if the only thing you consume is cookie-cutter “good“ than how are you going to act when something bad happens irl? when you do something bad irl? what do you do when your favorite Pure media suddenly a Not Good??? cause that’s the thing, NOTHING is perfect. NOTHING and NO ONE. we’re all flawed people and the stuff we create is going to be flawed and that’s what makes us human. stop trying to be perfect, it’s literally impossible, and learn how to say “this thing has problems and i’m willing to look at and discuss them, but it’s also something i enjoy and i am going to also celebrate the good”

i just. when i was a kid i was That™ warriors kid on the playground. running around on all fours hissing and doing clan meetings with my friend group on the slide. i read every fucking warriors book that existed, which is not an easy feat

looking at it now, i can tell you the treasure trove of Problematic Content™ it has. the rampant sexism (despite all the authors being women??), lack of care for continuity or exploring the world outside of our protags, one-dimensional villains, indigenous stereotyping/appropriation, even more sexism, the age gaps and incest-y relationships that the authors either don’t notice, refuse to acknowledge, or defend for some fucking reason, the INSANE ableism and heteronormativity… it’s a MESS.

i’m still glad i read it. i still reblog fanart of hollyleaf and leafpool, still point at cats and give them warrior names, i still think fondly of the island in the lake behind my friend’s house that looked exactly like the meeting spot in the books, still joke with friends about which clan we’d be in or our favorite characters would be in

as a kid, i didn’t notice all the issues, but there were others i could spot. i could spot the accidental incest and say “that’s weird, i don’t like that.” i didn’t notice the sexism in the way the female characters were always shoved aside and ended up becoming Doting Mothers™, but i did notice the ableism of assuming cinderpelt and jayfeather couldn’t be warriors despite their disabilities not being something that would stop an irl cat from finding a way to hunt or fight. and i was able to say “i don’t like these parts, and there would be a way to do them better.”

contrast to when i was in… fourth grade? third? i remember i was in public school, and i borrowed a book from the library that offhandedly mentioned a ouija board. i asked my mom how to pronounce this strange new word and she immediately took the book from me until it was time to return it. this didn’t teach me what my mom wanted me to learn, which was “we don’t fuck with demons in this house,” it just taught me that i couldn’t go to my mom with questions about books i was reading because she would take them away.

it was way better for my young, learning mind to say “what is wrong with this, why does it feel wrong, and what could they have done better” than to just take the Problems™ away

and obviously i dont think people should actively seek out shit media, but like. reading or watching something with Problems™ isn’t the end of the fucking world

SO funny how people in the notes are like “but what about media that’s actively harmful like hp or aot???” as if i didnt mention them explicitly in the first post lol

tell me u cant read without telling me u cant read

also for everyone saying “consume media not made for children”: fun fact my original draft of this post was talking about shit like 1984 and Lolita but long story short 90% of the internet hasn’t read past a 4th grade level so i figured warrior cats would make my point better lol