*DEEP BREATH*
Alright Anon, let’s clear one thing up before I go into detail, because I do want to make this clear! You do not have to support anything you see in fiction. If something does not sit well with you or offends you, you 1000% can just stay away from it, criticise it, w/e. But the fact is, fiction does not equal reality. That is why it is called fiction.
There are many things I am disgusted by. There are many things that legitimately make me go into shut-down mode. These things can be themes in fiction. But they are not real. And I do my best to avoid these things. At the end of the day, it’s everyone’s responsibility to do this to the best of their ability. It is not really anyone else’s responsibility to look out for you on the internet. You can definitely ask people to tag things you don’t want to see, but they are not in charge of you or your well being. You can definitely create a safe space for you and others, but you cannot force others to abide by your exact morality when it comes to fictional matters. That all may sound harsh, but I honestly don’t think there’s another way to put it.
If something is actually against the law, even when presented in fiction, then absolutely go and file a report with an authoritative power that can do something about it. That shit doesn’t need to exist. But if it is not against the law, no matter how badly it upsets you, you technically cannot dictate what others create or consume in a fictional medium. You can offer criticism. You can speak out against it. You can have whatever opinion you have. But it’s not within anyone’s rights, unless if you are a member of authority, to dictate others.
I really do hate the slippery slope argument, but if we were to outlaw everything that was deemed problematic or toxic by everyone, we would eventually have literally 0 content, as everyone finds something problematic or toxic.
Fiction is intended to be many things, including a space for people to be able to explore things that would not go over well in reality.
I’m sorry, but saying that fiction does equal reality causes more harm than good. By saying this, you are making it harder for individuals that already have issues discerning fiction from reality to tell the difference between the two, as you are simply backing up the fallacy they are under the impression of for whatever reason. While it isn’t necessarily fair, the overwhelming majority of people can tell fiction apart from reality in most circumstances, and therefore, we cannot operate under the argument that fiction = reality, as it is simply not true.
Disclaimer: I am absolutely not saying that you have to be okay with anything you see in fiction. You are entitled to your own opinion and your right to express that opinion. All I am saying is that I wish that people would stop saying that fiction does equal reality.
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