' idea behind the purges - I agree that people who encourage or are involved in such activities as are being targeted (Rape, incest, etc) should be stopped. I have personnel reasons for wanting those kinds of people to be stopped and as such would be one of the first people to lead the mob against such people.
HOWEVER - I do not think that innocent people should be punished in the process. After all the whole point is to PREVENT the innocent from being hurt. Yet, somewhere down the line some people seem to have forgotten about that.
Personally, I am not going to change what I read, write or think. Nor am I going to allow myself to get paranoid about it. Because, if anyone where to ever accuse me of supporting those kinds of things, my reaction would not be pretty and I feel for anyone who has suffered through and survived such things and now has to deal with this.
It was done badly - and whoever IS ultimately responsible - everyone involved in this mess should recognise that they are not completely without blame.
Further some posts on this can be found :
http://liz-marcs.livejournal.com/266024.html
http://femmequixotic.livejournal.com/292480.html
I had thought, from a few recent posts that all of the paranoia was all just due to another one of 'those' rumours - but apparently it is not so *g*.
I recognise freely that a lot of the events could just be coincidence - and that a number of the deletions were good (and well done to LJ for deleting those particular journals) - but a number weren't.
I have never really ventured into the side of fandom that has been the most effected - that being RPGs, Harry Potter etc - BUT I read things that include these kinds of things (I'm a crime novel girl a lot of the time....not to mention some of the amazing hurt/comfort fics that exist in the SG-1 fandom, one written by someone I used to have contact with which dealt with the subjects in an amazingly sensitive way) I would, personally however never put anything of those particular things in my interests.
I understand the blame for all of this can be spread across to a number of people and companies. So I'm not going to point fingers.
I also have no issue with people being deleted for ignoring the terms of service etc.
Nor do I have any issues with the legal concerns involved (2 years of a Law A-Level taught me much) - we all have rules that we have to abide by and laws that we have to answer to.
However I think it would be fair to say that this has not been handled as well as it should have been. I am also slightly disgusted by some of the people who may have been involved in this whole sorry situation.
Partly because due to this, the real bad guys are going to be EVEN harder to catch and stop.
Over here at least (I can't speak for anywhere but Britain as far as this goes) a lot has been done about the issues that this 'purge' was aimed at dealing with - Newsround (kid's news program) has been dealing with this for years now. Kids are being educated not to be victims. We have as big a problem with these issues as many others countries, but we have yet to start incurring these types of actions. We have been dealing with them in a much more controlled way - stopping the offenders by catching them and stopping them, avoiding catching innocent people in the crossfire and doing everything possible to avoid driving the offenders deeper under cover. No, it doesn't always work, but at least it considers the possible consequences beyond hunting the bastards down.
While I don't have any interest in wincest, tamcest (or whatever they call it) etc - I don't have a problem with people writing it. It is not in anyway condoning those crimes. People should be free to write whatever they want, without having to fear a witchhunt.
In some cases they are even writing about something that has happened to them - it can help people a great deal as you have control that you didn't have at the time. If it helps someone deal with something awful that happened to them, all the power to them.
Freedom of expression and of speech are very important things.
I would be much happier with what has happened if -
a. Fandom was considered - the fact that as pointed out in this post http://kitsune13.livejournal.com/144578.html a lot of FICTION involves these issues (including one of my favourite books 'the lovely bones') being a large factor in this.
b. The action had actually had a more 'tangible' result - i.e as stated above - if offenders had been caught rather than just driven elsewhere.
c. There was come consideration of culture. LJ is made up of people from more than one culture - yet in one example I've found, there was a reference to it being due to compliance with 'United States law' as well as the TOS. I'm sorry kids, but I'm British, my law isn't the same as yours. Nor is my culture exactly the same.
It continues to amaze me that so many people can be so unaware of the world around them. This isn't the same place as it was ten years ago - or even a hundred years ago (when there was a completely different social perception of these things).
There was a better way in which these issues could have been dealt with, had someone just taken the moment to think about it.
In summary - I understand the basic 'good' idea behind the purges - I agree that people who encourage or are involved in such activities as are being targeted (Rape, incest, etc) should be stopped. I have personnel reasons for wanting those kinds of people to be stopped and as such would be one of the first people to lead the mob against such people.
HOWEVER - I do not think that innocent people should be punished in the process. After all the whole point is to PREVENT the innocent from being hurt. Yet, somewhere down the line some people seem to have forgotten about that.
Personally, I am not going to change what I read, write or think. Nor am I going to allow myself to get paranoid about it. Because, if anyone where to ever accuse me of supporting those kinds of things, my reaction would not be pretty and I feel for anyone who has suffered through and survived such things and now has to deal with this.
It was done badly - and whoever IS ultimately responsible - everyone involved in this mess should recognise that they are not completely without blame.
Further some posts on this can be found :
http://liz-marcs.livejournal.com/266024.html
http://femmequixotic.livejournal.com/292480.html
