#are some of y’all even aware that how u conduct yourself on the internet is contributing to cyberbullying

[mrsblackruby]

If someone doesn’t want to interact with someone who likes or stans billy, they don’t have to? Just ignore their posts if you don’t like it. We are all entitled to our own opinions but that doesn’t mean posting screenshots of other people’s tweets is gonna make a difference. Half of what people have said isn’t even that bad. Honestly if it bugs you that much don’t even bother looking under anti-billy. and can you tag properly? i don’t want to see this shit under the nancy or max tag.

My response to this ask is the FINAL part in my case 4 Rat-man lol 😂 Which is a series that dives into Billy’s character on my blog lol.

I made a podcast response to this ask because there’s is a lot to criticize in this reaction to my 5 part series calling out harassment of BLACK Billy Hargrove fans in the Stranger Things fandom. I’m calling out fandom racism and bullying. I also made a podcast response to this ask because I’m chaotic!That’s my best quality! The intention of my 5 part series calling out harassment was not to end online harassment but call out and encourage those who saw it not to participate in the harassment. If I wanted to call out harassment/start a discussion about the problems I face as a black Billy Hargrove fan why would I just ignore an echo chamber online that degrades me/ my fandom and calls me racist for liking a fictional character? I talked about a lot in my five part series and it’s has little to nothing to do with people just not wanting to interact with Billy Hargrove fans. It’s baffles me how you can’t see how more than half the things I critic in that series is just inexcusable treatment of others fans in fandom. If you don’t mind let me elaborate…

I hope you enjoy my voice if y’all choose to listen.

https://otter.ai/s/-5VbiKtNSxqrRM865HRhxA?t=0s

This podcast is only 30 minutes so consume it with that fact in mind if you choose to listen If the quality of the audio has problems while using headphones try listening without headphones

The first 4 mins and 30 seconds is the introduction so if you just want my response to this ask you can skip that. My response to this ask is somewhat directed towards this person but somethings build on a larger discussion. Mostly because it looks like this is a newly made account so I doubt this person will even see this post. I also want to make it clear I could give less of a shit if people don’t like Billy as a character or don’t want to interact with his fans. What I do care about/ don’t like is when people bully/ make false notions about people they don’t know on the internet because those people like a fictional character! P.S. if the asker does see this I like ur username. I mean the name maxgayfields Accuracy, bitch! Accuracy! no disrespect meant at all. I’m open to respectful criticism!and obviously this post is for those who care about / take interest in the issues I discuss. Also Billy/ Harringrove fans you are truly loved 💕in my heart! Take care of yourselves🥰

My case 4 ratman is on my blog links will be listed below ⬇️

My case for RATMAN INDEXED

Stand alone post: Me reading to much into the politics of Billy Hargrove/ Harringrove

THE 5 PART SERIES ON HARASSMENT: #1. #2. #3. #4. #5.

Below ⬇️ is The script to my podcast for anyone who’s hard of hearing or who just likes to read! Because otter is so bad at transcription. I kinda adlib somethings in the audio that won’t be on the script but this should still give you a pretty good outline of my argument let me know about grammar mistakes I will fix them.

Introduction

I could talk about Billy Hargrove 4 days

He is my comfort character and I find great joy in talking about his character.

I also recognize and encourage that we all be aware there are much bigger problems in the world around us

that we should be focused on organizing and educating ourselves on.

I like engaging in the discourse around Billy because it gives me a break from all the chaos in my life at the moment.

The community is hilarious and very engaging

I find I’m able to relate to a lot of people in it on a personal level

However Even with all these pros there are still cons

I feel I should call out a problem when I see one and make resources available for those who do not want to directly contribute to fandom toxicity

I honestly understand that a lot people can’t handle the conversation because of how heavy it gets(I tagged my post for that reason) but that doesn’t mean the conversation shouldn’t be brought to light

I know not everyone has the capacity to challenge online harassment and no should have to challenge online harassment because it shouldn’t happen

But since it does I’ve decided to make a case for Billy and combat abuse as best as I can

so those who actually care for marginalized community members in the Billy fandom on tumblr will have more tools available to themselves

I’m aware my post will not stop harassment. Individual action is nothing in scale to a big system like that.

