User blog:AustinDR/About Opinions....

I'm sorry if it appears that I often get incensed a lot when it comes to my opinions. I try to listen to another side, but sometimes how I personally feel about a subject tends to override what another person thinks. I guess what makes it so difficult to find a common ground with other people that have their own opinions is just that. It's their opinion, not mine. Sometimes, it just feels natural for someone to share the same idea as me. Like with "Brawl;" I loathe that episode with a passion, and it seemed as though the consensus was in agreement. However, what shocked me was that there were some out there who actually liked the episode; of course, I never go to anyone and say what the heck is wrong with you if they happened to have enjoyed the episode, and I am perfectly willing to hear their explanation. The opposite happened to me as well. Like "NSL;" I wanted to hate the episode because practically everyone else on here also despised the episode in question...but I was unable to. With that, I was partially afraid that I would get harassed for saying that the episode was at the least not as bad as "Brawl." Same with a few other episodes of the series: whenever it seems like an episode is acclaimed by the community, I just find the episode underwhelming at best or passable at worst. Take "House Music." Besides the fact that I liked "For Bros About to Rock" more because it actually went into Luna's backstory to how she became the rocker she is today, I just did not approve of Luna acting like a controlling brat to her family. While I understood why she was acting that way in the episode, her apology didn't really seem sincere enough to forget that she kicked her own dad out of the band.

The same thing with the whole "L is for Love" debacle. I loved everything about the episode, but especially the ending. I had thought it was so obvious that no one would actually be naive enough to not see it coming. I personally found Luna being bi as the step in the right direction for the network because now Luna could be seen as a role model for people in the LGBT community. However....sometime after the episode, I did see what other fans thought of the episode, and it honestly irritated me. You would have some "fans" complain about the twist for being forced, or even say that it drove them off the show. As I have mentioned numerously, I also despised the fanfics that would be made as a way of "curing" Luna, or to push their religious agenda. All the time I always hear it being taught or preached that homosexuality is an abomination and whatnot, but the thing is I'm not religious. While I was always told that being gay is inhuman or "a choice," I never really held any sort of condemning attitude when it came to anyone in the LGBT community. I thought that yeah, it was weird, but I never went out of my way to shame anyone for their preferences, or threaten to boycott a television network for using LGBT themes. But at the same time, I was too scared to share what I really thought of the whole ordeal, because my parents are Christians, and they jumped on me once when I had casually mentioned on my Facebook account that I didn't find anything wrong with same sex marriage. They threatened to inform my grandmother about what I had said, so I had to delete it....but the turning point for me was when my preacher once said during bible study that if gay people were allowed to marry, that could lead to slavery being reinstated. I was disgusted by the words that just slid out of his mouth; normally I do respect him greatly (even though I don' t agree with his points sometimes), but here....that's what made me ultimately decide that I was not going to be a part of a religion that promoted prejudice.

Really, if I had a nickle for every time someone say that being gay is wrong because "God said so," I'd be a millionaire. While I dislike religion mainly because it indoctrinates people to believe a certain way, and threatens eternal punishment if you didn't comply, I just had many issues with the Bible, mostly since it is an ancient book that was written by several different authors. So wouldn't you think that a little bit of their anti-gay stance slipped into their writing? For religious figures like Jesus, I never really cared on whether or not he existed. That's not to say that he most definitely didn't as Christianity had to have began somewhere, but whether he was as the Bible describes him as is a whole other can of worms that I don't wish to open. But going back to the Loud House...really, I never saw the point of some fans to continue watching if they truly hated the twist. I mean I wouldn't force myself to continue to watch something that I didn't agree with. And then, I did get into heated comments with a few users here that were obviously Christian (though I don't see the necessity of mentioning that online). It got bad enough to the point that I was accused of hating Christianity even though I never said I did. While I may find Christianity a weird religion, I would never ostracize anyone for their beliefs. I will respect their points as long as they respect mine.

For instance, there was that one blog that discussed whether there are too many LGBT characters in the show when there are canonically three as it's still left in the air if Sam felt the same way about Luna. When I first read the show, it seemed pretty blatant that the user who started the blog was complaining over nothing. While I am aware that many people have their own head canons on whether any of the siblings are straight or gay (like how I thought Lynn was going to be a lesbian, at least until "Study Muffin" destroyed that head canon for me), it didn't seem to be much to just ignore them. It's like with a bad episode of the show: just because you make your own version of the story doesn't mean that it's now canonical. Besides that, a few minor discussions also seemed pointless like saying should the kids have a love interest, even though in my humble opinion, they were just infatuations. It's natural for a child to have infatuations; it's nothing but puppy love that doesn't last. But, yeah, for the most part the reason as to why I found myself being overly critical is because these people just screamed "moral guardians" or "soccer moms" trying to shield their kids from what they saw as being against their doctrines, or even as brainwashing. I always have issues with these kind of people: look, I understand that you love your kid and don't want them to get the wrong ideas, but shielding them from the reality of the world doesn't help them in the slightest. It stunts their growth, and they become sheltered when they become adults who would often be unsure how to handle a situation because they were denied that opportunity. Personally, I see it as great that the show is actually tackling subjects like this. Children should know that there are different types of families other than the nuclear family, and maybe learn to be tolerable of these people. They shouldn't be protected if it turns out that one of the main characters are gay, lesbian, or whatever; they could actually be a comforting source for any kid who is truly questionable of their sexual orientation.

Though as much I am for LGBT representation, I do agree that it can be forced in some ways. Sometimes, a gay or lesbian character would be introduced in a show for no other reason than for publicity. What made the McBrides so good was that it was never drawn to anyone's attention that they were gay, or Luna's reveal at the end of "LIFL" is genuinely surprising because they didn't even say prior to the episode's release that that was the case. However, I have stressed this once and I'll say it again: having an LGBT character doesn't automatically make your show good. Really, a show doesn't even NEED an LGBT character to be good. If you are going to employ LGBT themes in a work, at the very least, don't make a huge deal about it, and actually have something in mind for the character. Besides that, I do see where it can get annoying for people to push for LGBT characters....I mean you have nuts who had pushed for Elsa to be a lesbian among other things. I try to be as unbiased as possible regarding their beliefs, preferfences, religion...but that only makes the whole community look bad, and I can see where people take offense at them for what they are doing. Am I saying that they are trying to indoctrinate kids? No, of course not; but it's when they push for characters to be gay when it isn't essential to the story is where I draw the line. You have Pride Week; what more do you want?

But in summary, I am apologizing if I become to passionate about my opinions. Sometimes I feel that everyone would share my opinion, and when they don't, I find it hard to comprehend. I'll try to be better in the future.