How Misinformation Spreads - BriHard

I've been trying to keep out of this newest round of Soleil drama, but I would like to remind everyone about this imgur album, which garnered over 50,000 views. It is an attempt at refuting the Soleil controversy fully.

It reads like a tame argument, but when the album was originally uploaded (and garnered the bulk of its views), it featured inaccuracies and unnecessary comments. These included personal attacks questioning the competence and intentions of Andrea Ritsu, the tumblr user who sparked this controversy, which may have contributed to the death threats she reported receiving.

After some critical feedback from myself and other users, the comments of this album were updated and improved. There are still some inaccuracies (as listed by /u/TrainerRei) but being receptive to feedback a good thing. So how many people saw these updates? How many people took the initial draft of this album as "gospel truth" and blamed this controversy on "SJWs" and hysterics looking for drama?

I say this because both sides of this controversy have been victim to the spread of misinformation, while most comments here suggest the misinformation goes one-way. Andrea Ritsu got some key points wrong in her initial write-up, which was unfortunate, but there was merit to her complaints. The Soleil/Corrin support line is tasteless in many ways:

  • A drink is spiked and a girl is drugged without consent.
  • "I get weak-kneed at the sight of cute girls" comes awfully close to treating a minority sexual preference as a weakness.
  • Soleil is herself an example of a damaging Japanese trope that treats lesbian/bisexual attraction as a "phase" girls grow out of, which reeks of erasure. Her support with Corrin provides a striking example.

I don't know why I'm writing this. No one's mind is going to change. Nintendo is opting to alter this support line; whether it's because the localization team sympathizes with critics or just wants to avoid controversy is irrelevant, since the changes are being made and the critics are getting what they want.

I guess I just want people to remember that [i] there was misinformation promulgated by both sides, and [ii] many criticisms of this support are reasonable.

/r/fireemblem Thread Link - youtube.com