i think a lot of ppl, myself included, saw the allegations from amanda and thought this would have a massive impact on dream’s career. maybe not end it outright, there is definitely an argument to be made that he is too big to fail atp, but there was certainly for a couple days a sense of like He’s done. can’t show his face in public. his friends will turn against him. and obviously for better or for worse that has not happened, bc this situation is way too ambiguous to get that viral hit tweet dramalert attention that is necessary to even remotely deplatform someone.
in the case of dtblr: obviously this community always existed bc we wanted it to. everyone was here bc they were having fun and got a lot of enjoyment out of it. and yet a lot of ppl, again myself included, recognized that on a certain level there were some aspects of the fandom that were harmful/overparasocial/whatever. Why Am I So Emotionally Invested in the Trials and Tribulations of the Lives of Minecraft Youtubers, and other questions to ask yourself before you fall asleep at night.
the allegations, taken at their very worst, are a massive exploitation of that exact fan dynamic that many ppl have already been weary about for some time. it’s a very natural conclusion to take the whole situation as a flashing neon sign to leave the fandom entirely. but ofc it takes a lot to completely cut yourself off from such a strong and long-lasting interest all at once.
what made this much easier initially was that there did not seem to be any other option. if nearly everyone is leaving, if dtblr is going to cease to exist, then that’s just something you have to accept. time marches forward and there is no going back.
and yet nearly everyone is not everyone, and not everyone is leaving. the fandom is big enough that there are still many people that, for their own reasons which may or may not seem valid, are choosing to stay involved in the dt fandom spaces. and as the days go on and more people start to reach their final conclusions, the concept of “there is no going back” fades. just like what i was talking about in the first paragraph, our initial ideas of what consequences will lie in the future end up being wrong. and all of a sudden there is an option to go back.
what i’m trying to say here really is that i think we should all try our best to not let the existence and/or lack thereof of dtblr as a community affect the conclusions we reach about the morality of dream’s actions and behavior. were you more upset about what dream did, or about the collapse of the community? and on the other end, did you really react “too harshly” to the allegations at first, or is the idea that you could get that old community back making you more susceptible to downplay their severity? these are the kinds of questions i have been asking myself the past couple of days and i encourage u all to do the same❣️
to this day i think one of the coolest examples of the DreamSMP's streaming medium being used to its full potential is the entire chat spamming "WAKE UP" in a flood during georges stream