Callous Animosity

I know a place where dreams get crushed, hopes are smashed, but that ain't much. Voluntary experimentation, going through softcore mutation.

Silent Hill

Cry of Fear

An Essay on Society's Prejudice Attacks on Horror Fiction

I am both confused and annoyed at today's feeble minded social norms. Back in the 90s and 2000s it was socially acceptable to be into games like Obscure, Silent Hill, Cry of Fear, Postal 1, etc. I never was batted an eye for drawing gore art nor body horror, either. In the 2010s, almost everyone was reading creepypastas archived from /x/. But suddenly society in the 2010s-2020s decides to make that all taboo? To that I say - up yours, assholes. Allow people to express themselves how they see fit. I dislike many forms of art and games, but I never go out of my way to shame people, I just accept some people are different and I may not understand them, but I still respect them for being themselves.

I understand you shouldn't go to extremes of course, in my biased take, I do not condone truly unhealthy habits like watching real gore or drawing gore porn, I am personally glad those trends have died down on the internet. It is too savage, and this is coming from me. However, I am sick and tired of gen Z people both online and IRL getting angry and nagging at others for enjoying above fictional media.

I have received a plethora of unnecessary hate comments for drawing a squirrel with some blood around it and its jaw skinned (all the gore, and even blood, censored fyi, yet still, was enough to encourage hostile feedback). What people fail to understand is that for centuries, society read equally or even darker stories to children and yet society did not collapse.

Furthermore, Edgar Allan Poe and H. P. Lovecraf are considered classics in literature, but why is it suddenly not OK to depict horror in visual art form? We romanticize goths yet complain when people enjoy dark content.

TL;DR - IT IS JUST A VIRTUAL DRAWING/VIDEO GAME. CHILL OUT.

Bonus point: this is neocities. It is not like modern social media. If you dislike something, you just don't visit that website again.

So to answer the question, why do I enjoy such dark content as above, and why do I create horror art and stories? There's a few reasons...

  1. It helps cope with my C-PTSD - believe it or not, a key thing in fixing anxiety disorders is exposure therapy . Years of it. I remember a very reputable therapist said "trigger warnings are ironic - avoiding triggering topics only worsens your anxiety issues overtime". I've read a few studies of men who had PTSD caused by war played FPS games (such as Counter Strike) to cure their triggers of guns and loud sounds.
  2. I feel less isolated because it is media I can connect and relate to. I can be myself and not wear a mask for once. I did not choose to get C-PTSD and thus, develop this way, and further repressing it only makes it worse.
  3. Accurate, comprehensive way to express my emotions in meaningful/esoteric ways.
  4. Helps me analyze and understand my own feelings accurately (especially with Silent Hill), or reflect on other people I see in life .
  5. It just comes out naturally out of me. I have been drawn to horror games and stories since I was 11 or younger. It is by now too hard ingrained into my personality and identity to throw it away.

Fruthermore: I am a christian, believe it or not. If this fictional content is acceptable for me, it should become acceptable again by society.