In defense of other human beings.

Can I just say something?

I realize this may or may not be taken well among people who read this, but I need to say it.

Why do we as a culture think it's okay to belittle and tear down any group of people? We focus on this when it comes to race and sexuality and religion (sometimes), but is a person whose tastes and opinions are different from yours any different than someone whose skin is a different color than yours?

I don't know about you, but I think not.

I'm going to come right out and say that I'm talking about Twilight here. Now, first of all, DON'T mistake me for a Twi-hard or whatever they call them, because I am most certainly NOT one of those. However, while I acknowledge that they books are pretty poorly written (in some sections, very poorly written), I also enjoy them for the entertainment factor. John Green recently posted a brilliantly written blog about Twilight, that I agree with %100, so if you want to know my views on the matter, that's what they are. So, no I'm not a huge fan of the series, but yeah, I do enjoy the entertainment they bring. I am in that probably %2 of the population that is really and truly nuetral. You can ADORE Twilight, and I'll still respect you*, or you can make fun of it, and I won't take offense (in fact, I'll probably laugh along).

Generally, this means I happily bystand at the Twiboxing matches between the lovers of Twilight and the haters of Twilight. I'm not on either side, so I just don't usually care.

However, this changes when one side crosses the line and starts being actually hurtful to people on the other side.

This has happened with fans to non-fans before, to a small level. People who love the series start mildly hating on those who don't, and while this is annoying, it actually does no real harm because the fan-haters are generally the less mature fans (I mean, the immature HP fans do this too, it's not new to fandoms), and the non-fans who are being bashed don't. . .care. But, with the release of New Moon, the non-fans are coming out in full force.

I get it, okay? I KNOW seeing Edward Cullen's face everywhere is annoying! I turned slightly to my right at the mall today and was greeted with an unexpected picture of EC at perfect eye level that made me scream because it was so startlingly THERE**. I understand that you would want everyone to just SHUT UP because you're not into what they are. But seriously, think about it. Wanting people to shut up and actually demanding that they do it are SUCH DIFFERENT THINGS, because with the former you're merely having an opinion, but with the latter you are forcing your will and opinion on other people who do not share it! That is beyond selfish, and no better than the immature fans who try to make others like it just because they do!

Worse, though, is something I just saw. There's this article/video of a man who decided to not only force his own opinions on others, but to do so in a hurtful and demeaning way. The fact that I am offended by this is not because I can't take a joke, it's because I won't stand for people treating people so poorly. This man seems to think that anyone who likes Twilight is just stupid cattle who he can treat how he wants. And, okay, so he pulled a prank. If it were just that, I wouldn't be so annoyed. I was kind of appalled, though, at the conclusion of the video: "Twilight Fans. Officially the dumbest people on planet Earth."

...WHAT?! Again, I'd just like to stress that this did not offend me personally lest you think I'm just ranting about something because someone badmouthed me. I'm offended, because this sort of generalization of people and then labeling them as the "dumbest people on planet Earth" is appalling! So, we can only respect people who share our opinions? Or is it just the ones we can control? I mean, are you serious?

Perusing the comments, most people seemed to be under the impression that the Twilight fans "deserved" it or "had it coming." Seriously? What did they possibly do that was so bad that they had this sort of hatred coming? Some even seemed to believe that people who were fans of more "acceptable" things like Batman wouldn't have been as annoyed had the same prank been pulled on them, which is ridiculous.

Most Twilight fans, I've found, are intelligent, friendly, caring people who just happen to like a series of books about vampires. I mean, watching the video, a lot of them even agreed with what they thought were jokes about Edward. These aren't the immature fans who will run you over with their cars (that they may or may not be old enough to drive) just because you don't like Edward. These fans can take jokes about a character they love. That usually shows some level of intelligence.

Why do people try to discourage love of something? Do we REALLY need to try to encourage hatred? Don't we have enough of that in the world? Even if you don't love what someone else loves, can't you just LET them love it? What is the harm? Is there ever any excuse for judging someone based on their opinions, especially to label them as less intelligent than others or yourself?

And I know that most of the people who regularly read my blog are super awesome people, so I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but you have (maybe accidentally) started thinking about Twilight fans as any less intelligent than yourself, please reconsider this idea. If we really want to encourage love, then let's push ourselves to encourage even the love that we don't share. Sound good?

As John Green (my hero, pretty much) so eloquently said:

There are books that teach us something about the world in which we find ourselves, and then there are books that help us to escape for a few hours the crushing pain of humanness. To deny that these books have value is to deny the reality of suffering (or, to argue, as the WaPo story seems to, that suffering is limited to young and/or uneducated people).

Let's not be among the narrow-minded and judgmental people who really convice themselves that this is true, okay? Let's not forget to be awesome.

I will update with my word count and an excerpt in a bit, as I'm still writing. Sorry for the long post. I really needed to get this out. Please comment and tell me what you think, and we can continue this and maybe end up with some sort of conclusion or something.

Also, no one even tried to guess who the people were in my banner thing yesterday. Is sad. :[

See you soon!
Emily

Ghost Whisperer: 1.12

*provided you're not an idiot, but if you're an idiot who doesn't like Twilight, I'll respect you no more than one who does.
**That's actually kind of a funny story. There was a guy passing me on the left at the time. I screamed, he stared.