quizz & poll

[salinea]

Your result for The Fan Fiction Personality Test...

The Mindgamer

Everything is possible, nothing is ever really over.

Fanfiction is a creative outlet for you. You don't intentionally write it, it just happens. You find inspiration in several fandoms, but are not obsessed with only one.

You like to explore "what if" situations. What if this character had never made this very choice? What if this event had taken place sooner, never, elsewhere? What if these people had never met?

You are likely to write Alternative Universes, fan seasons or sequels and just follow your (sometimes pretty strange) plot bunnies.

Take The Fan Fiction Personality Test at OkCupid

[Poll #1508022]

Comments

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

If they phrased it that way -- asking me not to use that phrase -- without any explanation, I'd be pissed off. It's very patronising and I'm an adult and capable of making my own choices about the sort of language I use.

If instead of giving me a directive they politely commented explaining to me why they found the phrase upsetting, I'd listen and most likely not use it again.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Interesting, I hadn't thought of it coming across as patronising.

[ontogenesis.livejournal.com]

I chose the first response. I probably wouldn't use that term anyway-- not after having studied the Holocaust and WWII -- so I know why someone might be offended by a casual use of the word. I also don't like "femmenazi" or "rape" (as in, "this test totally raped me"). PC? Nah, more like I have a healthy respect for the power of words.

[ontogenesis.livejournal.com]

Whoops, didn't mean to use that icon. Stop being cheerful, Sai.

[eefster.livejournal.com]

I'd retract it and apologise.

However, I would probably also open a different discussion (not in the same post, and not forcing the person to take part) about what an appropriate -- but still pithy -- substitute would be. I would just want to wait to be sure that the discussion didn't come across as pouty, or deliberately inflammatory.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

*nods* I like that option.

Mmm, I wonder what makes a good substitute? Canon fanatic? Canon faithful?

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I'd probably do a mixture of a few. I'd ask them what the problem was, then probably edit the post to get rid of them, but think they need to just accept that "nazi" is a commonly used word that doesn't cause offense just by showing up. Edit: Actually, I realized that what I did the second time would probably depend on what their answer was to the question.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

That makes sense to me ^^

Personally I have some issue with the expression (it's milder than "it offends" me, but I think it's still problematic?) because it trivialises the term "nazi", especially since it's usually used with a sort of quixotic pride "haha! I'm such a canon nazi!"
But yeah, I understand for a lot of people it's just a commonly used word, but it makes me wince when I see it anyway.

[asimaiyat.livejournal.com]

I would retract it and apologize. I want my journal to be a safe place for my friends.

I'd probably change it to "canon police" or something.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

♥

ooh, I like canon police!

[aubrem.livejournal.com]

I don't throw the word "nazi" around and I shudder at the casual use of the word "rape" in strange contexts, etc etc. These are powerful words and shouldn't be cheapened for shock value.

On the other hand, I'd never tell someone else what to say - especially in their own journal. I wouldn't in public forums either. Maaaaaaybe if they said something offensive in comments in my own journal I'd speak up. It kind of shocks me the way so many fannish people think they have the right to tell other people what to do.

If I felt that someone was using a word and just plain didn't know the impact they were having with it, I might email them privately to explain - in case they were interested, in case they cared. They might appreciate the info.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Interesting point.

I think I would definitely say something to someone if they commented on my own journal, but in someone else's journal it depends a lot of who is the person I'm talking to. I thought they would be receptive to it (and was obviously wrong).

Possibly as you say, I underestimated how much people consider that they can say what they want on their own journal - which isn't an illegitimate feeling in itself, especially for something relatively mild like "canon nazi".

Possibly the more private form of comments would work better!

[luminaire.livejournal.com]

Your journal is your journal. I respect your right to say whatever you want in it, even if I don't like what you have to say. I expect the same respect in return.

If you said something so offensive where I felt compelled to speak out, I would at least let you know why it upset me rather than a curt "don't say that again".

[deeplyunhip.livejournal.com]

IAWTC!

[flo-nelja.livejournal.com]

I can't say without the context.

Was it used as an insult, comparing people who oppose to OOC to nazis ?

Or did the offense come from the fact the word was used in a playful, non serious way "I can be such a canon nazi sometimes".

If I was to use the first sense (I don't think I would), I'd edit and apologize.

If I was to use the second sense (the only one I would use, so I replied to your poll in this sense), I'd sigh about people being easily offended, and edit it, replacing it with "canon psychorigid", because I don't like to offend people anyway.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Or did the offense come from the fact the word was used in a playful, non serious way "I can be such a canon nazi sometimes".
That one.

