The good, the lovely, and the ugly

[rthstewart]

So, the Narnia Fic Exchange will be winding up soon.  I've really enjoyed so many of the stories.  Anon commenting is available, so do check them out.

In the Bujold community, Hedda62 just posted Further Up and Further In, a Betan Survey/Narnia cross over to fill the prompt:  You know all those Betan survey ships that go into wormholes and don’t come out? They go to Narnia. It's so much fun.  I really enjoyed it.

In recognition of some real ugliness and other things, lady_songsmith has started a new Comm, Marvelous Things Beyond Reckoning to promote the stories that celebrate "the diversity of vision in Narnia and the richness of the world."  Huzzah.  PM her with questions and suggestions. 

The ugliness, more on that briefly, below, underscores how much I miss the Narnia Fanfiction Revolution community which had at its core a celebration of diversity and creativity.  It was that rare thing in the Narnia fandom, a community that did not tolerate intolerance.   Maybe, given that the films are over and the fandom is contracting again, there is no need for it and so its demise will pass unremarked.  Still, I miss it.  I know the technical skill to transfer the old site to the new server is beyond me and I really don't know anything about forum management.  If anyone has any thoughts on this -- is there a need for it, if so where, who, and how -- I welcome your thoughts.

I've been trying to write but have been badly distracted.  First, I managed to fall into a rabbit cage on to cement and now have bruises and cuts on both legs, knees, feet and one arm.  I have been Battered by bunnies.  School also started and so that is always a stressful time of year.  huzzah for a long weekend.

Second, I had a unsigned, anonymous review to I love not man the less but nature more.  Over the last day, I've been tinkering with a response.  There's a little more here, under the cut.  Please be warned -- this anon review and my discussion that follows contain horribly homophobic language bracketed by smileys.  If being labeled horrible things due to sexual orientation is triggering, stop now. 

Guest posted a review on I love not man the less but nature more.  In that review, she [yes, I'll assume she] states:

:This was very well written, and I enjoyed the ideas behind some of the challenges. They were very symbolic and meaningful. I especially appreciated  the rebirth. You are a good writer. :)

Thank you.  Guest then states:

I have to say one thing, though. I wish that you had not crossed the bounds of what is right and wrong in our world so drastically, and made it seem as though in Narnia it would be good and pure, and would have Aslan's approval.  Since He is a picture of Christ, and since God is a holy, unchanging God, if God says that nakedness and homosexuality are an abomination in our world, it follows that this would also remain the case in any other world He chose to create.

Just my thoughts on what you could do to stay true to Lewis' Narnia. :) I do not think that he would have agreed with you that perversion becomes acceptable if it is in another world. Surely there are other ways they could bond with their people.

Apart from the despicable assault surrounded by passive smileys and the gross presumption that the loving God I worship agrees with Guest’s hate, I explicitly state in my profile and in the story that there is a same sex pairing.  And, let’s be realistic, shall we?  I’ve been actively posting in the fandom since early 2009 and in that time, I have written over 800,000 words of Narnia fan fiction and I'm no slash writer.  In the 22,000 words of I love not man the less, there are about 500 words at the very end where I fade to black on a multi-het-slash pairing.  There's nothing else like that in the rest of my work.  I love not man the less has been up for a year. 

In other words, and as I’ve now amended my profile to state, Guest had a point she was going to make, she went looking for it in one of the few places she would find it in my enormous body of work, she ignored repeated disclosures and disclaimers, she did this even though she believes homosexuality is, to quote her hateful review, an “abomination” and a “perversion,” and she used my story as a platform to spread her homophobic bilge and viciously assault my other readers and would-be readers in the name of the God of Love.

In the end, that last point was the important difference between this anonymous review and the many hatemongers who have preceded it.  Others have criticized me for destroying Narnia and perverting Lewis' intent.  Guest went after my LGBT readers and would-be readers. I’m not interested in fighting anyone else’s battles, but Guest decided to use my story as her soapbox.  Only I can defend it and the freedom readers and would-be readers should have to click on my story and not be subjected to vicious hate. 

So, for the first time, I deleted a review.  Fortunately, you can delete anonymous reviews on fanfiction.net.  You can’t delete signed ones.  If I receive homophobic hate speech in a signed review, I’ll report it for abuse and a TOS violation. 

