“You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”
Harvey Dent-The Dark Knight Rises
This will be my 1st post in a long time and I want to summarize my feelings as best that I can concerning the major scandal that just happened in the Northern California Cosplay Community this past week. It affected a lot of people that was to be expected, but at the same time, there was the whole neutrality or the labeling that this was just another cosplay drama in the community. To that I will say and pardon my french:
BULLSHIT
Why you may ask? Because it goes more than that. It involved a well known cosplay photographer, actually, scratch that, he is no cosplay photographer. He was a predator that used tactics that were despicable, immoral, inhumane, baiting and luring young cosplayers to satisfy his selfish, perverted deeds at the cost of innocent persons. The evidence is there, online, on facebook, the original post went viral. it showed the dark side of this human being with his requests of "showing the nude bodies in order for me to make you famous, to see if the angle works, that this is how you build confidence, that I will delete the photos"(these were his exact words). And as soon as the messages were screenshot by Jane Doe, got posted on facebook, the online cosplay community saw, reacted, it went viral, and went all around the globe.
Soon, more victims came forward, they spoke their minds, and at the same time, those who were friends with said perpetrator could not believe what they just saw or hear what he has done. Some were quick to defend him, some stayed neutral and some waited to hear his side of the story. Good luck on the last one. Some took up like a mob mentality, but as more voices were heard, the mob mentality grew and called for immediate action. That is all fine and dandy, but some of them became very literal and in this day and age, the use of vigilante justice does not hold. What good does it do? In comics, moves, TV shows, it works, but not in real life, cause whoever caused said vigilante justice would be thrown in jail too.
The neutrality/indifference and victim shaming became apparent as well. Those who said, I don't want to get involved, this person should have reported it sooner, the case of friends surrounding and supporting the victims; in turn they were accused of being the so called white knights, and at the end, they should have known better.
What is wrong with this mentality?
What is wrong with this train of thought?
There are a lot of wrongs, first and foremost that the some of the victims were underage kids, so in the eyes of the law that everyone has to follow, they were Minors being coerced into sexual acts. The photography of the nudes, the requesting of the nude selfies by the perpetrator to the minors was clearly that. The fear of reprisal or victim shaming also came into play if they ever spoke to this community because no one would believe what happened to them by the well known and respected member and “photographer” of the community. Of course, they are kids too, so to them, specially in this day and age of the internet, they also wanted to be famous, so this person took advantage of them and promised that if they did what he requested of him.
I'll be quite frank here. The trains of thoughts that some of the members of the community showed had no empathy, no feelings of support, were despicable as the the perpetrator himself. What they don't realize that if this happened to them, to one of their closest friends and family members, then that would change their tune in an instant, which is quite sadly the case all the time. They don't put themselves in the shoes of the persons that are hurting, they only think of themselves.
What has happened here has been basically the NorCal Cosplay Community's equivalent of the 1st detonation of the Hydrogen Bomb by Russia in 1953. The fallout of this will be massive for years to come. The trust of cosplayers and photographers, despite that a lot of them condemned the despicable behavior of the perpetrator, has been shattered. I hope that the PSA's that have been circulating after this will help at least, ease the healing of the trust between cosplayers and photographers, but at the same time, a lot of photographers now have to surpass, weed out the bad ones by policing ourselves; having communication is the key as well between cosplayers and photographers when planning, scheduling and doing the shoots during conventions and/or private shoots. If any cosplayer feels unsafe during the shoot, or doing the planning stages because of how the photographer treats them, the cosplayer has the right to say NO and the photographer has to understand that as well.
I really admired this person when I started out doing cosplay photography, but never that I thought that this person had a very dark side. All of us have that, some of us choose to hide very well than others. I am just saddened by the fact that this person, despite doing a lot of good for the community, just ruined himself and without thinking, someone else in his life that he holds dear.
That will be the price that this person will have to live for the rest of his day and the stigma of someone that is worthy of the names creep and pervert.
He basically summed up Harvey Dent's quote in the Dark Knight Rises perfectly.
As for the NorCal Cosplay Community, I am ashamed to be part of it. I am ashamed that I have wasted part of my life being surrounded by it, and that a lot of people dislike me because of who I am. They should be ashamed for their narrow thinking, their narrow Judgment, and the high school mentality that it has been brought upon themselves. I have been part of it for many years now but after next year, my time will be over. I don't like the changes that I am seeing, the lack of trust and loyalty, and the mentality of victim shaming and shaming people for no wrongs that they have done and for trusting hearsay instead of communicating and voicing out the concerns with a person or persons. Part of that is what it let it happen in the first place.
To those that were affected by this, I apologize in advance of all photographers, that all of us will make our best efforts to police ourselves in the near future and that one day I hope we will be able to regain the trust that has been broken. I show my sympathy and solidarity with everyone that has been involved and I hope that this person is brought to justice in the eyes of the law.
“When a person turns to wrong, is it a want to be, belong?
Part of things at any cost, at what price a life is lost
At what point do we begin, fighter spirit a will to win
But what makes a man decide, take the wrong or righteous road
There's a thin line between love and hate
Wider divide that you can see between good and bad
There's a grey place between black and white
But everyone does have the right to choose the path that he takes
We all like to put the blame on society these days
But what kind of good or bad a new generation brings
Sometimes take just more than that to survive be good at heart
There is evil in some of us no matter what will never change”
Iron Maiden-The Thin Line Between Love and Hate
Here is the original report done by the Nerd Reactor:
Original Post: Original Post by Jane Doe Jackson
Jorge A Rivera-10/17/2015
