Thread:DevonAndersen/@comment-14284535-20130823020615

Hi, Devon.

Thank you very much for introducing yourself. I am doing well at the moment.

My interest in the series is more academic. Because I can't have children, it is one of the few ways I can relate to my friends' and relatives' children. I find the characters were unusually rich in their depth. It also has an unusually strong influence on its viewership that rivals the influence of "Star Trek" and "Doctor Who" on the elders of the tech generation. And often it dealt with real issues of kids that age with amazing deftness.

I am actually fascinated by iCarly's fandom. I have been in many old fandoms (check my bio on fanfiction.net); iCarly fandom is the most like the old SF media fandoms. The passion and thoughtfulness about the series are almost breathtaking. It is also the only non-F/SF fandom that has such good fanfic. Indeed, a large number of stories deal with issues that I wish the series did. (THE biggie: why does Freddie's interest in Carly vanish during the Seddie arc and then suddenly reappear later with no explanation on either end?)

I am also a representative of my friends and relatives as parents. As such, I am concerned about the vitriol on the shipping pages and the incredibly horrible things people say about the characters (and occasionally about the actors and actresses) from what political analysts call "the echo chamber" of the ships' pages. (The "my boy Freddie" ship-baiting and the "Sodom and Gomorrha" retort from last week were particularly egregious.)  These comments have been quoted directly and caused fights between kids in school (from kindergarten through, unbelievably, a mathematics PhD program). (They use them to ship war with the faux moral high ground that political partisan pundits give their supporters.)  The fact that this drove Livin4Skating off the wikia with fan warring that resembles the "Star Trek" and "Doctor Who" fan warring I was unfortunately sucked into in 1987.

I do have one request. On the page for "iSaved Your Life," I definitely agree with the sentiment that, "This episode proves that Freddie's love for Carly comes deeply from his heart and isn't just a fool crush..." However, I don't agree with the reason. I believe it is because he wants to be certain that Carly is not acting on hero worship (and maybe a bit of pity or guilt) and therefore loves him truly for who he is. It is proof that he has graduated from school-boy creepy-crush to genuine love.

Having said that, the phrase and sentence, "..because he put his life on the line to protect her. Self-sacrifice is a proof of true love beyond any question and doubt[,]" is one that offends me greatly. I was an eye-witness to a middle-aged man jumping onto a train track as a train was approaching to save a boy's life; he had no relation to the child. I also went to school with a guy from the Cleveland Public Schools who was shot stopping an attempted gang rape before he went to college. In neither case was that "true love beyond any question and doubt" - they were good people whose value system put the needs of others on par or above themselves. This kind of comment cheapens their heorism and those of others who have risked their lives just because of who they are. I personally would add, "Creddiers believe" to their start or would just delete them outright. But because I expect that would get me banned permanently by the Admins, who would view it as ship warring even though my reasons are that a non-shipper would prefer the analysis be ship-neutral, I am reluctant to do so and would like some support before I even attempt it.

Anyway, thank you very much for your acknowledgement. I hope what little I do will be helpful to everyone.

iEmbargo 