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There's a lot of things to say about the racism and discrimination that is continuously happening in fandom, but for me, what gets overlooked the most is that the "positive vibes only" attitude directly contributes to this kind of hateful, gross, and criminal atmosphere.
"can't we just have fun?" "Just focus on what you like" "you're being too negative" and other critiques on people's less than COMPLETELY ENTHUSIASTICALLY SUPPORTIVE attitudes push aside the harmful and painful things that systemically AND individually happen.
People can't have fun when they're being threatened and harassed and oppressed. People can't enjoy things when it means they have to be silent about things that have hurt them because of other fans dogpiling them with malicious intent.
The fear of speaking up or speaking out has kept people oppressed and othered. YES there are consequences to being honest and critical. You could get harassed too. You could be doxxed. You could lose followers or clout or get kicked off your podcast.
But it's NOT better to say nothing. It's not better to do nothing. Your silence and inaction supports hate and furthers condemns those who are just trying to be treated and seen as human as those who would oppress them. Good vibes do NOTHING for them.
The more people talk about it, the more pressure gets put on these systems and companies, the more ACTUAL change and accountability will happen. That means talking about these issues before another big thing happens, it means talking about it when it's not just your fav.
Make it normal. Make it expected. Make people who make the decisions and can DO something about it understand they have a duty to protect their employees in actionable and visible ways before and after issues arise.
Don't just leave these problems to the parts of fandom who regularly tackle issues of discrimination. Partly bc they are usually oppressed people themselves, but also because YOU have a responsibility to make your part of fandom safe and not fucking awful.
