Read on Twitter
Thread. On the growing subject of callouts and conflicts in the community, i& #39;d like to take a moment to point out a study by anti-cult counselor Steven Hassan called the BITE Model. It& #39;s worth checking out, even if you don& #39;t involve yourself in "drama".
https://freedomofmind.com/bite-model/ ">https://freedomofmind.com/bite-mode...
https://freedomofmind.com/bite-model/ ">https://freedomofmind.com/bite-mode...
I highlighted points I& #39;ve personally seen the most out of our community lately but they& #39;re all things to pay attention to. Certain points exist more prominently than others, maybe you& #39;ve noticed things I haven& #39;t, I encourage reading the unhighlighted points as well.
This stuff always looks innocuous on the surface, i& #39;m sure a lot of folks see it as "more drama about pup gear/babyfur/feral art/etc", but when you read the way the people who are saying these things are talking, the loaded language and manipulation they& #39;re using, it& #39;s worrisome.
Because it& #39;s causing a lot of fear, and shame, and hostility towards eachother. It& #39;s causing unrest and a growing tension between people who were otherwise getting along, and they& #39;re using loaded language to shut down anyone who challenges them.
If you do anything they don& #39;t like, you& #39;re a pedophile/zoophile/predator/etc, and if you see those accusations and challenge them then you& #39;re an apologist, or you must be a predator to. You can& #39;t be a good person and oppose these folks, you& #39;re just "hiding how bad you are".
And it& #39;s being downplayed exactly as we think it is. "It& #39;s just fetishes, get over it". But when the behavior starts as "calling forms of fiction inherently predatory" and escalates to "you& #39;re a pedophile if you like/support it, and you& #39;re a pedophile if you disagree with me",
Then we see the greater issue. When "predator" no longer means "predator" but means "anyone who does something i don& #39;t like or supports someone I don& #39;t like or just disagrees with what i say", and the people saying this have thousands of followers, that& #39;s dangerous territory.
It doesn& #39;t look dangerous until it is. It just looks like harmless weirdos or mad ex-friends, like "oh they& #39;re just mad about pup gear again, who cares". But we& #39;re seeing a growth in this behavior, and it& #39;s becoming more aggressive and more hostile.
When Burned Furs was around in the fandom, people weren& #39;t calling workplaces and doxxing people for their web presence and fictional interests. They weren& #39;t massively bombarding conventions demanding things be censored or changed. They had a lot less power than folks do nowadays.
And if you think i& #39;m being crazy and exaggerating a small issue, i& #39;d first say "then you haven& #39;t had people lying saying they had & #39;private confessions& #39; that you were a violent predator and bigot", but i& #39;d also say "we weren& #39;t calling everyone pedophiles five years ago".
The issue has been growing quietly, and if you aren& #39;t affected then it often looks silly. It& #39;s always just "drama" until it isn& #39;t. It& #39;s drama until people start getting run off the internet, spiraled into mental health issues as a result. People are being hurt by this behavior.
I& #39;ve noticed a large shift towards shame and isolation in a lot of folks. People don& #39;t enjoy this community as much because they don& #39;t feel safe existing visibly in it, they& #39;re afraid of being "called out". They& #39;re afraid of ever disagreeing with people "bigger" than them.
And when these "big" folks are using fear, aggression, lies, manipulation, things like we see in the BITE model, then I think it shows this issue is growing a lot bigger than "drama" and is something more people should be addressing seriously, before more people are hurt by it.