When I wrote Digory opening that badly spelled note from Mary in April 2009, I never intended to be the poster child and lightning rod for all that Guest and others condemn as wrong in the Narnia fandom.

 

Comments

[harmony-lover.livejournal.com]

Oh, sweetie. I'm so sorry that you and your beautiful story had to be subjected to this. There is no reason that Guest should have picked out the few hundred words in your enormous canon that deal with this issue and chosen to quibble with them and sully them with hate speech - but then, is that any different than conservatives picking out the three references (and dubious references, at that) to homosexuality in the Bible and using them to wage war against a group they see as undesirable?

You know (and so do I, and I am grateful for it every day) that part of the point of writing ILNMTL was to create a Narnia where everyone is accepted, loved, and encouraged to live their lives to the fullest in every way, that everyone is a creation of whatever higher power one believes in (or a creation of evolution if that is one's explanation), and that sexuality of any kind is one of the joys we are given to connect with others. What you write is beautiful; it promotes love and tolerance, and this person clearly possesses neither quality.

I will absolutely check out Songsmith's new comm, as it sounds like it could be a wonderful gathering place for all of us, and maybe some of the people who were so active in the NFFR as well.

*Hugs* to you! I am so sorry that you got hurt, as well; that seems highly unpleasant and uncomfortable. Feel better, and remember that for every awful review like this, there are so many more people who love your work.

[lady_songsmith]

it sounds like it could be a wonderful gathering place for all of us

Unfortunately the C2s are little more than a rec-list, although I am very glad to promote stories which step outside the narrow-minded constraints of the nastier elements of the fandom. It doesn't provide much in the way of a forum for discussion. In the absence (possibly temporary?) of a website-home for us, perhaps we might try to revive a Narnian LJ comm?

[the_rck]

I'm way behind on reading and commenting on NFE stories. All the ones I've read have been good, and I want to tell the authors so.

I'm sorry the anonymous reviewer spewed hate on your comments page. I don't think that hate and exclusion are in the spirit of Narnia (I'm not saying the books or their theology are perfect. I've been reading a deconstruction of them that I'm enjoying immensely that points out a lot of the theological problems in the books). I'm not sure one can write about Narnia without engaging with the idea of God, but I fail to see a reason to assume that God is narrow and disapproving.

I guess some people feel the need to search out things to be offended by and opportunities to be offensive. I think you did the right thing in deleting the review.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Thank you. A reader gave me another link to a post from a Lewis scholar who complains about how his "theology" is so deeply misunderstood. http://diannaeanderson.net/?p=1361 He was, as she points out, an atheist and a classicist long before and for a lot longer than he was a Christian. Further, so many seem to assume that in becoming Christian, Lewis adopted a particular brand of American evangelical, politically conservative Protestantism.

[harmony-lover.livejournal.com]

Let me also say, that all of this has me thinking about TSOTHF again. If I ever get the chance to actually write, ever again (Aslan knows when that will be, given my life right now), and finish my brainchild, I'm going to make all of these same haters very unhappy - and relish doing it.

[lady_songsmith]

I'm glad you deleted the review. That was a particularly cowardly specimin of the breed and deserved to be dismissed and forgotten.

[autumnia]

I'm so sorry that you've had to deal with such a review like this. Sometimes, I feel like the reviewers/readers over at FF.net really have nothing better to do with their time than to go out and purposely trash someone's else story just because it doesn't conform to their ideas of what Lewis intended. And given all the warnings and disclosures you put in your profile, there were plenty of signs that indicates your stories are not for everyone.

(If it were me and I had felt like Guest, I wouldn't even have bothered wasting my time and breath on reviewing. As the saying goes, if you have nothing nice to say...)

At any rate, I actually cheered that you deleted the comment -- I know you often state that you leave the good and bad up, but sometimes, it's really easier to just delete it and not let the words eat you up and make you feel terrible about something that was well-written and well-received by people who are more open-minded about life and religion and individual choices.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Thanks. At this point, it is sheer stubborn cussedness that keeps me on the site. So many have left because it's too triggering, too upsetting, and they don't even want to be associated with it. These are people who are writing the stories God, Aslan, and Lewis "would approve of" (and goodness, what does that even MEAN?) but aren't comfortable when the reviewers say, 'thank goodness you aren't like THOSE people." Authors don't like that internal dissonance, feel hypocritical accepting reviews from people who despise them and/or their views, and leave.

