This is something I have to post...

Hippokrene and Willow have posts up now that burn a little. More than a little actually. It hits hard. It scorches my conscience like anything. Because they're right. They're very right And when it comes down to it, I'm guilty too.

This isn't an easy thing to say.

I am an elitist. Or I was an elitist. Or I hope I was an elitist and am not now, without knowing it. I saw the same post Hippokrene and Willow saw. I thought that it was unfair to snap at someone like that, just because they used a different style. But at the same time, I didn't say anything.

I could have. I have a livejournal account. I could have said "Hey, that's not fair. The shortened words and the slang don't make the reply any less readable. It doesn't make the point less valid."

I didn't say a damn thing.

Because some part of me agreed. Some part of me read the comment and the other many insightful things Ami has written and went "That's a great post/comment, but I wish she'd type it in proper English." I might not have said it, but I thought it.

So I didn't say anything. Someone I respect called out another person I respect in, what I felt was a needlessly harsh way, and I didn't say a damn thing.

That was wrong of me. That was very wrong. For one thing who am *I* to judge someone else's writing when it is usually perfectly understandable and the writer is very willing to clarify if something gets lost along the way. Who am I to judge someone else's affectation? (Hell, it's not like my own writing is any less an affectation in it's own way.) My grammar and spelling are certainly not perfect. My way isn't necessarily better.

Who the hell am I to try to silence someone else, even if only through not speaking up in defense?

I'm not sure I'm doing the right thing by posting this. I don't want to embarrass anyone. I thought about sending a private apology over email, instead. I'm not sure this won't seem like I'm jumping on a bandwagon or something...

But I've jumped on worse bandwagons than defending an intelligent and rational sister-feminist's right to post the way she damn well wants. And I was wrong to not say anything before, so if I'm going to be wrong again, I'd rather be wrong this way.

So Ami, I'm sorry. I didn't defend you when I should have. That wasn't fair. I love your blog and I love what you post. I'm probably not ever going to really love your speech style, but that's my flaw, not yours. And it DOES NOT get in the way of the quality of your posts.

Everyone who likes my blog, go read Ami's if you don't already. She's great. Especially her most recent post about the portrayal of teenage heroes. She says everything I would like to about how damned annoying it is that "realism" is made an issue over "heroism" for teenaged characters. And it's a really awesome post.