After reading the post you just wrote about defunding hate, I have a question for you. And I want to preface this by saying I definitely don’t like Jeremy Hambly or what his channel has become. Although I see how it got to where it is. But my question is this: When does an opinion, or criticism of a person become harassment? People shouldn’t be banned for having opinions and WotC set a really bad precedent here where now anyone who disagrees with a comment can cry wolf to WotC, and that is bad.
Okay, so believe it or not, this is something I am genuinely qualified to talk about. I have spent the last few years of my life learning (and in some small part teaching) education and logic and reason. Within those umbrellas come a need to understand how to give powerful criticism without turning that into harassment. So as a result, I can tell you exactly when criticism and opinion become harassment.
Criticism is the analytical judgement of merits and faults. It clearly, points out things in no unsimple terms, with reasoning behind it. It also offers alternatives that allow a person to grow. Ultimately, criticism isn’t made with malice in mind. Critique is made with the end goal of helping the creator of the work reach a higher standard. It also needs to follow a logical progression. “Change X because Y works better with Z” etc. That’s why you typically need to be educated in the field you’re critiquing for it to be a reasonable critique. So, in short. It must be a caring suggestion based on anysis. If you say something is bad, you should always follow up with why, or how to improve it. You should also include something good.
Opinion is the expression of subjective thought. It is not objective fact, and as such, can be wrong or hurtful. They are nothing more than that.
Now here is the thing. Harassment and Opinion aren’t mutually exclusive. Neither is Critique and Harassment. You can be a harassing critic. Your opinion can be harassing.
Some people don’t want critism about their work. In these cases, don’t give it to them. Your opinion doesn’t always need to be heard. Repeatedly pushing that opinion despite being told its not wanted is, then harassment. You’re not working to help them be better. If that was the case you’d work on their terms. If you keep pushing it, all you want is to be heard.
Jeremy was not a critic towards CSprankle. In fact, he’s never been a critic to anyone he’s harassed. He was not voicing carefully educated opinions on how they can do a bit better at her cosplay. He was voicing bitter and toxic opinions he held, and, in the case of Sprankle, insulted both her and her fans. He called her foul terms and outright said that any man following her just wanted to sleep with her. Not only this, but he insighted his followers to do the same. That is aggressive and as such, is harassment.
If you fear is that someone will view your opinion as harassment, it may be worth re-evaluating what that opinion is. It may well be harassment. If in doubt, talk to the person you’re talking to and try to understand why they think what you’re saying is harassing. And if all else fails, and what you’re saying is genuinely not harassment, live with that knowledge. No one can persecute you for something you didn’t do.
One final thing. This did not set a dangerous precadent against opinion and critique. Jeremy broke Wizard’s Code of Conduct in a huge way, and as such was banned for life. He signed up knowing full well the expectation that Wizards had, and agreed to uphold them at the risk of being banned. We all do when signing up for a DCI number. If you don’t think that what he did warrented a banning, you may want to read the Code of Conduct. Because it lays out in clear words what warrents banning, and he met the requirements to a ‘T’. If you’re scared you toe this line, maybe you should stop.
magicpotatolover 