It’s unhinged to assume that someone’s taste in fiction equates to what they believe is moral or good, or is something they want to see or experience in real life.
That is a bonkers assumption to make.
I’m tired of humoring people with long arguments about it when the simple fact is it is a totally fucking absurd reach to accuse someone who enjoys something in fiction of being in favor of it in real life.
I’m tired of pretending like this is a legitimate position to hold– that they should be afraid of fiction’s dire influence on a reader’s moral decay or that it’s a sign of what the author secretly wants for realsies in real life.
I promise you it is still getting me death threats in 2024.
Here’s your reminder that “the art will corrupt the people’s morals” was the argument used to justify the Hayes code and NAZI BOOK BURNINGS. See: ‘the museum of degenerate art’ and other classic fascisms.
It’s incredible how short the slope is from online morality policing to reactionary thought and outright fascist beliefs.
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