Being, I have been told, at once a characteristically overgenerous individual and a characteristically hot-tempered one, I have enjoyed throughout my history in the shipping war - it is, after all,
only one war, is it not? - quite a mercurial relationship with the HMS Harmony, and in light of recent events it seems quite natural to dsicuss it further, and publicly. This bond, such as it is, does not have as long and storied a legacy as some do; though I have been a fan for seven years, I have only been in fandom for three, and only solidly so for nine months.
How can such a newcomer to the game have anything to say about canon's oldest (as they now comfort each other by repeating) ship? Perhaps, I might respond, the sinking of an old ship by a new one is very much in line with the death of an old mentor leading to the rise of a new hero. Hard to say it was
planned that way, but as my less-well-read counterparts on the HMS Harmony keep clucking,
the author is dead, the author is dead! So clearly we can posit an interpretation which suggests an identity between events in the text and events in the fandom.
In any event. As I say, it seems natural to discuss the insight which I feel I have gained as to the increasingly infamous
ideals of the HMS Harmony. We will delve, then, into my Pensieve, and try to discover the history of the fans who have become so un-fan-like.
I first entered fandom three summers ago, joining the only forum I ever really debated on, Mugglenet's COS. It was awhile before I read the Love Thread the first time, but there was (I flatter myself) an instant reaction to my presence. I remember Sirius83, Mad Eye Mike, Turambar, and others.
You shouldn't come here just bringing down everyone else's theories. You've managed to upset people who have been here much longer than you. Tell us who you ship and why. I found myself, a very new newbie, attacked on all sides after having had the gall to question, for example, the statement that the books were written in "first-person." Eventually a moderator (Tarawyn, who is not active in fandom, I believe, but is truly a heart) came to defend me, and later I managed to quite politely agree with Mad Eye Mike that interview quotes probably proved nothing about the romance. His suggestion at the time was, you see, that the "all the wrong people" quote proved H/H.
Hold it, you say,
those are not the ideals of the HMS Harmony! Quotes? They abhor quotes! Ah, but - well, let us return again to my Pensieve.
By midwinter 2005 I had been very active at COS for several months running. As I explained before, my presence has a tendency to be dynamic, to say the least, in terms of my relations with the opposing ship. A few shippers in particular seemed to despise me, but I was quite friendly with others, and several of them stuck up for me when I was banned. My ban ran out and I posted an essay which was at the very least rather long. The essay did not, apparently, merit a response, but I did manage to garner for my ship the moniker HMS Moron, which I began to see as I discovered the site
A Mad World, whose purpose was to entertain Harmonian essays about, for example, Ron's homosexuality or my stupidity without fear of retribution.
You might ask why a group so ceratin of their rightness would be afraid of any counterargument. But were they really certain? If we are to take them at their word
now - now, when they say they are angry because there was no buildup for R/H and H/G, when they say they are angry because they couldn't see it coming, when Mad Eye Mike brings that same quote from three years ago back and says it has never been and can never be explained away, even though his ship has spent most of the past two years explaining away quotes... If we are to take them at their word
now, they were very certain. But back then they whistled quite a different tune.
Yes, midwinter 2005. I have already introduced you to the now-defunct site AMW; we arrive now at the real purpose of this memory. The members of AMW decided - how, I cannot quite recall - to stage a boycott at my central haunt, COS's Love Thread. They would only return when their opinions were respected, they said, and when it was acknowledged by the administration and by the opposition that all had a chance.
Oh, you fool! For then I did something
both very stupid and very time-consuming. I stuck my tongue out at my elder fellows on the ships Chocolate and Heron. I began a dialogue on AMW.
Don't get me wrong. This was, in many senses, a productive dialogue, and many members of the community were very gracious. I should, however, have known that the radicals who ran it did not desire mutual respect or acceptance of any sort. They did not believe anything about ships having equal chances. As we now know, they thought theirs was the only conceivable route. This has been evidenced repeatedly in their posts over the past two weeks. In short, they lied, like lying liars, who lie.
But we are still in my Pensieve, watching, perhaps, as some of the kindlier mods at AMW try to keep their dog Helvius on his chain; or as Mad Eye Mike makes power plays, hour after hour, day after day; or as Sienna insists that they have gained the moral high groudn by leaving the Love Thread, that they already accept my ships' chances, and that it's my job to bring the rest of my ship to their forum. We are watching, maybe, as hopes for truly respectful debate vanish in favor of Lanifiel's failed Love Files. Lanifiel, on a side note, eventually banned me from COS again based on a private discussion. After that I stowed my ship-war gear, battleaxe and olive branch, weary and bitter, repeating in my head that
if it's respect you want, you should respect other people's interpretation of canon and quotes no matter what it does to your ship - especially if you were equally sure ours were sunk all along!
So when I say I have an interesting perspective on the shipping war, what I mean is this: I truly do not know what ideals the radicals of the HMS Harmony embrace, if they merely like birds, admire the perfection of a Platonic circle, or think that self-insertion and claims to character entitlement (
I am Hermione!) are
causes to which they can sign their names. But I know that they have no ideals regarding true respect, consideration, politeness, and common decency. Their domain has long been that of deceit, word games, power plays, and intentional misreadings, and I am not surprised that many in their ship have chosen to distance themselves.
As for my ship, you can
clearly see that many of us had planned on wholesale acceptance of new canon, no matter the romantic outcome. Many of the Harmonian radicals, you'll note, offered similar claims, including Mad Eye Mike, who stated that a non-H/H pairing would sadden him for a few minutes and then he would move on; sentiments akin to this were offered by Sone, Phoenix Writer, and others. This was back when they still valued the pretense of a search for honest, reasonable debate. They have since abandoned even this pretense, flailing about through the fandom, clucking
the author should die, the author should die, supporting canon when they like canon, quotes when they like quotes, honesty when they like honesty. Ask yourselves, fandom, shippers and shipping neutrals: what ideals are those?
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