I’ve been struggling to process all my feelings about all of the awful things that have come to light in the last week, and about my own feelings about the scene, but I want to talk a little bit about the idea of staying involved with the scene

I’d like to preface this with saying if any vulnerable person doesn’t feel safe participating in the community that is absolutely their right, and should serve as a sign that those of us lucky enough to feel safe events need to be doing better

But I’ve seen a lot of good people close to me express regret being involved with the smash scene and this scares me, because if all the people that care about protecting people leave, the community becomes radically worse

You see this sometimes with cults, or certain politicians, where something bad happens and as a result it feels like their fanbase loves them MORE rather than less, but that’s just because all the reasonable people leave and the only ones left are the lost causes

More than anything I am hoping that these extremely brave victims coming forwards make the community safer by removing an abuser, rather than more dangerous by removing 10 people willing to defend the abused

This is what I hope to cultivate with my own actions, the things that I make, the words that I say; that smash is fun, that there are so many great people to meet within it, that we are loud as fuck about protecting people when someone harms someone else

We aren’t all the way there yet and this shit absolutely grinds down your psyche in a bad way, but to me the fact that more people are growing more comfortable coming forwards should be a signal that we shouldn’t give up, and that we aren’t willing to let this stuff slide anymore

I’m not a community figure, I am just some random guy with a twitter account, so maybe I’m entirely full of shit. but this is how I’m processing what has happened within the last few days, and I desperately want this community that I love to be a safe one to be in.

Idk sorry for the rant im just trying to process it like everybody else