19 - much to think about, on a smaller scale
There's been something happening in the bluesky community of the fan corner I'm in that made me think back on the post I wrote previously, about how subtle racism is difficult to identify because it hides behind a veil of politeness and courtesy.
It wasn't too hard for me to understand this on a smaller scale. The people being called out for racism - the ones that spend their time crying that the black people they've offended were "mean", "drama-seeking", "aggressive" and "sending them death threats" (when said 'death threats' was some comical GIF of a scene from the Boondocks - I don't know about you, but I feel like if you sent that as evidence of a genuine threat, you're liable to be laughed out of the courtroom) - apparently was so traumatizing to them to this day. Conveniently hiding behind a veil of "I'm so tired of drama" or "I'm allowed to block whoever I want based on the vibes I get".
Is it really "vibes" if all your blocks just so happen to be black people who reasonably would believe you're racist from the way you act towards them?
It's a smaller scale, but it happens so much in fandom spaces that it's hard to argue that "it's not that deep". Not especially these days. I've lost count how many marginalized people, black people especially and nonblack people of color to a bit of a lesser degree, often are judged more harshly than not. It might feel trivial, but for many people they already experience enough bigotry as it is in real life, so to experience the same bigotry (just far less overt) in the spaces that they consider their reprieve is understandably frustrating.
When it comes to that kind of bigotry - the kind that hides behind cute personas, "kind and nice" aesthetics and fun, friendly vibes - it really is important to call it out as it is. I think this world needs us to be actively anti-bigot at all times, for lack of a better word. We need to constantly unlearn the bigotry imprinted on us, identify said bigotry for what it is no matter what, and continue to be genuinely kind even if we're the kind of people one could easily describe as "asshole".