User blog:Perchan/Freedom of Speech

Freedom of Speech

Alright guys, due to stuff that happened and the lengthy discussion that followed, I've decided I'm going to give a little speech on a touchy issue in this day and age of liberalism and overly politically correct stuff- how to deal with opinions that you don't like.

I APOLOGIZE IN ADVANCE IF ANYONE TAKES THIS THE WRONG WAY. THE SNARK IS THERE JUST TO LIGHTEN THE MOOD, HOPEFULLY YOU CAN PICK OUT WHAT I'M ACTUALLY TRYING TO CONVEY, IF YOU DON'T THERE'S A HELPFUL NOTE AT THE END

Let's say somebody posts an opinion that you disagree with and shouts it to the high heavens- for example, "I like Nickelback!" or "There was nothing wrong with Final Fantasy XIII!" or, for something pertaining to the discussion, "Fairy Tail sucks even though I'm still here!"

It gets your blood boiling. It makes you so mad that somebody would *gasp* speak ill about something you like, or whatever. You can't understand why somebody would have a different opinion than you on such a subject. Actually, to be less snarky, let's just say that you're annoyed that somebody who hates something would keep reading/watching/listening to it/whatever they do, and reviewing it, letting their negative opinion of it be known to the world.

It's a difficult thing to deal with, is it? Except, not really.



If you don't like it, you don't need to read it. This goes for both the series, the articles on the wiki, and any reviews in this case. I'm going to be honest and put my own opinion in- I actually don't understand why people who keep shouting to the high heavens that they hate something still review it; I mean, I personally tend to keep my opinions to myself unless asked; I think Bleach is a steaming sack of shit, but I don't shout how much I dislike it to the high heavens, nor do I interrupt every conversation about it with "this sucks". Actually I don't care about it, really. Chinese cartoons aren't worth getting salty over; but that's the kind of person I am- I generally don't complain unless it affects my way of life. But that might not apply to you; and that's not really important. There has to be something that keeps drawing people back to something. As Void suggested, maybe the fanon is what is keeping people tied to the series.

Freedom of speech is absolutely essential to life- if we tried to make people conform to our opinions, then it'd make this place a shithole. I think a major draw of the internet (and life in general, except the world of politics) is that everyone is different, and you can get along with people who think differently on some subjects than you. In any case, as we all know, silencing an opinion, just because you don't agree with it specifically, is bad and wrong; so it's badong. "but muh feefees think of muh feefees, If this person who I can just ignore has a different opinion than me I'll cry, I want their opinion censored :^(" Stop that bullshit right there; it's utterly pathetic- it's like how people wanted the word "bossy" to be banned. If you want people's opinions to be censored then you too should have your own opinion suffer the same- it's utterly hypocritical.



I can tell you firsthand- back when we were starting off way back in 2011, all people were doing was making Slayer Magics- and we put a ban on them for like three days. Good god you shoulda seen the outrage. We were going to just ignore it but then I can't really remember what happened, but in the end we decided to implement the (in) famous "fifty edits, a week of editing, one complete character, and my permission to make a Slayer Magic" rule- that way, people were free to do what they wanted within reason while we could still dial it back a little if it got out of hand. In addition, that way we could see which users were dedicated to making something amazing here instead of just slapping slayer magic on everything.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but it's a lot better than allowing people to do whatever they want and shutting everything to do with slayers down. Honestly, when we learned to be more lax about this stuff and stopped trying to do what we thought a good leader would do and instead did what we felt was more natural, I think the quality improved on the wiki.

As a side note, I thought I'd tackle this hurdle- "you haven't been published, nor has your story/comic/show/etc been given rave reviews and nor is it popular like X". That's a straw argument. Anyone can criticize anything they want, even if they don't really know much about it nor is their work "popular"- if they don't like it, they can still make their voice be heard. Remember, just because it's published and lots of people read it doesn't mean it's good. I mean look at Twilight for example (I know, I know); better yet, look at all the people criticizing Donald Trump this election. People are allowed to have their voices be heard no matter what; yes, even if their opinion doesn't make much sense. You'll probably get as many people who agree with you for as many people who disagree with you. On a side note I do have a publishing deal but that's besides the point.

Anyway, the censoring of opinions is how a dictatorship forms- and more importantly, if you get around by shutting out the voices of people who complain, what are you going to do when one day, you come across somebody who has a legitimate grievance and you can't just ignore them? These people will absolutely destroy you.

If you're annoyed about somebody's opinion, then don't demand them to be censored or insult them (unless they insult you first); here's what you do— you either ignore it or you debate them. Write a counter-argument, wait for them to respond, see the responses you get from all kinds of people. On the note of reviews, there's no "official" reviewer- even Aha, when he did it, wasn't "FTF's reviewer"- it was just something he did for fun. So anyone can review the anime/manga; nothing is stopping you from doing so.

Nevertheless, attacking somebody just because you don't like something they do is perhaps the most assholish thing you could ever do. I don't care if people insult Fairy Tail the series, since that's their opinion and as I've beaten into your heads during this blog, shutting down other people's opinions just because you don't agree with them is wrong. People can say whatever they want about it. Admittedly, people who are constantly bashing it reviewing the thing is still confusing for me and if things get out of hand with the negativity to the point that it turns into a war between users, we'll ensure that everything remains civil, but even so, you're entitled to your opinions.

However, insulting somebody who likes the series for the *gasp* heinous crime of liking something that you don't is something that will not be tolerated. As I said before, if people are interrupting conversations about something they like because of somebody who doesn't share the same opinion and if it's stifling creativity and scaring away users, both old and new, then I will do something about it. However, I refuse to take action without any proof first- so people who have suffered this need to step up and tell me.

TLDR; Fairy Tail Fanon has been, and will always be pro-free speech; a major part of most countries that the userbase comes from uphold freedom of speech, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion; if you want somebody's opinion censored just because you don't agree with it then that's hypocrisy, since then your own opinion should be censored, as per equality- I can guarantee you that as long as people don't insult other users for different opinions, then you can say whatever the hell you want, I don't care. That's all there is to it.

This blog isn't aimed at anyone, it's just giving an example of why we don't make people conform to certain opinions- nor am I getting mad at anyone; I apologize if anyone takes this the wrong way. I just want to explain why we'll never censor free speech, and maybe go into a little rant that I've been holding back for a while.