But since I have nothing better to do I wanted to make an argument available for Billy antis who struggle to understand Billy fans/ black Billy Hargrove fans in particular.

End of introduction

Okay now where should I begin with this ask

Not all the behavior I criticized was harmful. I even made it clear in my series that I’m not making a moral condemnation of anybody for the post they’ve made on tumblr. (Was anybody murder no this is not that big of a problem) I’m just criticizing people’s posts. Remember everything can be held up to scrutiny, even my arguments. Especially if they are accessible online however. I would not have crossed tag if a majority of the things I criticized weren’t me just calling out inexcusable behavior in the fandom. If you struggle to see how more than half of what I talk about is a problem I encourage further reflections on my argument.

We should allow and encourage marginalized people to call out something that makes them feel uncomfortable and speak their mind. Telling me to just shut up and leave the internet instead of being less cruel to each other Isn’t gonna solve anything. Especially cuz I don’t plan on leaving the internet anytime soon. And I’m not at fault for consuming something accessible to the public. Which means it can be criticized by the public. But people who go out to harass, antagonize, and be little Billy fans. Are at fault for creating a toxic internet environment by creating false notions about people they don’t know online because they like a fictional character.

Telling me to ignore a problem I call out is interesting to say the least

I’m entitled to stand against harmful and degrading opinions

Any opinions people have they are entitled to have

For example racist are going to hold and spread their racist opinions

But I’m not just gonna let racist commun among each and talk about why they hate black people because they’re entitled to their opinions. I will fight back. Let it be known I don’t tolerate that behavior

What I’m not gonna do is never question people opinions because they are “entitled to them” or allow opinions that are accusatory to towards another group of people or degrading to just be online without resistance

There’s no problem with me calling out statements made available to the public and hiding people's identities to curb harassment just to discuss the ideology or behavior a certain post might be contributing to.

Yes! There are much bigger problems in the world. This is still a problem though.

There are people who are facing evictions, there’s a global pandemic, and there’s a looming climate crisis

However Online harassment and degrading your fellow human beings on the internet is still a problem…that creates a hostile environment for many Billy fans… and it’s not a problem to call that out and bring attention to it.

This is a problem sadly I wasn’t even able to bring attention to all of it

There’s harassment campaigns on Twitter for anyone whose a Billy Hargrove fan

People literally call Billy fans racist, homophobic, abuser because they Stan a fictional character.

Let’s not even talk about Reddit

In the anti tags I should not go in there and see people wish death on fans of a character there’s no excuse for that even if it is your “opinion”

I should not go in anti and see a community of people, making degrading and belittling remarks towards real human beings. If I do see that in the anti tags that is called homing an environment, to where people make crude assumptions, bully,and make fun of people you don’t know on the internet. That's called harassment.

Sadly it is an internet phenomenon that’s not going away anytime soon

It not okay and I’m gonna let it be known I stand against it.

If you don’t want to interact with Billy fans that’s okay… I respect and understand your boundaries. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do… but you don’t need to go make mocking images of Billy fans… all you need to do is kindly communicate your boundaries, not belittle people in the process.

Once again a lot of those fucking “opinions” were calling all Billy fans racist… When you do that you start calling victims of a racist society,and organizers against a racist society, racist! And you do this all on the b.s. notion of them liking a fictional character. Yeah that’s your fucking opinion but it’s a hurtful misrepresentation of entire community made up of varying people.

I get where you are coming from with the cross tagging. It was probably the thing I was most hesitant about doing…however I didn’t go in any tag degrading anybody or any character… I only called out harassment. I know the person who asked the question doesn’t say anything like this but if you think me calling out the racism I face as black Billy Hargrove fan is offensive. I truly struggle at understanding why that is…I get the cross tagging thing for real though. I want antis to stay out of the Billy tag. Even though I see antis in the Billy tag all the damn time. I hope to not make it a habit. I only wanted to put my argument out there. I only did it to call out harassment so the wider st community on tumblr could see it because it’s not acceptable behavior. Also people who use the anti Billy Hargrove/ Harringrove tags probably use the other tags I added as well. I just wanted it to be as accessible as possible.