[metonomia.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you did post this response - and I'm glad you deleted that review. As much as I absolutely hate to see any of it happen, there's definitely a difference between attacking the author/their story and attacking the identity of many people, so I think you were well within your right and reason to get that crap out of the reviews page, here.

And - *huuuuuugs* - because you SHOULD NOT have to deal with this constant attack, it's ridiculous and childish and disgusting that people insist on finding something wrong with the best worldview being written in Narnia fandom, and I know it gets you down, but I'm so so glad you keep writing it, because on top of being a stellar message, it's always an awesome story, and I really do think it's important that it be there, so thoroughly and entertainingly presented, for people to see.

[harmony-lover.livejournal.com]

Completely agree. :) This ^.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Thank you

[amine-eyes.livejournal.com]

Well what a charming individual.

I would say more, but I can't verbalise it beyond swearwords and general ranting, which is not the right way to do so, yours of just deleting was best :)

*Hugs*

I hope your bruises heal quickly, and that you get a chance to relax this weekend!

[(Anonymous)]

I found myself laughing at this review. I would very much love to know how your reader interprets Bacchus' presence within Narnia?

I'll again repeat my belief, rth, that this is more of a statement of an intent to defend the faith, so to speak, even if it is really tactless, hurtful, badly thought through, and executed poorly.

I very much like the thought of a NFFR2, if only that it will give me more stories to read :) :)

Doctor Dolly

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

I'm not going to attempt to justify this even as an attempt to defend faith. It was expressed in hateful terms and went beyond the usual attack on me and my morals to an attack on readers themselves. It's done, I deleted it, and it's over for now.

[lupiza-grey.livejournal.com]

*hug* At least now you've vented this out. I won't repeat in a thousand words what people have already said very well above in these comments, so let me just sum up with: you didn't deserve that, and it clearly wasn't about you so much as her own need to say things and - probably - feel superior, so hopefully it can now just slip off into the past with no more lingering anger. And if not, I hear punching bags are wonderful venting tools. *hug*

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Thank you. This has been going on a long time, years, though it has intensified in recent months. I believe this was a very deliberate and considered act. As I read it, she sought out the one passage in 800,000 words most likely to offend her faith, she carefully wrote her response, and she probably told all her friends about it, too.

[katharhino.livejournal.com]

First, any message that combines the word "perverse" with a smily face should probably be ignored on principle.

Second, if you think that nakedness is an abomination you haven't really read much of the Bible, have you? Just the popular bits? Thought so.

Third, I must say I agree with Doctor Dolly above that it reads to me like a person who has been brought up to think this way, maybe even a young person, certainly an isolated person, rather than a concerted attack. You never know how a person might stumble across a story of yours. And sadly, though I will never understand why, there are people who don't seem aware that browsers come with a back button.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

I suspect they ignore the naked bits? With things like this, I always wonder, do you not commingle different weaves of cloth? Does the brother marry his dead brother's widow? Do you beat your children with plastic pipes because the Bible says that if you spare the rod you will spoil the child?

[wingedflight21.livejournal.com]

Ugh, what an awful review. I do agree with the sentiment of those above that as an attack on readers and identity, it was right to delete it.

I am looking forward to having the next couple nights (relatively & hopefully) free in order to read through the NFE. I've been reviewing the ones that I get to but am absurdly far behind.

I love the idea of the comm to collect the more diverse and accepting stories - it seems like a really good resource! Hopefully we'll be able to find another platform for discussions now that NFFR has closed down.

[inkvoices]

Unfortunately because Narnia is so tied up with religion I think that fandom community becomes a hunting ground for these kinds of people - one the reasons why it's not a fandom I spend much time in, which is a shame. I think the huge thing that people miss though is that they were written for children and in a particular time period.

