comtessedebussy:

I’m going to respond to this ask under the assumption that you do really want a “middle way” and aren’t looking to add fuel to the fire, anon. So here’s what I have to say: 

I think it’s really, really disingenuous to pretend that this is about some kind of ship war, and I think it’s highly problematic to claim that someone that I’m “unfairly misinterpreting” a character as a way to silence me. 

What middle way would you like exactly, anon? Would you like to have an actual discussion about John Silver’s choices and motivations, based on the text of the canon? Because I’m under the impression that that’s the discussion I’ve been having. I haven’t been coming to other people’s posts to yell about how much he sucks. I’ve been looking at the text of the canon to interpret his decisions and provide my perspectives on them. If that’s a misinterpretation, in your opinion, then you can go to the post and provide a counterargument, or evidence to the contrary, and have an actual discussion. But coming to my ask, claiming I’m misinterpreting the character, and then painting the whole thing as a ship war is, again, disingenuous. And I’m going to say this: there is a really, really harmful tendency in fandom lately to confuse discussion with hate and wank. I am interested in having a discussion about the canon, and my dislike of Silver is based on my interpretation of his actions in the canon. I tag that dislike so you can avoid it, even though I personally think it’s a valid interpretation of the canon. But I’ve been told that I should just shut up and not say anything about him. I’ve been told to stay out of the main tag when I am, again, trying to have a discussion about this goddamn show. And frankly, I’m starting to get pissed off, because certain people seem to think that any critique of their fave character, even based on canon, is somehow hate and wank and a personal attack. It’s really, really not. I’m not the one going around calling people purity fetish morons, or gremlins, or making replies to their posts that say nothing more than “this post is ridiculous” or “this is so dumb” or harassing people who have explicitly or calling them ableist. (and yes, all of those things have happened to me)

In fact, the fact that you think I belong to a particular “side” over which I have some kind of influence is really telling. Sure, I ship certain things and not others, and I have opinions on certain characters that I share with friends in the fandom, but, again, you’re the one who’s putting this in terms of sides, and more than that, sides based on ships. I’m personally frustrated that instead of actually looking at the goddamn text, people seem to be justifying a certain character’s choices based on their own ship preferences. 

And, lastly, and just out of curiosity, have you also sent this message to people who hate on, say, Thomas Hamilton? Cause there’s plenty of hate for him as well. Because I happen to know you sent this to at least two people who have been critical of John Silver’s choices, and it would be really disingenuous if you didn’t do the same to the other so-called “side.”