If you want proof fandom is violently sexist and racist try calling out one of Misha’s tweets at 3am
All gays, women, blacks, indigenous, disabled, Muslims < White Male Woobie
Fandom, if your reaction to someone calling out a white male celebrity is to get defensive and protect him, ask yourself why
Question it
Question your reaction
Question why you put privileged white men first
Are you protecting him? or are you protecting yourself for defining your identity and personal values by him?
You must do this—we have to do this. We have to practice doing this because this reaction is what does real harm to real people
It’s also worth asking why Americans insist on lionizing politicians (especially presidents) after their death.
GHWB had A LOT of blood on his hands, and his passing does not negate any of that nor does it absolve him of the consequences of his decisions during his political career.
In some ways, I feel like both are outgrowths of a similar mindsets that reduce everything to a strict binary or in-group/out-group dynamics.
(And if I have to now endure a bunch of soppy and revisionist histories about GWHB, I’m gonna scream. While I’m pretty strictly agnostic, I do sometimes hope Hell is real if only so I can now picture Ron, Nancy, George, and Barbara down there for all eternity)
I have theories on this—because Michelle Obama did the same thing Misha Collins did, and I think the privileges at work are very different.
Michelle Obama is a black woman. For her, a position of forgiveness is also a position of control where otherwise she would have none.
Misha Collins is a white man. A position of forgiveness is a position of control over everyone who has less privilege than he does.
That’s what makes it so gross. He’s decided, essentially, to speak over the Michelle Obamas. He’s taken it upon himself to judge and forgive a man whose actions against minorities he has ZERO right to forgive.
Michelle Obama has privileges, too. She has no right to forgive George Bush Sr. on behalf of indigenous women or Muslims, for example.
So it’s opportunism for both, no question. They saw the opportunity to take control of a dialogue knowing they have millions of followers, and they took advantage. Maybe to feel comforted. Maybe to encourage forgiveness.
But for Misha, it was far far less his right.
Yeah, I definitely agree with that, especially in regards to their positions of power vis a vis their privilege.
I also think that their positions in the public sphere make a huge difference. For the Obamas to say nothing would have much broader implications, and while I wish political expediency wasn’t a consideration in situation like this, it is. Coupled with that is the fact that they did have a personal relationship with him, which adds another wrinkle to the situation.
Misha had none of these considerations, and could have kept his peace, but instead chose to write that tweet, which is inappropriate for all the reasons you list. it feels performative, which is also why it rubbed me the wrong way too. He is a good person, but i think in this case he chose to use his platform to encourage forgiveness (noble goal, but…) in an instance where i wish he would have let other voices carry the conversation.
also, on a personal level, i will never forget seeing my parents’ friends dying en masse during the AIDS epidemic, so i have a hard time reconciling all this talk of ‘honoring his public service’ with my very clear memories of watching a plague that could have been mitigated had GHWB et al had opted to ‘serve’ ALL of the public, not just those they deemed worthy.
tl;dr: i agree with everything you said, and just bc you’re a fan of someone doesn’t mean you shouldn’t call them out on stuff AND being a fan does not in any way give you license to attack people who do so (in fact, i would argue that’s not being a fan, that’s elevating a public persona of someone into a creepy religious-esque idol, which is just… gross)
I went to go look up what happened and I am appalled. I’m dealing with seeing people talk about it on my facebook too and… ugh.
He does his best to try and be a good person, but people (especially his fucking fans) need to remember that he’s human with all the flaws that entails. @eiael-thinks you’re absolutely right about fans elevating the actors like this. to the “stans” these people can do no wrong, even if it was egregious harm. And I think that’s the biggest part of the problem. Its how fans treat them. These people can say anything and they will still have fans defending them to the death. (If anything is more of an example than this one, its people defending BC for his comments about autistic folx and Sherlock)
This was a Bad Decision™ And while I don’t doubt he was trying to something good, it was very very bad and very very gross.
And anything any politician has to say about Dead Bush is entirely performative no matter who they are, if they’re rallying for forgiveness.
I hate this trend of woobiefying dead politicians.
thisacelovesheadcanons 