'what is right and wrong', 'unchanging God', 'perversion'...so much about this review gets my back up and I think you were right to delete it. 'nakedness' an 'abomination' in 'this world'? Well, I guess that reviewer must be having some kinky clothes-on sex then *head desk*. And 'true to Lewis' Narnia'? Why is it that some people miss the basic point of fanficiton, to explore what there isn't? Yeah, I'm going to leave this be before I start to rant; deleted was definitely the best response. You shouldn't have to deal with this *hugs*.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It's not all like this. It's the fandom in the Pit and on certain sites. In the culture, they get really angry over pre-marital sex and swearing but don't warn for dub con and child abuse -- abuse of Susan is a whole sub-genre. In other Comms, it would be TOS'd.

And the Christianity thing bothers me so much because I AM Christian, I like theology, I like writing a benevolent and compassionate Aslan and I like using the Narnia experience to explore ministry to the poor, the oppressed, and the despised in a post-WW2 world. To paraphrase my critics, "I'm not like THOSE people!"

And OMG LOVED the new Avengers VID you recc'd from kaydee falls!! I've watched it like a zillion times this morning. THANKS SO MUCH!

[edenfalling]

You know, I never have understood how Christians can say that their god is an "unchanging" god when it seems to me that one HUGE point of Jesus's life was that God changed. God became human, lived, loved (platonically or not, whatever, love is love), suffered, died, and along the way, said, "Oh yeah, that covenant and law I gave you? I have a few amendments." CHANGE. Which is a beautiful idea!

Also, if God is unchanging, where is the Narnian polygyny, I ask you? If it was good enough for Jacob, it's good enough for Peter Pevensie, goshdarnit!

...

Sorry, I am being flippant, but people like that really put my back up. I am so sorry you have been the target of that kind of vicious prejudice (disguised in smiles -- would that false pleasantry be akin to the devil speaking Scripture, perhaps?) and I think you made the right choice in deleting the review.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

I love it when your theology comes out! Yes, and yes again. I've got a stack of Unitarian pamphlets, btw, from a neighbor. I've been intending to check it out.

[lotl101.livejournal.com]

I am so very sorry you had to deal with this! Your fics are where I go when I need to be reminded that everyone is different and that it's ok to be different. Thank you for being so awesome and inclusive and such and I'm sorry that there are people who miss the basic point of being a decent human being. And besides that, Guest has missed the point of everything you've posted. Basically, you're right to have deleted it, Guest is an idiot, and you are brilliant. *hugs*

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Oh it is LOVELY to see you! (Besides on Tumblr!) Differentness, the diversity of creation, is beautiful and to be embraced. I saw the books as providing the potential for a wonderful, diverse, exciting, gorgeous, messy polyglot of races, cultures, and practices, all united. Here, have some Boom De Yada which is partly what inspired me to start writing in Narnia.

[min023.livejournal.com]

I've said a lot of it before, and many of the commenters above have already said what I'm thinking, so I won't bore you with the repetition. I will say that I am sorry that you have been targeted again, that narrowly and literally interpreted hate has been directed your way again, and all in the name of Christianity. I will also say that this is not my God, nor my faith, nor my belief. I support your work, I support you, and I hope that your hurts, whether physical, emotional, or just the environmental stresses of everyday life will soon be healed.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Thank you my friend.

[lily-itriwi.livejournal.com]

Hi!

I've been lurking for a while on your live journal having been reading your fics on ff.net. I'm really bad at actually reviewing or taking part in comms a lot of the time, but I was moved to venture out and offer my comments following this discussion.

I'm really sorry that a beautiful, thought-provoking and loving piece of work in a body of work that is all of those things and more should be used in this way. As a Christian myself I am offended far more by those people who call themselves followers of Christ who go out of their way to spread intolerance in his name than I would ever be by your exploration of a Narnia that is as complex and challenging as real life.

I have been enjoying your work for a long time and the ideal of tolerance and inclusion that your Narnia is striving towards should, in my opinion, only be celebrated. And while I by no means imagine that I know what Lewis's opinions on some of the issues explored in your work, I feel confident that whatever thay may have been, he would never have engaged in such crass and hateful rhetoric as Guest may have supposed - I imagine without reading any of his theological works.

