I
write this in light of the recent unpleasantness across the
fandom, particularly with regard to a similar open letter from
Ebony, which can be found here: http://www.livejournal.com/~angiej/2003/05/10/.
Firstly,
I would like to make it clear that in writing this letter, I
am acting on a personal level and not in my capacity as a
representative of Gryffindor Tower. The following comments and
opinions are my own personal beliefs, and do not necessarily
reflect the views and opinions of other members of the
Gryffindor Tower administration, or of Gryffindor Tower as a
whole.
I find myself utterly astonished by the
accusations in this missive, given the user’s desire to work
towards the so-called "one big happy HP fandom." The first
comment I would make is in regard to the infamous
"pottersginny," a religious radical who attached herself to
Gryffindor Tower to deliver her racist beliefs.
Ebony
states that:
When
individuals who work for corporations are proven to have
behaved in a sexist, racist, and/or heterosexist manner, said
corporation almost always attempts to make gestures of
conciliation not only towards those on the inside, but outward
to the offended parties/community. These gestures should occur
almost immediately.
This even matters if the individual
does not work for the corporation, but associates himself or
herself with the corporation. In this case, the corporation
should state publicly that the individual wreaking havoc in
the larger community is not of them. To post this information
in one's in-house publication is not enough. Not nearly
enough.
The
remarks which pottersginny made were done via Live Journal.
Upon discovery of these inflammatory comments, the individual
in question was banned from GT, and a statement immediately
made that the administrative staff of Gryffindor Tower in no
way condoned or supported the beliefs put forward by this
individual.
Our response to this was immediate,
unequivocal and was delivered via a public medium. The
Gryffindor Tower LJ has an open membership, and is frequented
by members of all fansites. The community LJ is not a private,
in-house publication, and as our public face in the Live
Journal community, it was therefore the most suitable place to
site a response.
I am actually curious as to what
Ebony’s definition of "public" is, and I have come to the
conclusion that the only thing that would satisfy her
conditions is for a representative of the Gryffindor Tower
administration to make a grovelling apology on Fiction Alley
Park. I have news for you dear; it’s never going to happen. If
it were the case throughout the fandom that the administrative
staff had to make a public apology and disassociate themselves
from the individual in question on the boards of the affected
site, the Fiction Alley administrators would spend more time
on our boards than they do on their own. I have lost track of
the number of times that I have been confronted by insulting,
ignorant comments from the denizens of Fiction Alley. I
certainly do not delude myself into thinking that these people
are acting as official representatives of the site they
frequent, and most of the time I simply ignore
them.
Given the absolute ludicrousness of pottersgirl’s
comments, any sane and sensible person could tell that she was
in no way representative of Gryffindor Tower as a whole. As a
liberal, open-minded individual with close friends and
colleagues and former partners from across the racial and
religious spectrum, I find Ebony’s inference that I am a bigot
by association ignorant and utterly offensive.
This
becomes even more important if this "unintended" offense is
directed towards persons whom your corporation has made it a
policy to censor, block, or otherwise harass. The offended
individuals should not be OBLIGATED to visit your HQ or to
poke around the social circles and country clubs that they are
alternately not allowed access to, or are shunned once they're
foolish enough to go there.
This does not only apply to
the corporate world.
It ought to apply to the fandom's
most popular sites.
And
when I thought that the ignorance could not run any deeper,
she manages to surpass herself. There has never been any
policy at Gryffindor Tower to "censor, block or otherwise
harass" any groups or individuals. Provided that they agree to
follow our site rules of tolerance and respect, and refrain
from ship debates or ship bashing, any members of Fiction
Alley, including the administrative staff are welcome at our
site, and there are a large number of GT members who also
frequent Fiction Alley Park. Any thoughts that we shun, block
or harass certain individuals simply because of who they
associate with, exist solely in the minds of those such as
Ebony who choose to believe it.
And
the divisions in our fandom and in our modern world seem to
boil down to a strange dichotomy.
On the one hand,
there are those who deep in their hearts believe in
homogeneity. Whether it's race, political beliefs, religion,
personal philosophy or creed, sexual orientation, physical
challenge, age, nationality, ethnicity, favorite Harry Potter
ship or character, etc.--they seem to want everyone to walk in
lockstep with them.
