#why do I feel like a mother dissolving fights bewteen bickering children in this fandom

[lady-of-lyon]

HEY ASSHOLES! Some shit’s apparently going down in this lovely trashfire of a community, and I think I should address it, so you guys don’t eat yourselves. As for the people not in this fandom, I guess it’s good advice too!

If someone says a word you do not like, be it a slur or insult of any kind, and it’s not in an inherently malicious context, maybe don’t immediately assume that they’re being malicious! There is a chance that they just do not know what that word means.

Especially on the internet, it’s tricky to sort out someone’s intent, so you cannot just label this as evil or blah blah blah. There are any number of reasons a person might not know the meaning of a word! For instance:

English might not be their first language, so they don’t know what they say. English is a brutally difficult language to learn, and you can’t expect everyone to know the meaning of every word, let alone the social connotations of it! And if you aren’t willing to accept that non-native english speakers can’t pick up on linguistic nuances as fast as you can, my guy, do I have bad news for you: you’re being pretty racist.

They could be a minor, who has not yet gotten the chance to learn about the badness of certain words. You especially have to take this into consideration on the internet, where nobody knows anybody’s true ages. It seems to be a particular problem in the Wild Kratts server for adults to accept that they share a space with children, and act appropriately. THEY ARE NOT ALL GROWNUPS WHO SAVY WITH THE SOCIAL NORMS OF EVERY SPACE AND COMMUNITY, SO MAYBE DON’T LABEL THEM AS BAD PEOPLE MUST BECAUSE THEY DON’T MEET YOUR GROWN UP STANDARDS.

Even if they are native english speakers AND adults, there is also still the chance that they just don’t know! Hell, I probably have a better vocabulary than 99% of the people in this fandom, and I am still surprised by words I thought were ok or bad that weren’t!

So what is someone to do??

You have to educate, not antagonize. Reach out, and kindly correct their mistake. Don’t immediately dive into a cancel campaign, because that can be so much more harmful to a person than slipping up and saying the wrong word. In a world where there are large groups actively trying to destroy our communities, what the hell is the point of scrutinizing someone over a simple mistake? We need to stand together, and offer kindness and forgiveness, because that is the way we won’t be torn down. If there’s nothing but infighting in marginalized groups, we’ll be giving the other side exactly what they want. So chill tf out, and stop harassing people over nothing. I can promise you, you’re not protecting anyone.