The cold from hell and fandom thoughts
Jun. 10th, 2004 05:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenayDay three of the cold from hell (it's summer, for crying out loud!) and I feel just as bad as I did on Tuesday. Blech. But I do have an Internet connection today, so that's a small improvement on Tuesday. It's just that I feel crappy and fuzzy, my concentration has been shot to hell and I want to sleep but I can't breathe when I'm lying flat and I can't sleep when I'm sitting up. I also feel very guilty about venting all over the place :-(
I have a lot of thoughts about the SG Fanfic Awards, but I'll save them all for a day when I'm more coherent. They were all about why we should vote and stuff, so it's nothing bad and there are a few weeks before voting opens.
European elections today. I like voting and I wasn't letting a stinking cold get in the way, so I got Ma to drive me down to the polling station (only a three minute walk, but at the moment my body doesn't seem capable of straight lines) and I exercised by democratic privilege. It should be a right, but when there are so many countries where you can't vote or have only one candidate to vote for, I can't help seeing voting as anything but a privilege and one that I could never abuse by not voting.
I've also been a little amused and very disgusted by on-list arguments that happened while I was away from the computer. I was highly frustrated with comments made on the AG in response to a post with a rational point because every one of those angry comments had taken the post and twisted into a meaning that it didn't have. I was even more disgusted when one person vented onto the FDAS list in response to a post on the *AG* and then flamed anyone who responded to it (very calmly and clearly, I thought). The capper came when that person then posted to the AG about how disgusted she'd been by the FDAS response. Not naming the list, but it was pretty damned obvious to anyone reading both lists who she was talking about. Why was this the capper? Because out of the two lists, I'd been feeling pretty pleased with the mature, sane discussion on the FDAS compared with the petty back-biting that I saw on the AG. There was no problem until she responded on FDAS to a comment on AG (I don't even think that comment was made by an FDAS member) and posted her response to both lists, making me go 'WTF?' and wondering where the hell half my list posts had gone until I checked the AG.
The original post was a valid thought. Maybe it could have been worded more clearly. OTOH, everyone who joined the discussion on FDAS understood the point of the post and most of the contributors on AG didn't. Yet again, I remembered why I'm active on FDAS and lurk (barely reading most posts) on AG. I like mature, rational discussions, even if they're about difficult, controversial subjects. Yes, fandom politics can get pretty fraught and yes, there have been times when I've wanted to knock heads together on FDAS. But on balance, I'd rather hang with the FDAS crew and know that my opinions (even my 'everyone has the right to ship anyone they damn well please so be nice to the Sam/Jack shippers' opinion) will be respected and valued, even if nobody actually agrees with me. And if they don't agree with me, they sure as hell won't flame me or go into extended rants.
And I've just ranted. When I promised myself that I wouldn't. It just made me so angry to see a stupid AG argument spill over to FDAS for no good reason. It's a shame we can't filter for stupidity the way we try to for spam. Grrr. [/rant]
And I'm going to take a bunch of cold-cure pills (must be ill if I'm volunteering for pills), turn off the computer and go back to reading about Vanyel. Why have I picked up my most depressing book when I'm feeling crappy? It's a beautiful, fantastic book, but it's also completely traumatic.
I have a lot of thoughts about the SG Fanfic Awards, but I'll save them all for a day when I'm more coherent. They were all about why we should vote and stuff, so it's nothing bad and there are a few weeks before voting opens.
European elections today. I like voting and I wasn't letting a stinking cold get in the way, so I got Ma to drive me down to the polling station (only a three minute walk, but at the moment my body doesn't seem capable of straight lines) and I exercised by democratic privilege. It should be a right, but when there are so many countries where you can't vote or have only one candidate to vote for, I can't help seeing voting as anything but a privilege and one that I could never abuse by not voting.
I've also been a little amused and very disgusted by on-list arguments that happened while I was away from the computer. I was highly frustrated with comments made on the AG in response to a post with a rational point because every one of those angry comments had taken the post and twisted into a meaning that it didn't have. I was even more disgusted when one person vented onto the FDAS list in response to a post on the *AG* and then flamed anyone who responded to it (very calmly and clearly, I thought). The capper came when that person then posted to the AG about how disgusted she'd been by the FDAS response. Not naming the list, but it was pretty damned obvious to anyone reading both lists who she was talking about. Why was this the capper? Because out of the two lists, I'd been feeling pretty pleased with the mature, sane discussion on the FDAS compared with the petty back-biting that I saw on the AG. There was no problem until she responded on FDAS to a comment on AG (I don't even think that comment was made by an FDAS member) and posted her response to both lists, making me go 'WTF?' and wondering where the hell half my list posts had gone until I checked the AG.
The original post was a valid thought. Maybe it could have been worded more clearly. OTOH, everyone who joined the discussion on FDAS understood the point of the post and most of the contributors on AG didn't. Yet again, I remembered why I'm active on FDAS and lurk (barely reading most posts) on AG. I like mature, rational discussions, even if they're about difficult, controversial subjects. Yes, fandom politics can get pretty fraught and yes, there have been times when I've wanted to knock heads together on FDAS. But on balance, I'd rather hang with the FDAS crew and know that my opinions (even my 'everyone has the right to ship anyone they damn well please so be nice to the Sam/Jack shippers' opinion) will be respected and valued, even if nobody actually agrees with me. And if they don't agree with me, they sure as hell won't flame me or go into extended rants.
And I've just ranted. When I promised myself that I wouldn't. It just made me so angry to see a stupid AG argument spill over to FDAS for no good reason. It's a shame we can't filter for stupidity the way we try to for spam. Grrr. [/rant]
And I'm going to take a bunch of cold-cure pills (must be ill if I'm volunteering for pills), turn off the computer and go back to reading about Vanyel. Why have I picked up my most depressing book when I'm feeling crappy? It's a beautiful, fantastic book, but it's also completely traumatic.
Re: The cold from hell and fandom thoughts
Date: 2004-06-11 11:41 am (UTC)Er, no, but I figure that it can't possibly last much longer. It's just a damn cold, after all.
I'll just forget about the three week cold I had at the beginning of the year that landed me in bed (actually in bed - I never stay in bed when I'm ill) for a week. Guh.
it is a privilege to be able to vote and it's a pity that more people don't see it that way
::nods:: Exactly. I wish there were some way to make people see it that way rather than seeing it as an onerous duty.
As for your rant, you go ahead. You've caught it just right.
Thank you. I was just a bit PO'd to check my emails yesterday and find all that crap there. It really was that post to FDAS that finally sent me over the edge and inspired a rant that I'd promised myself I wouldn't write.