Watching large parts of the d*stiel fandom implode has reminded me that fandom is a microcosm of the wider cultures from which it originates, and there is an epidemic of Entitlement that has permeated so many corners of society and fandom.
This idea that any specific narrative or piece of art owes you, specifically, what you want from it? It's not true. Not real. You are not entitled to any particular end or any particular ship or any story at all for that matter.
You deserve representation, but that isn't the same thing. This isn't about representation.

I'm queer and seek out queer narratives because I enjoy them. And I'm as salty as the next person about no rep, and bad rep. I talk and complain about media diversity all the time.
But this isn't that. And salt or venting is not the same as saying that you *deserve* something from a given story.

You can be sad or mad or disappointed but that does not mean you were promised or owed. You are not an investor, you are not the creator. You are a consumer.
So your conspiracy theories about what you believe was stolen from you? Your meta, as it became divorced from the story, with false expectations and lies? The cultlike mentality? Are toxic. To the fandom but mostly to yourself. A distortion of reality that's making you unhappy.
I know stories can hurt. I've rage-quit shows before. I've lamented when I hated where it was going. I've quit fandoms. But I've never pretended that a story or artist owed me my desire. I've never lied about where it was going or went, or fed off creating false hopes in others.
Again this isn't about broader societal or media critique about representation and inclusivity. Those are real and important conversations to have.

This is about demanding one specific thing from one specific story and raging like a toddler when the story doesn't deliver.
It was never going to deliver. It never made you that promise, any promise. No one lied to you. You lied to yourself and each other.

Don't like the end? Go write your own. Sad about it? Talk and vent with friends, without abuse and hate toward creators telling their own story.
And look - I do believe art is a conversation: genre, tone, style, foreshadowing, themes. Voices too, and identity.

With most stories, readers can feel where it's going. Writers build it up. So you place your trust in the writer to take you there, wherever there happens to be.
With this finale, most of us knew where it was going. Most of us knew d*stiel would not be canon. The only ones who believed otherwise were ones who had separated themselves from the conversation with the story and instead started having their own, separate conversation.
So while a story owes you nothing, if you want to say something at all about the conversation you were having with the narrative, first make sure you were actually conversing with it and not having a side chat totally divorced from it. Gossip.
There is no conspiracy. No magical way the story is somehow going to go your way just because you want. For your own health, let go of that, for this story and every story.

Fandom is a microcosm. You can hate someone's art, but you are never *entitled* to their art.
You can follow @phynali.
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