Because I just made two long and fairly angry (well, more frustrated, really) posts on a television series near and dear to many of us, I’d like to add a reminder that a blog is a fairly narrow platform for self-expression.
I spent a great deal of my time today applying for my passport, cooking, playing with my pets, working on art commissions, and job-hunting. While I feel passionate about my favorite shows, they’re not the only thing in my life, and they’re something I get worked up about in a contained way. Even if something on TV or the news works me up, it doesn’t typically overflow to smolder in other areas of my life. You just hear a lot about it here, because fandom is a lot of what I use this Tumblr for, and less about the broad swathes of my life in which it is couched.
I think it’s probably that way for a lot of people, and I think that’s something worth keeping in mind, both when we’re cutting loose with angry diatribes and when we’re firing back in disagreement or frustration at the apparent lack of perspective among our fellow online denizens.
When you find yourself diving into a debate, it’s also worth paying attention to the scope of the conversation. Sometimes a conversation is about the art/story/show in question. Sometimes it’s about an issue that the art/story/show simply stands as an example of. Sometimes those issues are worth a lot more emotional energy than any single show would ever really be deserving of.
So, you know. Basically, it’s all good.