So there's been this stuff this summer?

[jlh]

Lately I keep trying to write posts to respond to one or another thing going online but I've found that any need I may once have had to make grand statements is gone. They always sound so defensive, and they don't satisfy any of the people with whom I disagree, so I'm not sure what the point of them is. So I suppose the statement that I'd like to make is, I reserve the right to not make a statement.

I reject the notion that I should conduct my behavior in a way that will be approved of by people I don't know. I reject their insistence that I make public statements about the behavior of people I know. If I have a problem with what someone is up to, trust me, I'm much more likely to find them in chat or give them a call. My friendships are genuine—that is, not performative, not political, and certainly not for public consumption.

As for the ongoing notion that I'm a sock puppet, I'm afraid that I cannot prove my existence any more than anyone else can. Thanks to El Juno for consistently maintaining that I am a real person. Zelig I may be, but I am also independent, and the only one who can take the blame for what I do is me.

Comments

[ladyjaida.livejournal.com]

Clio, I love you so hardcore.

[folk.livejournal.com]

HARDCORE LIKE BUKKAKE.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

You're supposed to be a sock puppet? For what purpose? Interesting, reasonable posts? Your real self is I assume a completely irrational person?

I will also back up that you're a real person--to that end: tomorrow night! SYTYCD! Woo-hoo!

[jlh.livejournal.com]

For nefarious BNF purposes I reckon; the reasoning is never clear.

DUDE. Okay, I have class until 4pm near the arena. Shall we have dinner first? email, man.

[hermorrine.livejournal.com]

I seem to have a great deal of in-person interaction with sock puppets. I must be incredibly stupid as I never noticed the knitlike quality of my friends.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I find it interesting that the sock puppet part is the thing folks are reacting to. I think that part of it is that I know a bunch of people and seem to be around but they don't really know who I am aside from being friends with certain folks, and therefore I must be a sock puppet? I don't know, I'm not sure. I mean, it's also odd to be removed from events one participated in, but that may be ultimately to my benefit. Or maybe it's just because I'm not particularly wanky, and therefore I'm not particularly useful to those who are interested in putting together a history of wank, or in reading and discussing wank. You got me, man.

[moony]

You're a sock puppet? *gasp* I never knew!

As if a sock puppet could have hair as awesome as yours. :P

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I don't know; Chester from Sifl & Olly had pretty righteous hair.

Is it that the sock puppet thing is the easiest part to make fun of? That seems to be what gets seized on. I think it's just because they don't know who I am as I'm around these "big names" but am not one, and anyway I'm not that wanky. I dunno, it gives me an identity crisis if I think about it too much.

[moony]

True dat.

I remember a few years ago when someone on LJ accused me of having a sock puppet boyfriend. I have no idea what this was supposed to prove or accomplish, but it was kind of funny.

Come to think of it, sock puppet boyfriends are probably a really good idea.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

No, because what do you want a boyfriend for? Sex, moving heavy things, opening jars, hanging stuff on the wall and other light handywork. Sock puppets really can't do any of these things.

[moony]

This is a good point, supported by the 12-pack of sodas currently on my living room floor, and the two dressers and wardrobe that need to get put together. Gragr.

[andstillitmoves.livejournal.com]

While I disagree with some aspects of this (I think that everything is inherently political, and will be, and perhaps even has to be) I do admire your capacity to state things in a very calm, matter of fact fashion.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

I guess I have two things to say to that, one practical and one theoretical. The practical one is a clarification: to be more precise, I meant that I have not entered into friendships for the purpose of improving my fandom profile or any other reason having to do with fandom status or insideryness or what have you. So that's what that word meant in that context. The current conspiracy theory is that everyone determines their online relationships by what benefit can be gained by them in a fandom ranking of some kind, and I'm just saying that I did no such purposeful thing.

As for everything being political, I think that if everything is political then political loses any meaning. I agree that we can't exist outside of the context we're in, though one must be careful not to suppose that even being AWARE of that context means that one is making more "pure" decisions than someone who is not aware. Also, there IS choice; individuals DO make decisions of their own that are not foregone conclusions predetermined by their context. At any rate the decisions themselves are so complicated that it's difficult to pin the "real reason" to one aspect.