[trobadora]

I would never use that kind of language. And if someone on my flist did, I'd assume they didn't mean to - that they just accidentally let an offensive term slip through because they'd heard it too often. If someone made them aware of it, I'd expect an instant "oops, sorry! I did not mean to say that."

Clearly I'm overly optimistic.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

... that was exactly my assumption. Clearly, I'm overly optimistic too.

[rosehiptea.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't use it in the first place.

If someone objected to a term I do use, I'd probably apologize and edit, unless I had a really good reason that I wanted to explain.

But I'd be very unlikely to speak out about it if someone else did use the term. The only time I tried to explain to someone that they were offending me in such a way it went very, very badly.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

The only time I tried to explain to someone that they were offending me in such a way it went very, very badly.
Indeed!!

I wish discussions about such things and requests like that could happen more easily without provoking so much ruffled feelings and general wankiness, but clearly that's too much to ask :(

[shiinabambi.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't change it. I might possibly engage them in a debate over it, although honestly, I'm sick of these kinds of debates, I have too many unpopular opinions and it just gets tiresome. My journal is not a safe space for other people. Hell, it's not even a safe space for me, though I've sometimes wished it were. Reality isn't a safe space either, in case some people haven't noticed.

I'd sigh and say, "I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave."

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Fair enough :)

I don't think I really "believe" in safe space either, though depending on the cases and why it would offend people, I might try to avoid using some words if they make my friends uncomfortable. But if I thought it was silly, I would probably use them anyway, so, yeah.

[nextian.livejournal.com]

This happened to me once in a comm! I was a member of deleterius for ages and then they changed their default icon to "canon nazi," with the swastika. It was a pretty common phrase around the comm so I wasn't super offended but I politely asked them if it could maybe change! As did a number of other members. HA HA HA HA. NO. THAT WOULD BE CRUSHING FREE SPEECH. So that was it for me at Deleterius, which was kind of sad because it was my first fandom home, but also kind of not sad because it turned out the mod was wanky in about sixteen other ways.

[nextian.livejournal.com]

Oh! But I wouldn't comment at all to a Jewish LJer's use of the term. Or Roma, obviously. Small but crucial distinction.

[la-vie-noire.livejournal.com]

Well, the poll is notorious, I chose the first because I didn't like the rest, but I think it depends of a lot of things, like who is "calling out" who.

I don't think is right for a white Christian person to call you, a Jew woman of the use on nazi, but if it's someone calling a white Christian on that... well, always the first one.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

"notorious"? I'm not sure what you mean.

A crucial nuance indeed.

(for the record, it was me calling out a white* Pagan person
* I think, not 100% certain)

[schemingreader.livejournal.com]

I am not the right person to be responding to this, because:

1. I don't use the word "Nazi" in that way. I realize that people used the words Nazi (well, more fascist, actually, but still) in a trivializing way starting in the 1930s, but I don't feel comfortable with who might feel hurt by such a scatter-shot use of language.
2. I don't call people on every stupid thing they say on their journals.
3. I think people, but especially Jews, people who live in cities/countries that were conquered by the Nazis and feminists shouldn't have to explain why they don't want to be compared to Nazis. It just shows the original speaker's complete lack of historical context and/or human decency.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Wise words. Perhaps I should convert to 2 as well >_>;

[lodessa.livejournal.com]

Commenting instead of clicking on the poll:

I would probably take it out and apologize not in a "OMG I SUCK" way but mostly just to let them know I was sorry they were upset and that I had edited the post to get rid of it.

I can definitely see situations with specific kinds of people where I might react differently though, given the larger context of our relationships.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I can definitely see situations with specific kinds of people where I might react differently though, given the larger context of our relationships.
How so, if you don't mind telling?

[after-nightfall.livejournal.com]

Unless it was an obvious thing, like a person I know to be Jewish asking me not to use the term "nazi", I'd ask why, and then make a decision. In the end, unless I had a really good reason for using that particular phrase, I'd most probably remove it because I think that in such a case, it's not a sacrifice to avoid using upsetting language when politely asked to. Otherwise I'd politely refuse and explain my reasoning.

ETA: I would apologise for upsetting them.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Thanks for answering ^^

[misstopia.livejournal.com]

In this case I would remove it and apologize right away as, well, I agree that it's a problematic term. If I didn't get it, I would ask first, and then if I understood why and agreed I'd remove it and apologize. If, theoretically, I didn't, well I dunno, I still might remove it but I'd possibly continue arguing the point, just because if you don't get why then it's a meaningless gesture anyway. But ultimately I wouldn't grandstand unless I thought there was an important reason for the debated phrase to be there; if it's just as good as anything else, and if I can buy the sincerity of the objector, I'd probably remove it.

[gogoratchet.livejournal.com]

Agreeeeed. On all accounts, including the Gaston icon.

