Ruby Nation

Ruby Nation
Ruby Nation: The Webcomic

Thursday, June 23, 2011

TVTropes Gives Me Bigoted Backhanded 'Praise'

Every day I go to TV Tropes, and every day I look to see if there've been edits to the Ruby's World page. Usually there aren't, so I was excited to see that somebody had catalogued some new tropes in relation to my comic. However, some of the the tropes added were offensive, and not for their dismissal of my talents. I quote directly from the YMMV section;

"Better Than It Sounds: Anybody who's trolled around the internet for long enough is no stranger to mentally handicapped people doing stories revolving around their aspie fixations with art that looks like it was done by somebody in grade school. That such a thing could be well-written, even thought-provoking and emotionally moving, is something else altogether."

Putting aside the insult towards my art (which I don't think is fair, because unlike Chandler I don't plagiarize and actively work to improve my draughtsmanship and my visual repertoire), I find the comparison between me and Christian Weston Chandler to be appalling PERIOD. This is the webcomics equivalent of Godwin's Law. And I've been compared to the being of unfathomable patheticness because A.) I am also on the autism spectrum and B.) also do a webcomic. The praise at the end is a backhanded compliment, because it suggests that I shouldn't be able to write anything good because of my apparent mental handicaps.

Given how much of Ruby's World is about the value of the individual experience due to the way the individual uses the hand life deals them (no matter how crappy), and given the explicit anti-ableist references I've made in the comic, it seems the person who added that trope didn't glean anything from my work. Apparently the value to my comic is in spite of my neurology, and is not informed by it.

Jesus, people, if you want to say "Your Webcomic Is Bad and You Should Feel Bad" to me, say it. Don't insult everyone on the spectrum in doing so, and FOR GOD'S SAKES DON'T USE CHRIS-CHAN AS YOUR STEREOTYPE OF AUTISM.

2 comments:

  1. UNBELIEVABLE. JUST...FUCKING UNBELIEVABLE. I REALLY hope TVTropes corrects its error as soon as possible.

    I've noticed that a lot of disability media, that is, media with a disabled person as the main character, is not really covered in detail at TVTropes.org. Just look at the half-assed "With the Light" page and you'll see what I mean.

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  2. I sympathize. I and my work have been likened to Chris-Chan and his twisted brainchild; I assure you, we are worlds apart. I realize my limitations, I went to a real University as opposed to a community college, and I wear clothes appropriate to my age and gender. Plus my writing and art are head and shoulders above Christian Chandler's. Sure, I'm not perfect, and never claimed to be. But compared to this fat fartknocker, hell, I'm damn near royalty.

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