Make sense? I think neither of us are being argumentative here, so hopefully this doesn't come across as argumentative, either.

[andstillitmoves.livejournal.com]

Oh, I've never thought YOU did things for personal political gain, if that makes sense, precisely because you've never grandstanded or taken opportunities (at least not from where I am standing.)

And yes, individuals do make choices: for me it's a level thing, or a qualifier thing - if my friend does something really stupid on a public platform, and I also have a public platform, do I have a moral obligation to use my platform to make it clear I am not condoning/endorsing behaviour with my silence? Obviously, not like, white lies or anything, but is there a level beyond which we must act or are equally culpable?

[jlh.livejournal.com]

You're right, there IS a moral obligation. I think it lies privately, in that you have an obligation to say something to your friend. You might say it in their public post, if that's where they are being an idiot, or you might want to say it in a private email. I do that particularly when my friends are high-profile so as not to have it just be a part of the onslaught of attacks, but a carefully worded note to a friend. I think that you owe a friend the respect to do it privately. And you know, you might actually be able to do some good, by taking it to the source.

From what I've seen of the whole, using my public platform to make my beliefs clear, I certainly have done it, and whether it's me or someone else I think more often than not it ends up looking like grandstanding, because you are making the statement for the benefit of the greater fandom or whatever. You are saying, "That isn't me!" sometimes when no one really asked if it was you or not. I think behavior ultimately speaks louder than words. My "statement" on plagiarism is in the disclaimers on my stories. My "statement" on some bit of behavior is my participation, or not, in that behavior. I think that making some huge statement about something a friend of mine did that everyone is talking about would really just be trying to get a piece of that attention for myself. So that's my guide.

But YMMV. Certainly you are of a higher profile than I am, and might have more people asking you for a statement. When people have come to me in a chat or sent a personal email or even left a comment asking me what I thought, I've always replied honestly, but that's been very rare indeed. I'm not sure, though, that I have a moral obligation to make statements about accusations on websites that I may or may not be reading; that gets into "how long have you been beating your wife?" territory, I think.

[andstillitmoves.livejournal.com]

It lies privately, but then what next? Does it escalate if you don't feel the problem is being addressed? Or should you make a public statement to go "Yes, kay, Friend A did something stupid, but they are still my friend, so STFU?"

I also think behaviour speaks louder than words, but in an online forum - people only SEE the words, really, don't they? They don't know your history or your fic practices.

And really, I thought about making a Statement on recent events, but stfu me, really. Because I am human, and I have made mistakes in fandom, and although I've tried to correct them where possible, damn, you can't make everybody happy. So maybe I should be chased out with pitchforks, I dunno.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I don't know, to be honest. I think if they did something stupid and owned up to it and are still being pummelled over it, then that's the time for the "STFU" but if they haven't, then you know, I'm not comfy telling people to STFU since they're kinda right. But I'm also not comfy feeding my pal to the wolves.

Dude, if they are actually directly attacking me they'd better fucking look shit up. My fics are on FA. If they want to say I'm fine with plagiarism without looking up my shit then they're just lazy and seriously, what the fuck ever. This stuff is generally available with my name on it for a reason—which is why I had that freak out when FA was having those problems with the disclaimers, because that was not the goddamned time.

You know, it really is this sort of rigidity and inability to forgive people unless they fall all over themselves apologizing that I really have a problem with. I mean, all that congratulatory shit when Ebony apologized? Dude, she didn't do it for YOUR APPROVAL so, well, STFU!

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

The current conspiracy theory is that everyone determines their online relationships by what benefit can be gained by them in a fandom ranking of some kind, and I'm just saying that I did no such purposeful thing.

This tells you exactly what those people are up to in fandom, doesn't it.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

It really does. It's the ones who do it, who think that's what everyone else is doing, really. It never occurred to me. From where I sit being a BNF really doesn't look like much fun anyway.

