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i want to talk a little bit about something that i’ve mentioned in passing a few times, but haven’t had the energy to go into detail on:
i am a pretty vocal critic of cr and have been for a while now. the only reason i am that way is because i was entrenched in that community.
i am a pretty vocal critic of cr and have been for a while now. the only reason i am that way is because i was entrenched in that community.
the reason i am so vehement and unflinching with cr, and the reason i do not mince words about it, is because i was DEEPLY On The Inside of its community and experienced firsthand how predatory and dangerous it is.
i loved cr. i’ve been on the internet a bit too long to buy into the whole Critter Hype thing but i did genuinely believe it was something special. i thought its relationship with fans was unique and had amazing potential for what fandom could look like as social media evolves.
i was an artist for cr for so long not because i wanted to be noticed (honestly wanted the opposite and always have), but because it inspired me to draw when nothing else did. the work i did over those years still means a lot to me. it’s hard to have such painful associations.
parts of that story they’re telling over there are still dear to me, and i think they always will be - even though cr and its fanbase have hurt me so viciously and so consistently for so long.
and i’m really not fucking proud of that.
and i’m really not fucking proud of that.
believe me: if i thought there was a way for cr in its current form to coexist with the faith and trust i had in it for two years, i would be fucking talking about that instead. we’d be having a very different conversation.
if i believed there was any hope that cr would change anything based on the repeated outreach from hurt marginalized people, i would still be doing that instead of focusing on uniting victims and treating cr with a base amount of scrutiny.
this is why i say things like how cr is as hard to detach from as any abusive relationship. that kind of blind faith is draining, and critters practically demand it of you lest you be made into a pariah. (lord knows criticizing cr has lost me heaps of followers on this site lol.)
critters had every reason to believe me - i was One Of Them, and not in a small way. i’d come forward about related abuses not a year before. but as soon as my complaints about how it was all handled turned toward the company, i was abandoned with speed.
i’m sorry if this thread is hard to follow - the point of it is: i don’t talk much about what a deep cut this is for me. i’ve lost dear friends to this, peers i respect, etc. my entire life is different. every time i drag cr’s pile of shit out again i retraumatize myself.
but i do it anyway. it is so important that people not forget how long this fight has been going on - far longer than i’ve been involved. cr has been dangerous for a while and there are people who have given up so much just to keep those warnings available. please listen to us.
