Reflection and Analysis

Update to "The Problem with 'Going Woke' Censorship" 9/08/23

So, first off, my opinion hasn't changed regarding censoring anybody's words for "sensitivity purposes" which nobody needs as avoiding ever getting your feelings hurt is actually psychologically damaging, not that I think I went into that.

I want to dive into the fact at the time I couldn't figure out why everyone was claiming Roald Dahl was anti-sematic because what he said made sense if one looks at the context of the words. But then, thanks to another article I found the actual words, but here is a direct quote from "The BFG Isn't a BFD" written by Imogen West-Knights for Slate on February 23, 2023.

"Listen: Roald Dahl was a shitbag. This is known. In an infamous 1983 interview, he said that 'there is a trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity. Maybe it's a kind of lack of generosity towards non-Jews. I mean, there's always a reason why anti-anything crops up anywhere."

Which, yes, that's anti-semantic, definitely, yet--

Let's start off with the fact I wasn't able to find this quote prior to today, likely because of the exact same reasons the edits were being made to his books. There are certain people who are over-sensitive to words, but in the process of being over-sensitive to words, we just end up hiding the truth, such as how over on TV Tropes The Eliza Trilogy page made certain edits that--

Well, when it comes to this idea that "fans often cited [Eliza Diawna Snape] when asked to give an example of an OC Self-Insert," that Ebony (My Immortal) and Rose Potter weren't cited when people wanted to give an example of a Mary Sue, which in turn why The Eliza Trilogy became the Old Shame trope for the writer.

This--ties into this absurd movement to try and erase the word Mary Sue from our vocabulary because the unequal use of the word for female characters (according to those arguing for erasure) must be due to the fact people are using it in a sexist manner to bash any female character for simply being awesome, rather than the reality of the unequal use relating to the word originating in a female-dominated space where female OC Self-Inserts are going to crop up far more than male OC Self-Inserts.

And no, comparing a fanfic writer turning Aragorn into a Gary Stu to the way female OC Self-Inserts are constantly getting called out is not at all a fair comparison. Which, I'm using Aragorn as my example here because I saw it used somewhere on the internet as I was perusing yet can't remember where, but I do remember how the comparison irritated me as it's an apple to oranges comparison that absolutely ignores the same can be said about a fanfic writer turning Hermione into a Mary Sue, or Harry Potter into a Mary Sue or Gary Stu depending on whether he's genderbent.

In other words--gasp, it's not a bias against female characters, but instead the age-old prejudice against OC characters, which has led to some arguing things like canon characters being an exception to the no second person narrative stories over on ff.net when there is no such exception--the rule applies equally.

This is also where we see the push back against calling characters like Bella Swan out for being a Mary Sue, because in turn people are far more likely to recognize their canon character Mary Sue/Gary Stu self-insert for what it is. This in turn leads to gatekeeping the term from being used outside of fanfic which in turn results in a slower progression of discussing male canon characters who are Gary Stus as the male fandom nerds start becoming more familiar with the word which in turn is another thing that leads to this embalance they're seeing.

Their solution is of course to tell people not to use the word, that "Mary Sue is a derogatory term primarily used in Fan Fic circles to describe a particular character. This much everyone can agree on," as per the TV Tropes page currently says for the Mary Sue term, yet--gasp, not everyone agrees that it is a derogatory term, but can we please get away from this idea that the Mary Sue is a negative thing? I mean, that's what those who purposefully misuse the word want everyone to believe, their long time strategy of gatekeeping fandom, of say pushing that anti-OC rhetoric I mentioned above.