THIS. I saw a post the other day that literally said if you do it to a fictional character, you’ll do it in real life.
No. Just NO.
I’m so glad someone put it into words.
Lin-Manuel Miranda is a legend, and he’s absolutely right.
And I really feel like there are parts of fandom that don’t get or don’t believe this, and I think that’s troubling. I’ve seen arguments that people shouldn’t have dark fantasies, or that bad impulses in themselves make a bad person. I’ve seen so much shaming over thoughts.
And if you get to a point where it’s bad to have dark thoughts and it’s bad to wonder what something would be like and it’s bad to put yourself in the shoes of anyone who isn’t “pure”, if fiction is no longer a realm where you can confront and explore, but an ongoing test of moral purity… well, maybe not everyone’s brain works like mine, but I feel like that takes away something incredibly important to being human.
sometimes…… when you keep testing people to see if they will leave…. they will leave…… sometimes… people will leave you… because you’re a bad person…. sometimes people will leave for no reason…. sometimes people will leave because you expect too much from them… sometimes you might need to acknowledge… that friends aren’t your therapist… and did not go through 12 years of training to handle your meltdowns… and you need to find a way to reasonably communicate when you’re feeling unwell if you really like this person, trust this person, and want them to stay around you… having a fear of abandonment cannot be something you tell them to lock them into your orbit.. you need to take responsibility for the things you say & how you treat people… its that simple