As well as enjoying your work, I am glad for the community of sensible, articulate and tolerant people that come together on your flist (amongst other places) and show that there are internet contributors capable of not just erudition, but reasoned discussion even with differing viewpoints, but even more so people who come and offer each other support and compassion although they may never have met. I fail to see how any loving God could disapprove.

Lily

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Lily, for coming out and speaking up. Your point about the community that develops around fic is beautifully put and I am so grateful for those who come by here.

I began TSG in part as a reaction to the intolerance I saw in the fandom and because I disagreed with its nihilistic vision of this world. In my egocentric naiveté, I hoped the story might reach a stony heart or two. In that, I think it and I have failed.

But this wonderful community has arisen and I have new and very, very good friends and I meet new ones all the time. Every now and then, I get a message from someone who thanks me for not slamming and shaming him/her. Or, I hear from someone who wasn't comfortable with what she read in 2009, but 3 years later, she returns to it, with new eyes and new maturity. And so I take heart. (And really wish I could finish a darn chapter).

[runesnspoons.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry you have to deal with such bile. And the real horror of this review is how insidious it is. Having smiley faces and compliments mixed in with hate speech is positively nauseating, and I'm sorry that anyone would ever be exposed to it, particularly a writer who tries so very hard to exude acceptance, in writing and otherwise. I think that your policy of deleting it, and reporting anything from here out, is not only reasonable but wise.

I'm not at all religious, but the beauty of viewing God as a loving and benevolent deity and acting with kindness and tolerance towards others is that it is a lifestyle which is applicable to everyone and welcomes everyone. It's also a large part of why I find your work wonderful. It's full of religious awe, but it doesn't exclude me and doesn't tell me that goodness is reserved for those who fit into a particular mold.

I can't make you feel better about having your fantastic writing subjected to this sort of small-minded bullshit, but I hope I - and all of the wonderful people who've commented on this thread - can encourage you not to lose heart, and tell you that you are a good person whose work reflects this.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Thank you my lovely friend for those beautiful sentiments.

[andi-horton.livejournal.com]

Current numbness of being has inspired me to all manner of bravado, including clicking on cuts when I ought to know better. First I was sorry I had, but now . . . yeah. Triggered, then angry, and now numb again. There's an eerie power in the numbness.

I have seen several things in the past four days I could fairly and without exaggeration call an abomination unto the Lord and his creation. Things that I hate to know have happened, are happening.

Homosexuality isn't one of them.

Nowhere close.

I am, as ever, so very sorry you've become such a habitual target for people who persist in thinking otherwise.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Oh Andi, I'm so sorry. HUGS. And you are off on a grand, brand new life doing amazing, incredible things and then THIS. I'm so sorry.

But this is part of the point, you know? Capegio was so popular in part because she wrote the "right" story" instead of one of "those" stories written by those "other" people. And then she bravely states that everything they thought about her is false because she is gay -- and I wonder how many deleted her from their favorites as a result? There is a horrible assumption by the Narnia fandom that an author who does not write that "un-Christian" yucky stuff must condemn it as they do. Silence, in service of the story, is construed as agreement or approval. That is a profound error.

And so many just throw up their hands and decide they cannot live with the hypocrisy and do not want to be in such a hostile environment that is too counter to the Chronicles they love. -- one where Aslan doesn't say a word about same sex relationships and has A LOT to say about compassion, mercy and love. Readers and writers do not want to give the appearance, even by their mere presence, that they condone the condemners. When you can't even go to the first page of fanfiction.net and not be triggered by story summaries, it's easier to just leave and these compassionate, loving people take their stories and wonderful reviews with them.

I'm sorry it's happened to wonderful people who I love and respect and at this point only sheer cussedness in refusing to be driven out keeps me there. There aren't many of us left.

[heliopausa.livejournal.com]

Endorsing what I've just read, above, from andi horton. Like her, I really admire and appreciate that you are there on ff.net, and I am so glad re the stubbornness to date!

The sniping was horrible -- mean-spirited, cowardly, malicious and essentially dishonest (i.e. by positioning itself as a review but being in fact an attack on your values, and also an attempt to censor a moral position from the entire site). And in being all that, it also shows her as just fundamentally wrong about what really matters in human relationships.

I'm so sorry that you have been ground down by this paltry, grimy stuff. And many, many people enormously value your work -- it's great gift to us all.