Getting My 8x11 Meta In Under The Wire. I’ve Been Thinking A Lot About Maddie’s “maybe It’s Time

getting my 8x11 meta in under the wire. i’ve been thinking a lot about maddie’s “maybe it’s time to learn the lesson again. how to be alone” line and how it fits into the context of the conversation. bc i know i’ve joked about it like oh buck fucked up maddie’s advice to get friends so bad that she told him to be alone instead but the thing is is that she’s NOT telling him to like . cut all ties and be completely alone. obviously. he still has her and the 118. his friends and family. shes not telling him to not have friends. so then what is she saying? surface level it’s her telling buck to not get back with tommy just to not be alone bc buck literally said "i was using tommy to avoid feeling alone" right before. but the logic here that was set up from the beginning of the episode is buck missed eddie -> buck used tommy to avoid feeling alone -> maddie tells him to be okay with being alone. so the type of being alone that maddie is talking about here isn't general loneliness or the loneliness that comes from not being in a relationship but buck specifically being alone without eddie and missing him. it's just interesting how, in the same conversation that buck refers to his and eddie's friendship as "what me and eddie have" that maddie is ALSO putting their friendship on a different level than normal friends. and buck doesn't correct her. its how you would talk about getting over an ex and not jumping straight into a new relationship just to be in one. it's not how you talk about your friend moving away. except it's how buck talks about eddie bc he's insane and thinks that it's normal. and everybody around him is also doing it bc it's just how their relationship is universally understood.

Sam/Vampirebuckley and Racism

So it has been recently brought to mine and other people's attention that a prominent 9-1-1 content creator was exposed on Twitter for racism. I want to be upfront and say that I have not personally seen these posts or Sam's supposed apology that they posted shortly before deactivating all of their social media accounts. I am not on Twitter (X), nor do I intend to use the platform ever again. If any of you have screenshots of these posts that you could send me, I would be happy to add them to this post so it is easily accessible to those who want to know what was said. Update: I received a message with screenshots of Sam's racist comments and response. I have added them to the bottom of this post with the n-word censored. The individual who sent me the photos also pointed out that Sam has a blue check on their account, meaning that they have paid money to have their content pushed on a platform owned by a known Nazi.

From what I understand, Sam made a tweet back in 2013 in which they used the n-word. This is racist and completely unacceptable. If there are any other racist tweets or posts that Sam has made, I am unaware of them but condemn them all the same.

I do believe very strongly in rehabilitation and that people can and do change, especially over the span of a decade. However, Sam's actions in response to this information coming to light are very telling and that they still have work to do. Words can only get you so far if your actions don't reflect what you say. Posting an apology (which, from what I hear, was poorly done, seemed insincere, and contained excuses for the past behavior, but please correct me if I am mistaken) and then swiftly deactivating their accounts shows an unwillingness to engage and listen to the hurt that they have caused to the Black community. It also makes their apology essentially meaningless if the people that it affects cannot even directly access and respond to what they had to say about their past actions.

I also want to address some comments that I have seen under other content creator's posts regarding this situation that pull attention away from or are expressing undo sympathy for Sam. Some of this is paraphrased, but I will do my best to accurately represent what has been said.

"It was so long ago, a person can change a lot in that time". Sam's comments happening a "long time ago" mean nothing when what was said has caused and continues to cause so much pain and suffering to an entire group of people based on their immutable characteristics. Yes, people can change, but that doesn't change the damage their actions cause. They should still be held accountable for their actions and be willing to listen if they genuinely care about these issues.

"Sam is already going through so much right now, I don't blame them for deactivating". No, we are not going to do this. You can feel bad that they are going through something shitty in their personal life, but that has nothing to do with the situation at hand. We are all going through our own personal struggles, whether we share them online or not. That does not excuse the way Sam reponded and ran away from the situation. If they needed a moment to be offline until they were in a better headspace to engage, they could have done that without deactivating their accounts.

"The timing of this being released seems suspicious [because its following them talking about their recent struggles with a breakup]/The person who exposed them was trying to kick them while they were down". There is literally nothing to suggest this is the case, and I find it very, very hard to believe that someone would hold onto this information about Sam and only reveal it once they were at a personal low point. I find it far more likely that this is a coincidence and nothing more. Either way, this should not pull attention away from the main point of concern here: Sam's racist actions.

I strongly encourage content creators in this community, especially those with sizeable audiences, to speak up and address this situation. I know a lot of us join and engage in fandom to have fun and to escape the horrors of the outside world, but the reality is that we live in a deeply racist, white supremacist society and fandom (and society at large) will never be free of that unless we start to actually acknowledge it.

I also want to encourage folks to be respectful and refrain from engaging in harassment, death threats, etc. towards this content creator and anyone speaking up about the situation. We can hold someone accountable and not fall into harmful behaviors ourselves. From what I understand, Sam is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns exclusively. Please be respectful of this. Misgendering and other forms of transphobia are not excusable just because the person it is directed at has engaged in other forms of bigotry.

The most important point that I want to make is this: If you are not Black, you do not get to accept an apology from Sam.

If there is anything that I have stated here that is inaccurate or false in any way, please let me know so I can correct it. Thank you.