You probably have seen the #AffinityMagIsOver on Twitter, but I’ll summarize the situation in case you haven’t.
People have found our chief editor’s old tweets. And they are disappointed. Upset. Mad. Choose whatever adjective you want to use.
And they absolutely have the right to be.
Our chief’s tweets, that have been made six years ago, are awful. Racist towards asian people. Are anti-semitic. Content anti-blackness and the use of the N-word seems very wrong, even if she’s black. Are transphobic. Body-shames fat people. Are ableist and depicts disabled people as nightmares.
We can say that the person she was at that time was beyond trash. There’s no way nor point to deny it.
She has written a statement in which she said she was sorry. It angered people even more. They’re right. Being sorry is not enough and is not going to erase what she has done.
Yes, she was young, yes she didn’t know but as many writers said when James Charles’ tweets had been exposed, age is not an excuse.
There will never be excuses for bigotry and prejudices.
No one is asking you to forgive her. No one is asking you to accept her behaviour. I can’t. Affinity Magazine’s writers can’t either. And we know you can’t.
This event should be a inspiring story. This should be a wake-up call. I’m writing this to raise awareness. This shows that no one is preserved from being problematic and having regrets. We could all become oppresive towards someone without knowing it.
I’ve thought a lot about it and I’ve realized that our flaws and mistakes are everywhere. There’s a terribly long list of problematic things I’ve written in my fanfictions when I was eleven or twelve. It portrays abusive relationships as romantic, anxiety and mental disorders as cute and also the sexualization of gay relationships. It is the worst thing ever. I can’t believe some people liked this mess. Sometimes I read them again when I found them on my computer and I’m like “How could I have ever been so stupid and disrespectful ?”.
Here are 4 things you can do when you are ashamed of your past behaviour :
1. Tell people what you’ve done before they call you out for it. This is one of her most important mistakes. She became a better person, that’s why she should have tweeted that she was sorry before she was exposed. It would have shown to people she was genuinely against her previous beliefs.
2. Delete it all after you’ve announced you were going to make it disappear. There’s no point letting harmful things on the internet so it will hurt other people although you don’t even mean it anymore. But deleting it without acknowledging it, it’s running away. That’s what was done yesterday and it was obviously a bad choice. Damage control is hypocrisy, we had to be honest. The team panicked instead of reassuring people about our values.
3. Make sure people don’t do the same mistakes by educating them, by talking with them, by having debates. And by writing articles, for example. That’s why our chief editor has decided when she grew up. That’s why Affinity Magazine exists. Don’t forget it. These articles are written every week for this purpose.
This is the reason why I won’t resign. This is a great opportunity for me to make my voice louder so I can contribute to the changes of our society.
4. Never do or say such idiotic and hateful things again. Simple as this.
You had the right to call her out because as the editor of a magazine about social issues, she has to be as irreproachable as possible. Does that mean the magazine is cancelled or over ? Not at all. It is more relevant than ever. It exists so there will be no kid as problematic as she once was anymore.
