looking back at a lot of fandoms i've cruised through over the years. i started seeing a lot of propaganda that flew under the radar (for me) and it got me thinking. i don't think it's wrong for people to still enjoy fan content or older shows with problematic elements to it. 1/

however i do think we need to challenge and not monetarily support new shows like that. there's a lot of nuance to that tho. take lucifer, a show about the devil that ultimately can be viewed as pro-cop. however, is also a show that shows corruption of current police systems. 2/

that lucifer is overall more about healing from trauma, allowing yourself to be loved, and forming family overshadows that the show is at its heart a procedural cop show. the cop show formula just provides a familiar vehicle for the show to present those themes 3/

we need to look at WHY that kind of show is such a familiar vehicle that FOX greenlit a show about a sympathetic satan. FOX. im sure we can name other pro-cop shows- even looking farther into shows that reinforce the system behind cops rather than cops themselves 4/

NCIS, Bones, Hawaii 5-0, Castle, Miami Vice, Law & Order, CSI, B99. Most of us have watched at least one of these. I'll take it a step further though. Stargate Atlantis, the MCU, Star Trek, now some of you are probably saying 'hold up wait a second' 5/

i'll explain. the first list is obvious. the second is less so. they both run off the same premise. the show gives you someone. wants you to emotionally invest in them. a righteous character that you want to succeed in bringing down the bad guys. 6/

when that character is a cop or in the military. they are often shown to be breaking the rules in the pursuit of the greater good. this unconsciously leads us to support the idea that the systems these characters represent and circularly reinforce can do the same with impunity 7/

leads people to accept with little prompting, that the real life institutions reflect their fictionalized versions. people fall all over themselves to excuse actions they think are pursuing the cause of good. another glaring issue comes around when people have to define good. 8/

people have supported eugenics as 'good' citing that it will make the people as a whole stronger. some might claim slavery is 'good' for an economy. others view good on the absence of bad, or along their own morals. or simply deeming it whatever benefits themselves first. 9/

you can see the inherent danger when a society has trained its members to dogmatically support a cause they perceptive as good. the pursuit of good in my mind is the path of equity and least harm, but it would take a philosopher to give the concept the proper attention 10/

so i won't really try. what i will do. is loop this back around now that i've taken you on this huge ramble. i think fandom is inherently transformative, no matter the source material. that doesn't mean the source material can be discarded. instead it needs to be acknowledged 11/

rebuked even, if necessary. 'but rain, you can't have a large fandom when original problematic elements present in the source material keep something from succeeding' that's true. it's not on me to give out passes. it's up to each fan's own morals. 12/

a certain 7 books written by a terf have changed a lot of lives, those views are baked into the source material. and it's my view that we're socially obligated not to support anything that further spreads those kinds of vile view points. 13/

this doesn't mean burning books that were your childhood friends. it means being critical should you read them again. deplatforming the author by not giving those cries for attention the time of day. coupled with putting your wallet behind your values in regards 2 her product 14/

depriving a harmful person of the power to harm others will always be more important than making a show of your own stance on an issue. so how do we deprive those IN power of power we've handed over to them due to decades of conditioning? what do we do about cop shows? 15/

there's no easy answer. or else this thread would be a lot shorter. like we said, even those culturally ingrained things can be utilized to challenge the status quo (such as lucifer). the best example of this is perhaps star trek. 16/

im not here to rehash what trails star trek blazed during it's original run or it's message of the end goal of human progress being a hand extended in friendship. instead i want to take a look at the reboot movies. 17/

these glaringly show how the idea of the rule breaking maverick became more accepted, and to a point, expected in a story about 'the good guys'. the government are the good guys! until they aren't! it's never the system that's criticized when media like this shows the darker 18/

side of the kind of impunity and power given to the military and police in our culture. (for the purposes of this, an american viewpoint- but is important to note the effects of the american empire's cultural domination and the internet age, again not the point of this) 19/

so what does all this mean for fandom? and revisiting older shows with elements you can now identify as less than stellar? well, whatever you want it to mean. you have to weigh the cost of fanworks reintroducing the original bigoted ideas to new fans against the exploratory 20/

nature of trasnformative fanworks. fandom has long functioned as way to connect with others. to discuss ideas out of the mainstream. this has had consequences in both directions. sometimes freaks find each other (or people to prey on). other times, survivors find community 21/

in the middle. all the people looking for an escape. to not think so hard. treating fiction as a vacuum will see you slide to either victim or villain, because media has always, and will always, impact society's views at large. media and culture make societies and mores 22/

i'm not the first person to claim that fandom can be a HUGE force for good, and likely wont be the last. instead of thumbing our noses at people who interact with media that has problematic elements (as all things do, nothing is ever perfect) 23/

we should focus on deplaforming people who marginalize and put people in danger now. whether that's racists, pedophiles, abusers, homophobes, or terfs they should all face the same response. cut them off from their networks and deny them any chance of plausible deniability. 24/

fans need to be accountable for how they treat each other. we need to acknowledge fandom impacts beyond our circles, wanting that impact to be GOOD should be the ultimate goal of a fan. someone holding you accountable doesn't make you persecuted. it makes you part of a community.