=))

[tropes.livejournal.com]

Come to think of it, you did act kind of like a Muppet last time we saw each other...


OH NOES U R TEH S0CK.

Re: =))

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I know people who act like muppets! Maybe it's just the nodding.

Though I AM going to a party dressed as Janice at the end of the month! I just need to buy the wig and I'll have the whole costume!

Re: =))

[tropes.livejournal.com]

Dude.

That is AWESOME.

You made my day.

Just be sure to act out the whole "I don't pose naked for anybody, even if it is 'artistic,' man."

[black-dog.livejournal.com]

[I hope this doesn't duplicate -- I wasn't logged in the first time and got an error message.]

A community like fandom, when it's riled up, can be a weird sort of echo chamber, because the sensible people are the ones saying the least in public, and the ones talking loudest sometimes have the poorest judgment. You sort of have to hope that the sensible people understand each other tacitly, but it's very easy to feel isolated. And in some cases, I've seen people ask questions, or make maybe inappropriately challenging remarks that sound like demands, just out of a misdirected desire to connect about their own feelings, to test their own interpretations of things that happened. It's sometimes hard to know whether answering them or just talking less is the better strategy.

I think your position is totally reasonable and the statements you've made have been completely beyond reproach. The more I read about the underlying conflict going back years and years, it seems like one fundamental issue is between people who want to assert a "traditional villager" style hegemony over everything they see in fandom, enforced with torches and pitchforks, and other people who want to stand up against that whole mindset and create some space for people to play however they want to play, and to be fun and eccentric and interesting and maybe even go overboard sometimes. And I don't want to go farther with that because I don't want to bring the wank. But yeah. And maybe the best antidote to the implicit coerciveness of the villagers is to insist that "which side are you on?" isn't automatically a legitimate question, that the prior question is "how is it your business to ask me?"

And I'm reading over that and I have to laugh because I am tripping over myself trying to keep it general and abstract, but I think you probably understand what I mean and that I pretty much totally agree with you. Much <3.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

(the duplicate came in anon, and was therefore screened, so I'll just delete it)

And maybe the best antidote to the implicit coerciveness of the villagers is to insist that "which side are you on?" isn't automatically a legitimate question, that the prior question is "how is it your business to ask me?"

OMG world of WORD. When Ebony apologized, which she did for her own reasons, I was really sickened by the reaction of people going "That's a real apology and she should be commended." Like, hello? Who the fuck are YOU to decide if her apology meets your standards, and why should she care? Why should I care about the judgement of people I do not know? It's just gross.

Thanks!

[andstillitmoves.livejournal.com]

...How is that gross?

[ladylisse.livejournal.com]

You're all eloquent and I'm like OMG FANDOM STFU. D: That seems to be my reaction to most HP things these days.

I think everyone's reacting to the sockpuppet thing because it's just... "absurd" doesn't even begin to cover it.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

It's so tiresome and it doesn't stop because it's the way that people get attention, as opposed to like, I dunno, writing a story or something.

I guess people who only pay attention to wank don't know who I am so they can't imagine I'm a real person, since I'm friends with these other people. That's all I can think of.

[miafitz.livejournal.com]

Wow, if you're a sock puppet, then you are a terribly good sock puppet and the blue fairy should turn you into a real boy or something.

I'm sorry I don't know any of the details behind the post so I'm not quite sure what to say :)

[theoblack.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I remember when I thought no one read my journal. I would say whatever. If I was pissed off at someone and thought they should be pounded on by a score of midget clowns with funnels and sour cream. I would say just that. Then I found out how many people read this thing so I skipped the bits about the clowns and just said I this "someone" was being mean and how it made me sad and if confronted with the person I would say it was not them. Backhanded I know but it is a way of saying something you don't say.

[alissomora.livejournal.com]

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait a minute... you're not a sockpuppet? Why the hell didn't someone tell me????? *rolls eyes*

You're all kinds of awesome.

[sarahtales.livejournal.com]

I will testify to your reality in any Court of Law!

I will also testify to your wondrosity, but the bit of the internet that's causing all the hassle clearly isn't interested in people being actual friends.