[ebonhost.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I'd never use that term in the first place, so it's hard for me to think about what my response would be (though i don't understand why someone would be offended by being called on it- everyone should be aware that words have power).

That's not to say that I think I am better than anyone else, in case I'm coming across that way. I've just seen (and experienced) the results of words used to deliberately cause harm to others enough that I'm much less likely to casually use anything like 'nazi' 'rape' or 'that's so gay' in conversation, let alone in writing, where I exercise my filters even more carefully. There are certainly words in common use today that should never have made it to that point, because I feel it devalues the word- makes it kind of a 'joke' if you will.

Your mileage may vary, though.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I entirely agree with you ^^

[tomboy-typist.livejournal.com]

I feel the need to explain why I gave the answer I gave. It's your journal, you decide what goes in the post. I can see where this is going, trivialization of serious issues, though, but I tend to get protective of my own little private space. (That's why I use cuts and warn. Don't want to read, don't read, but don't tell me what to put on MY eljay.)

I'd like to know what they thought of Seinfeld' Soup Nazi episode. And I'd still want to hear them out, but I'd be annoyed that someone tells me what to do in my private space. I do like discussion etc, and I'd prefer that to just "Don't put that in your eljay it's offensive," I guess.

Edit: I don't think it's an expression I would use anyway, partly because I generally don't do fandom rants to start, partly because I don't like the expression very much, so obvs my answer is completely theoretical.

Edit 2: I apologize if my thoughts are so very disorganized. >.>

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

It does seem like the people against remove value the privacy/control of their own journal a lot, which is an interesting point, which is a point I completely understand even though I don't as much.

about the Seinfeld Soup Nazi episode, a couple of people have pointed out that they would be okay with such expression coming from people who are Jewish or Roma : Seinfeld being Jewish, he's "allowed" to make those sort of jokes.

No problem, I don't find your thoughts disorganised at all ^^

[niamhotoole.livejournal.com]

Other: I'd never use Nazi in the first place; it's too close to home. I *might* if I'm with close friends and am feeling like a word fashion victim but never in public.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

It feels like there's a definite split between... let's say continental European and Americans on this one, isn't there?

Thanks for the answer.

[cafecomics.livejournal.com]

Ce n'est pas un terme que j'emploie et ce pour les mêmes raisons que toi (and I roll my eyes every time I see it, going "dude, we're really an ocean apart"). S'il est question de canon, ou de grammaire je préfère parler de "puriste" ou de "canon freak" ou "grammar freak" si j'écris en anglais..

D'un coup, je me demande comment la VF de Roswell a traduit "Christmas Nazi". Parce que je suis sûr que ce n'est pas resté comme ça.

Quant à "feminazi", c'est une insulte pure et simple.

[rebbe]

"Ignore the comment" is the closest I can get to what I think I'd probably do.

But I'm honestly not sure how I'd react! I'd definitely leave it there, but how I would deal with the person requesting that I remove it is totally different, and would depend on a lot of factors.

[sakanagi.livejournal.com]

I picked option one on the poll - but I think my response would depend more on the context. If I wasn't already aware that the term could be offensive, I'd ask them what the problem with it was. If they weren't asking me to remove the term from the specific entry, but rather to not to use that sort of expression in future, that probably wouldn't be reason to edit the entry in question, unless I felt too embarrassed about leaving it there.

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

I don't use the word Nazi outside issues where it's directly relevant or when I think it's appropriate indirectly (Nazis and Hitler do prove the danger of hate speech). I don't recall ever doing so, but I may have. I hate the way the term is casually thrown around in casual conversation and I loathe the way it's misused in political issues.

However, I'd never tell anyone who I knew was Jewish or Roma not to say it (and would apologize if they told me they were). Others who were targeted like LGTB people... Like what nextian said. It feels different. I'm a LGBT person, but I don't feel targeted by this language as a bisexual person.

Also, while I know it's probably impossible to create a perfectly safe space for people, I really try and make it so that it is.

[hamsterwoman]

I think it depends a little bit on whether the friend's polite request to not use the phrase was worded or came across as "please don't do this because this hurts/offends me personally" vs "you shouldn't do this because this term is generally offensive/could hurt/offend someone". If the former, then I do think removing and apologizing is the right thing to do, because even unintentionally causing offense still merits an apology, and you don't get to tell people what they can or cannot be hurt or offended by. If the latter, I think removing without apology or even refusing politely is OK as well (the latter because, your journal is your journal).

I don't find the term inherently offensive, in spite of my family having been affected by the Holocaust quite significantly. I don't use it personally, I don't like it, but it's not a term I feel strongly enough about to actively object to it when others use it.