My intention was not to end harassment of Billy fans online …even though I want that to happen there’s no way my 5 part series on tumblr was gonna do that… my intention was to tell the people on tumblr who care about black Billy fans, Billy fans who are queer, victims of abuse, people around the same age as Billy was portraying in the medium, and any other Billy fans that can see themselves in Billy’s story. That engaging in what I critic will not be creating a safe environment for those fans and if you don’t want to do that stop and be nicer.

I’m very aware that some people will not care about what I talk about because people out there are racist, people out there don't care about victims of abuse, the mental state of other people in the fandom. I expect those people to continue making the internet a toxic place for everyone. But if you do care about marginalized Billy fans my post was for you. I believe you have every right to not like Billy as a character. However keep your fire and fury towards Billy and not the fans whose one crime was liking a fictional character. If you care about not being the direct cause of someone’s degradation…my post was for you.

I also want people making the posts I critic to know they aren’t fighting any problems they are creating one… no hate I don’t know who you are and you can legit grow from this… you just made some mean post on the internet delete them apologize move on if u don’t want to participate/aid in this behavior again. Online harassment is a large systematic issue meaning tumblr will always allow space for these toxic environments. Someone is going to be mean on the internet. Do you want it to be you?

Also Don’t you see how you responded to my post because it made you uncomfortable and instead of me saying just fuck off I tried to create a safe environment where I respect your personhood and we can start and introspective dialogue.Unlike those others posts I have not made a moral judgment on u I have only tried to commit to a dialogue.

I find it interesting to talk about Billy Hargrove and dissect the politics of his story arc of his character. I’m hoping to have the opportunity to do so without people calling me racist against my own race for liking a fictional character or abusive for liking a fictional character. Or any other crude assumptions they have no way of knowing based on what character I like.

Btw Yes Billy’s story arc is flawed but what media isn’t. Yeah I’m a Billy fan who likes to talk and defend this character. Ur telling me you don’t have any weirdly specific interests. Aren’t you on tumblr?

All in all, don’t get mad at people who call out bullying on the internet especially when they don’t come for anyone’s personhood, they stay respectful… even though the people they have called out have made belittling comments towards them. Don’t get mad at people for criticizing how humans position themselves online or how they treat other human beings online. Especially when I didn’t make anyone a target I was criticizing the position in certain posts. Also there’s no reason to come for the people who like Billy as a character because you don’t know the people who like Billy. Just come for Billy the character if you don’t like him. I was very kind and respectful because I realize antis are flawed human beings so see and understand Billy fans can be flawed human beings as well.

(Hopefully this is the only podcast response I ever have to do. But, Hey! let me know if you found it helpful tho… cuz if I ever do another I will up the quality.)

Be kind 2 yourselves.

#billy hargrove #stranger things #podcast #tw harassment #tw racsim #anti blackness #obvi this is 4 people who care guys #🤦🏿‍♀️ #srry for the rant #vent post #sorry 4 my fucked up voice #are some of y’all even aware that how u conduct yourself on the internet is contributing to cyberbullying? #sometimes we need to think/ critic before we make a -joke- #because what might we actually be saying #that’s all #i’m telling y’all #it may not be targeted harassment #but it still fits the definition of harassment #online harassment #if you didn’t read my entire series don’t assume you know my entire argument #it’s okay not to read all my post if you can’t or don’t want to Just don’t assume you know all my points #it’s also not like I’m not allowed to post things in other tags on the internet especially when it was relevant lol #also some of the shit I talk about in my -5 parter- was definitely targeted cyber bullying #billy is a rat and i’m proud to call him my son🥲 #I didn’t cross tag since this is just an ask and response #before u say it yes👍🏿 I have nothing better to do next question! yep I know I’m weird for finding this interesting next question 🤩 #btw the reason I don’t talk about Reddit is because I don’t want to host a conversation about the harassment there #let me have fun w/ fiction and love my rat man #long post #okay I feel better now after saying my peace