The Defenses Eyes Are Up Here

the defense’s eyes are up here

happy pride month

Why on EARTH do you consider yourself a fan of Dan (and/or Phil) if you think they are racist. Like why are you even here. Leave if you don’t like them!! It’s literally that simple. They don’t owe you a thing. They don’t owe you an apology. They’ve obviously improved their behavior (or at the very least, their public behavior) (even if they say something slightly uninformed sometimes) and bringing up old shit Dan said at like 19 is pointless and will literally only tarnish their current public image. They ESPECIALLY don’t owe you a tour date?? Besides the fact that it’s crazy that you to want to see these people you think are evidentially so racist irl, they are going places where they can sell tickets. Like suck it up that you (or anyone else) lives someplace where they are not in enough demand.

yap yap yap

very specifically called out dan for saying racist shit as recently as WAD, and tbh if you really need to know - i am not a fan of his solo stuff, the self deprecating doom and gloom content hasn’t been my cup of tea for a while now. i’ve always been a fan of phil’s content and their duo stuff, which is allowed lol

i don’t think that he is some vile racist, i think he’s a white british man who could be capable of growth if and when he wants it. the issue here is that he never has apologized for any of his racist remarks, during WAD he referred to our homes as ‘third world countries’ when talking about us not being a part of that tour, so it is not some crazy leap to think that the continued exclusion is in part because we are thought of as less than. i’m not even saying that it was a conscious thought, but they do ignore their fans in the global south while we know they do have large audiences here. not as big as in europe, the usa, or canada - but we aren’t nothing.

i also didn’t say that they owe us anything. i am just calling out patterns of racist behavior. i owe it to myself and everyone else who feels hurt by this pattern of behavior to voice what we’re seeing.

now i ask you, why do you think we should just get over these things? why do you think we shouldn’t talk about it to save his current public image? why is his public image so important to you, personally, to where you felt compelled to defend him in my inbox? should no one ever mention anything bad someone’s done to save their current public image? even if it is a part of a larger pattern? why do you think valid criticism of your faves is a personal attack?

dan howell will be fine. he is a rich dude living a luxurious life with his rich partner. his image is fine, and he will be fine even if they acknowledge us and how this is a part of a larger pattern. they will be fine.

You don't have to post this because it's not necessarily the right time but I wanna chuck my input into the ring on the lack of inclusivity with dnp.

These guys apparently cannot be bothered to hire a captioning service for their videos. They can definitely afford it, I think that is abundantly clear. But they don't appear to do it??? At least not for every video. Imo it really is the absolute bare minimum to caption your content but they apparently don't care enough to do it.

I realise this might not be appropriate to share rn because this discussion is about racism and the exclusion of poc, but I thought it was fair to chuck it into the ring as this is also exclusion, but of a different grouo. Also intersectionality. Fyi that I'm white so you're more than welcome not to elevate my voice rn for obvious reasons but this is another example of them being not great from a disability perspective.

I realise that reading all these asks must take so much emotional energy so thank you so much for dedicating the time and energy to facilitate discussion with the care and empathy that you are.

No no no, anon. This should be raised awareness as well. I will not speak on their behalf, because I don’t know if this issue has been raised to them before. But this space should be inclusive to all kinds of people. Thank you for stopping by and being a part of our voice <33

Auto-message: This ask’s purpose is to acknowledge dnp’s past/present exclusivity, not to cancel them! But to embrace mistakes that they’ve made so that 1. we won’t exclude people in need in this community, and 2. we can normalize bringing up exclusivity so that improvement can happen. Hopefully this will one day help dnp realize that this is a safe space for them to talk about their mistakes, so that this space can become safe for people of all kinds too <3

*If you don’t understand what is happening, scroll through my blog for context. And I’ll be taking time to answer my asks, so don’t think I’m ignoring youuu*

forget freak. who's gonna match my cringe.

i haven't really been engaging in discourse because i've been sick but i do have a few things to say now that some dust has settled and im not sleeping 16 hours a day.

the phandom is not a radical space. i dont think it ever will be. thats not saying we cant fight for fair treatment and community care within it, but as long as it is orbiting around two privileged white men it will not be a radical space. the only thing radical about this space and the only real tool we have in our toolkit is how we treat each other.

its disgraceful seeing that there are phannies out there throwing out racial slurs in inboxes. its disgraceful seeing us fracture over what is honestly kindergarten shit.

like rudy said, we need to remember that dan and phil are just some white guys from england. and honestly their biggest crime probably is not knowing many if any poc. theyre privileged people who unfortunately as time goes on and their wealth increases and they stabilize, they will share less and less in common with their fans. theyre going to become more unreachable than they currently are no matter how down-to-earth they remain.

so forget dan and phil. sure, theyve done shitty things in the past and will continue to do so. but insofar as we are fans of them, no matter how much they tell us that they listen to us and care for us, we will never have their ear to change in the ways that we want them to. and honestly? years after the fact apologies done out of fear of a hit to their reputation is not an effective means of repairing anything. it is a bandaid over a deeper problem we need to admit we do not have the means or the leverage to fix (at least while maintaining a space recognizable to us). not to say we can and should not hold dan and phil accountable, but we need to be realistic about what is really important to us. is it celebrities doing and saying the right things or is it us taking it upon ourselves to be better people?

so how are we going to hold people accountable for the things they do in the moment? how are we gonna call people in? how are we going to turn to the people on our dash and at our live shows and treat them? how are we going to log off and show up in our communities?

there is a conversation to be had here about fan culture and how it can/cannot coexist with the idolization of white figures, but that's a different post.

the phandom is not a radical space, but we can be radical people within it. rich white men will always disappoint you, so how can you show up for the people actually accessible to you? and really in the end if it comes down to it, do you have the capability to walk away?