I
honestly did try to believe that Ebony was not making a
reference to Gryffindor Tower here, but given her previous
comments I can only assume that once again her ignorance has
overcome her capacity for rational thought. The members of
Gryffindor Tower come together as a community to discuss our
shared interest in the H/G ship. We could not care less about
what the rest of the fandom chooses to believe, and attempts
by our members to engage in ship debates at other sites to
convert others to our beliefs are openly frowned upon by the
administration. I find Ebony’s decision to refer to us in the
same paragraph as racists and homophobes absolutely
despicable. Furthermore, in my experience, the largest
concentration of people who attempt to persuade others to
follow their beliefs on this issue can be found inhabiting the
boards at Fiction Alley Park. Perhaps she should look a little
closer to home for her next moralistic crusade.
There
are others who value diversity above all else. No, you don't
have to look like them. You don't have to worship like them,
believe what they believe, think like they think. You don't
even have to shag the kind of people they shag! They can be
able-bodied or not, beautiful or not, tall or short, teen,
young adult, mature person, Democrat or Republican, American,
French, Afghan, Iraqi... they don't care. As long as you are
similarly open-minded, you can join the party.
If
Ebony would stop for even the briefest of moments to
investigate those whom she so casually insults, she would
realise that this is an extremely accurate description of 99%
of the people at Gryffindor Tower. The source of her
irritation, I believe, is not that we choose not to join "the
party," but rather that we do not join "their
party."
If I had a low opinion of the representatives
of Fiction Alley before, what scraps of respect I had for them
have been utterly shot to pieces by these ill thought out
utterances.
One
love. One fandom.
Unless
you are so snooty that you CHOOSE to differentiate
yourself from the rest of us.
When
I originally came to the Harry Potter fandom, I found Fiction
Alley first. I admit, as a newbie I felt quite welcome there
initially, discussing writing technique and posting my
stories. As I became more confident in posting, I sought to
engage in some of the more interesting debates. After writing
logical, well thought-out essays on canonical trends in
shipping, and how fanon has distorted our views of certain
characters, I was quite surprised when, rather than engaging
in meaningful debate, I was publicly flamed by those same
people who I had thought were pleasant individuals. I finally
came to the realisation that I was not welcome at Fiction
Alley after a rational and scholarly essay on how I did not
believe that certain characters could be incorporated into a
slash fiction without their canon personalities being
significantly altered, although stating that as a straight
male it was something that I didn’t personally read. This
post, rather than meriting a scholarly debate, resulted in
over two dozen e-mails and private messages accusing me of
being a bigoted homophobe; something which I found to be
extremely insulting.
Fiction Alley is the New York City
of fansites. It is a sprawling, all encompassing metropolis
with thousands of members. Well, I’m a country boy at heart,
so I’ll stay in my cosy little hamlet in the wilderness,
forever content to not look beyond my own borders. I certainly
know which sense of community I prefer.
If I "choose"
to differentiate myself from the inhabitants of Fiction Alley,
it is because I prefer to spend my time amongst a group of
people who I feel comfortable with in an environment that is
free from argument and nastiness. Despite the things that we
have in common, the people at Gryffindor Tower are a varied
and diverse group of individuals with differing beliefs and
ideals, yet I have found good friends in all of them. The
thing that confuses me about all these comments about how we
should join the the rest of the fandom in a spirit of unity
is:
David,
you're 100% right. GT has had people from almost every
walk of life at one point or another.
There have
been people from the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland,
France, Israel, Austria, Australia, Panama, Singapore,
Germany, New Zeland, Korea, and many other countries.
There have been members that are Christian, Muslim,
Hindu, Jewish, Wiccan, Athiest, etc. There have been
members that are Gay, Lesbian, and
Transgendered.
Of course, that would mean you
have to believe what any of us have to say.
I
really agree with you, David, and you made a heck of a
lot more sense than Ebony did. From conversations with
you I know this is truly your opinion and not just smoke
disguising your true depraved inanity.
First
off I Love You! Second BRAVO. I agree with everything
you said, I only wish I could have said it half as well.
The last thing you stated is "Why do they
care?", well, if you find out, please let me
know.
I don't understand WHY they feel the need
to contact us in any way, shape or form. What is so bad
about being a small group of people who get together and
share the love of one ship?
I've been part of
this fandom for over 2 and 1/2 years and I've seen it
grow in good and bad ways. Maybe I'm sensitive to this
because I was one of the first members of QoHG and now a
Queen and I've never regretted a single moment there or
now on the tower.
