Posts Tagged ‘Supernatural’

Self-diagnosis is just as valid as formal diagnosis.

Not too long ago, someone decided to go through my Tweets on Twitter (why do you do this to people you claim not to like? I only read what you have to say because you insist on mercilessly doing it to my friends, screenshotting everything they say that you may not like… I’m surprised no one really turned the tables sooner) and feign offense to me making reference to being autistic. Professionals in the field have repeatedly stressed that self-diagnosis — or in my case, diagnosis by way of Internet and many autistic adults repeatedly telling me that they are sure I am autistic — is valid, because there are many barriers to adult diagnosis and diagnosis in general that might make it so someone never formally pursues a diagnosis. In my case, I feel that I don’t need additional accommodations or supports for being autistic that I can’t already give myself, and I do not reject the opinions of the many autistic adults that I have spoken with over the years that have told me that they see me as being autistic as well. This has been something that has gone on for years, which the person who feigned offense at one particular mention of it on my timeline would have known if they had gone through more of it, but I digress. Growing up, my mother — my primary caregiver because of the sort of work my dad did — was repeatedly told that I was neurodivergent, but among many other things, she refused to permit it to be worked up. Were it not for the fact that she literally neglected me as a child (I was fed and clothed, but not much else), I would have been formally diagnosed.

I find it amusing that when things these people — members of the Supernatural fandom, which is why all of this stays online — take alleged offense at (“she drugs her kids”, referenced in the post that I made about Bub’s medication regimen recommended by the whole of his care team, this) or the fact that I do not dispute what many autistic adults have told me, they stop talking about it. I also find it humorous that they do not appear to be frequent readers of my personal blog (I have a tracker, but it’s not specifically for that purpose), instead choosing to block me on Tumblr and gloat about it… when I only use Tumblr because friends of mine have accounts there. I reblog a few things in the morning, read individual Tumblr accounts of friends of mine who regularly write, but I seldom compose blog posts in there. But this is why fandom stays online for me.

You literally said the quiet part out loud, y’all.

Only in the part of the Supernatural fandom that ships Sam Winchester and Dean Winchester together (mind, I do have to explain this when I post about it because not all of my readers are fandom-oriented or even know that much about Supernatural… I don’t mind) would being a good parent who monitors their minor children’s Internet usage be a bad thing. This has literally been something that they have complained about on more than one occasion, but especially recently when their behavior made it known that they at least attempt to talk to people’s children online to try and spread the “gospel” of their ship. First of all, I can think of almost no instances where an unrelated adult needs to be talking to a minor online, barring circumstances like that minor’s participation in something like a chat room or a forum that would be modded by…. wait for it, adults. But aside from narrow circumstances like that, I can’t think of any other instances where an unrelated adult needs to be talking to a child online, and the fact that these people want it to be easier to accost people’s children says something about the quality of their “ship” (romantic pairing) within the fandom. (And in the event that I haven’t already mentioned this here, three different people who ship this have made it clear that they would contact my children if given the opportunity to do so. I could have excused one as just plain being a bad person within the fandom, but we’re… uh, we’re working on three.)

My children are fourteen and eleven years old. I do not let the one who can legally use social media have any accounts of his own, particularly ones that would require the use of his legal name. I check my children’s browser histories on their iPad. They are only allowed to use a few apps on it that aren’t games — these are things like YouTube and YouTube Kids… and come to think of it, these are the only two apps that aren’t games that either of them have on their iPads (Monster has one because he’s always been better at taking care of his possessions, and Bub has two because a friend kindly gifted him one in case something happened to his first one). I want to know what my kids are doing online, I do know what they’re doing online, and they do not have a problem with this. Funny how all of that works, isn’t it? They don’t mind at all.

Wincels, as a friend of mine calls them, have also made more of a name for themselves outside of the fandom, which is just… sad. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but people know about the “Sam and Dean shippers”. People in parenting groups that I am a part of know more of what this part of the fandom is capable of, and more and more of them have either decided not to let their children (aged 14-18 since it is a TV-14 show) watch Supernatural, closely monitor their Internet usage to ensure that they are not partaking in any fandom-related activities, or both of those things. They know what “the Sam and Dean shippers” are capable of, and what they do. This is literally a legacy that they are leaving themselves with their behavior. But are us parents who want our children to have safe Internet experiences strict? Are we strict if we curtail our children’s Internet usage because other people on it — sometimes very specific groups of other people — can not be trusted to behave in ethical manners when it comes to children? The answer, of course… is no.

They really can not leave a good thing alone.

On the fifth, “Destiel Day” came and went. People celebrated the fact that Destiel (Castiel and Dean Winchester) actually became a thing by virtue of the episode “Despair” — known as “The Truth” for the longest time until the CW changed the name of the episode — airing. Several hashtags came about on Twitter as a result of it, and a good time was had by the majority of people… those, of course, being the individuals who ship Dean Winchester with his brother (“Wincest”). Not being willing to let others be happy celebrating a ship that they personally do not like, it seems that they are going to celebrate the anniversary of the series finale where one of the main characters dies a traumatic death… and that’s what they like about the final episode. They also enjoy shoving scenes from this episode, and this part of the episode, into the faces of people who are actively avoiding it and do not consent to that. (And for the life of me, I will never get why they celebrate — let alone like — when the traumatic death of that character plays out, but that may just be me. I’ve looked down that barrel in real life and I’ve walked away from it. It may be that for me.)

Also, Walker is airing its second season… coming in at a 0.1 rating for two of two episodes. That is awful.

At this point I am more than content with my decision not to actively watch any more of the CW’s shows.

So I finally put Windows 11 on this computer, and…

It’s been an experience.

I also had 64GB of RAM put into it, which maxes it out, because I was thinking that if I maxed it out all I would have to do would be to open it up one time and that was that. Everything else seemed good enough… that is, until I looked at how much free hard drive space I had left (on an SSD, of all things) and realized that Windows 11 took up more hard drive space than I had originally anticipated even though I had enough to install it and have enough to run it. I’ve been removing some unnecessary apps that I don’t ever use, which has freed up some space on it, but I never thought I would have to do that on a gaming rig of all things. Before installation of Windows 11, I had roughly 100GB of free space, which wasn’t bad given the size of my hard drive. Now, with a lot of effort, I have nearly 50GB. For the life of me I am still trying to figure out what caused this sharp reduction in free hard drive space… other than, of course, the most obvious, Windows 11.

I also kept tabs on the Supernatural convention that took place in Denver, and that too was an experience. I can see why people have now begun to block Jared Padalecki on Twitter for their own personal mental health. I have never seen someone so expertly invalidate queerness in so few words in my lifetime, and I don’t think I will again because least of all I am not going to tune into anything else that Jared Padalecki headlines. I don’t think I should even have been surprised given that this is Jared we’re discussing, but still… I am. Just a bit. The bar was the floor and I still manage to be a bit surprised every time he reaches a new low.

As my friend quipped, you can still be a part of a fandom without letting certain parts of it abuse you.

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