Constructive vs Destructive- The Cosplay Community at War

Constructive vs Destructive- The Cosplay Community at War

The cosplay community is at war.

It is a daily battle between the positive and the negative.

With so much of the cosplay community online, there is an overwhelming opportunity for people to be just down right nasty, and hide being this social media persona of "being real."

I wish this said "be your best self on facebook"

The thing that people fail to realize is that by acting this way, they aren't being real or honest, they are being destructive; and sadly this happens constantly in this community.

I've heard from people that 

"Cosplay is an art, and that kind of adversity is what makes better artists."
or even 

"If you can't take it then you shouldn't be doing it"

I come from a background of theater. I have been an actress, dancer, and singer most of my life. I have given everything I am to the arts, and never would I agree with this.

Sure pulling from life's adversities can influence art, but that doesn't make it others responsibility to be the driving force behind that adversity, and then sit back and act like they did nothing wrong.

We have to lift each other up

This doesn't mean that we have to like everything we see; or lie and tell people their work is our favorite or amazing when its not.

It means that we have to be constructive.

Criticism does make better artists. Its how we learn of new techniques that we may otherwise not have known.
But the word criticism does not have to be directly associated with negativity.
Our community needs to put into practice the ability to criticize in a way that teaches, rather than a way that bullies. 

It is so much harder to chose to be positive and helpful, than to simply attack someone or something; just as hatred is a much easier emotion than forgiveness.

 The flip side to this is that we also have to stop feeding the negativity with negative attention.

While it gives me hope when I see the community rise against bullying, sometimes it happens in a way that just turns into a ball of negativity itself.

The best tool we have against hate, is positive support.

So next time you see someone posting nasty comments, instead of fighting back and feeding the fire; show the subject support and positive criticism and advise.  Build them up to be better.

Don't let the focus become on the one bad egg, but rather on the work that was there in the first place.

This is our community, and we have to work to make it what we want.