I guess what I really don't
understand is why they feel the need to attack us. And I
mean US, because when they attack my friends, they
attack me. It's a strange concept called loyalty, you
can usually find it among those of us that don't eat our
young. What is so threatening about us, that some one
those out there feel the need to rid the fandom of us.
We are a small group of friends that get together to
read and write good stories about Harry Potter and Ginny
Weasley. I didn't realize that that was a capital
offence.
But what I find sad, is the people who
blindly believe whatever is fed into their brains. I
only wish everyone would go take a look at all the sites
out there and make their own minds up. Come over to the
tower, read some of our stories. We have some incredibly
talented people here. Come over to our boards, and
you'll find nice people willing to joke, laugh, debate,
and just be themselves. We don't bite. We ask that you
to be kind and be open minded. If that's too much to
ask, then all I can say is don't join us. If you chose
not to join our group because you've come over and not
liked what you've seen, then that's fine. Don't trash
talk about us if you've never even seen the Fat Lady.
I'm not going to say everyone should get along.
The HP Fandom is like a very big family, and I know not
all families get along. I'd rather you ignore that we
even exist, than have you hurt me and my friends, people
that you've never even taken the time to get to
know.
The
last thing you stated is "Why do they care?", well, if
you find out, please let me know.
Ebony
was expressing herself, eloquently, and asked the
valid question of why GT didn't immediately
respond to the racist statements of what appeared to be
a member of their clique. All Rudeboy had to say was
that they did respond immediately and that she
was in no way affiliated with them. Why all public
bashing of Eb? His post was spiteful and is the very
reason why so many of us are happy you all stay tucked
away in that sad little tower of yours.
You
have, in all truth, surpassed yourself. This post is
eloquent, well thought-out, inspiring and nicely
summarized. Marian said basically what I wanted to say,
so in the interest of not repeating her, let me just say
"ditto."
You have my undivided support,
appreciation and admiration.
any
members of Fiction Alley, including the administrative
staff are welcome at our site Does
this mean that Cassie's not banned from posting on GT
anymore? What about Irina?
I
think it had better be a shockingly queer magenta P.
Because, you know, Jen, you associate with Those
Homosexuals. Fortunately for everybody, there aren't any
of Them in the Country. No, those Nasty Homosexuals stay
in New York City with the Other Nasty Homosexuals and do
their Pervy Things to innocent Characters Who Could
Never Be Gay there.
Anonymous:
To answer your queries, Irina chose to leave GT of her
own accord, and as long as Cassandra Claire agrees to
abide by the posting rules, she's as welcome as anyone
else.
LegomyMalfoy: When we check registrations,
the only things that we have available to check whether
someone is suitable is a name and e-mail. I processed
that application myself, and I haven't got the faintest
idea who you are now, let alone when I only had that
information to go by. I wasn't aware of the origin of
the site "t00b.net", but I was concerned enough by the
use of the name "pervy" to err on the side of caution.
We have had a poster by this e-mail name on our old
boards during a full-scale troll attack - this, and the
sexual connotations of the word were the only factors I
could take into account when making my
decision.
Anyone denied access has the right to
query the reasons for it, and should you wish to submit
your request again, I will activate your
account.
I
think it had better be a shockingly queer magenta P. Because,
you know, Jen, you associate with Those Homosexuals.
Fortunately for everybody, there aren't any of Them in the
Country. No, those Nasty Homosexuals stay in New York City
with the Other Nasty Homosexuals and do their Pervy Things to
innocent Characters Who Could Never Be Gay
there.
Anonymous:
To answer your queries, Irina chose to leave GT of her own
accord, and as long as Cassandra Claire agrees to abide by the
posting rules, she's as welcome as anyone
else.
LegomyMalfoy: When we check registrations, the
only things that we have available to check whether someone is
suitable is a name and e-mail. I processed that application
myself, and I haven't got the faintest idea who you are now,
let alone when I only had that information to go by. I wasn't
aware of the origin of the site "t00b.net", but I was
concerned enough by the use of the name "pervy" to err on the
side of caution. We have had a poster by this e-mail name on
our old boards during a full-scale troll attack - this, and
the sexual connotations of the word were the only factors I
could take into account when making my decision.
Anyone
denied access has the right to query the reasons for it, and
should you wish to submit your request again, I will activate
your account.
