Thank you Tumbler ladies

[drumher]

I just wanted to applaud you gals that have tumblrs and have been defending our Mr Bates/Brendan against the onslaught of hate. You demostrate how much class you have by taking the high road in your replies to these vicious attacks. Well done you.

Keep up the good work, ladies.

[teamhousemaid]

I don't actually care what any of them think. They are all so shallow, but sometimes.. I just get bored, and then I poke people. lol but thanks anyways!

[floridaredsnapper]

I normally don't engage unless they insult Brendan personally. That, friends & neighbors, is not on.

FISH MAD. FISH STOMP.

[hww]

I never want to engage but then I snap and start trying to express everything I've ever wanted to say to defend him (more Bates than Brendan for me because others have him covered ) but I probably look crazy. I get so frustrated and it doesn't matter how stupid the people are I don't want their ugly words out there unchallenged.

I do love tumblr and the visual fun it allows but where it is so nice that all things on a topic can be shared, you also get so many people who think their opinion on all topics needs to be shared as soon as they think it.

I think on tumblr, within your own blog, say whatever you want. You may lose a follower or have an exchange. Don't tag it where anyone INTERESTED in the tag will see it as well. Most of the time those are kids, mean people and "special" people who feel their views are superior to all and we should be thankful they let us in their head.

crazy out.

[teamhousemaid]

yeah.. I could never grief people who just vent on their blogs.. but when they tag it. Looking for trouble.

I'm trying to decide if I want to respond to this little treat. Shes just SO wrong

Alright, Anon. I am going to present my thesis to you in a formal position paper format with opening, counterargument, refutation, and further justification of my reasoning.

In response to your inquiry, I hate Bates because albeit Fellowes’ every attempt to paint him as a righteous, wronged man, he still emanates an aura of smug moral ambiguity.

(under the cut bc it’s REALLY FUCKING LONG)

Counterargument & Refutation 1: “Bates was wounded in the war and has gone through a lot of hardship in becoming a valet and maintaining that position. O’Brien and Thomas are the bad guys.” Ok, let’s be honest. Bates got the valet job in S1 solely because he was Robert’s batman during the Boer War. In doing so, Bates (a man who was not trained in due course to become a valet) took the promotion of Thomas, a man who had far more experience in service and who had far more emotional baggage in hiding the fact that he was gay in Edwardian England. Thomas is fully justified in his Bates hate. O’Brien is Thomas’ best friend, as well as a lady’s maid. She had to work her way up to become a lady’s maid (the female equivalent of valet) by taking night courses and going through training. Naturally, she would feel indignant that Bates, inexperienced and incompetent, should be immediately employed as valet. Moreover, because Bates can’t carry luggage and perform other extra duties, the rest of the staff feel a strain, including Carson, William, etc. Most of these people didn’t wish Bates ill simply because he was Bates; they didn’t understand why Lord Grantham made such a bad judgement call in hiring him to be a VALET.

C & R 2: ”But OMG Bates and Anna are such a cute couple.” Haha. It’s great if you ship it; I won’t judge you for that. However, Bates’ relationship with Anna fully showcases his disrespect for her as a woman. One example was when Bates asked Robert if he and Anna could marry before asking Anna himself, assuming that OH YES OF COURSE she would agree to it, and that it was his role as the “husband and provider” to sort things out. And then, that time when Bates and Anna were in the pub, and he actually said that he didn’t care about a law that made divorce harder for a woman than for a man to pursue because all he cared about was getting rid of his wife, etc etc. But, what really gets me is how CAGEY he is with Anna. He KNEW that Anna loved him even before she said anything, but, even after Anna professed her love, Bates always equivocated, and never told her the whole story. The fact that he was so cagey made Carson/staff’s suspicions completely justifiable.

C & R 3: “But Bates’ wife was a bitch!” Hold on for a second. Yes, Vera Bates was not the best of people. She blackmails Bates and (apparently) later tries to poison him. As an audience, we’re made to think that Bates was so completely honorable in everything he did, especially in his “forbearance” with his wife. Do we know the whole story? No we don’t, because BATES IS CAGEY AS FUCK. Moreover, we’re given the belief that “wow, Bates is such a nice guy for not beating his wife over the head”. And that makes him a nice guy?? Also, if Bates was so honorable, why did he attempt to bribe Vera, thinking that naturally she would succumb because she was a greedy bitch?

Further argument: Bates’ character is not well written. At all. How are we supposed to believe that he was always honorable/noble/etc/etc? How are we supposed to believe he really loved Anna so so so much when he didn’t respect her enough to tell her the whole story, and left that poor angelic person to being Sherlock fucking Holmes? “Oh, because his story was complicated and he didn’t want her to suffer more because of him.” Does that sound like a cheesy break-up line, or does that sound like a cheesy break-up line? As a white male, he is portrayed as morally superior to almost everyone, including Thomas (a morally ambiguous but far more believable character), Anna (she didn’t care about propriety as much as Bates apparently did), Mary (Bates was SO honorable in keeping Mary’s secret despite his own suffering because of it), Robert (again, Bates was SO honorable in keeping his secret with the Jane affair), and of course, Vera (a woman who wasn’t good/kind, but whose story was never fully heard by anyone).

I like Julian Fellowes’ writing a lot, but I disagree fundamentally with the way he’s dragged out the Bates plot. If I wrote Downton, Bates would have been guilty. Here’s why. First, he was always always ambiguous and cagey, so, it would be completely plausible that he hid a murderous nature beneath his mien of nobleness. Second, he was a violent man. Remember that time he pinned Thomas to the wall? And that time he came back from London and he had bruises because he had gotten into a physical fight with Vera? Oh, and that time he was in prison and almost killed his cellmate with his bare hands? Yeah. VIOLENT!!$$!! In my opinion, Bates being guilty and hanged would have been a much more effective plot point. There would have been a true moment of reckoning for everyone everyone - a true realization that people are not always what they seem, etc etc. It would have turned the tables on traditional values of masculinity/noble!man/blahblahblah. Anna rebuilding her romantic life would have been heart-wrenching but also uplifting to watch. Instead, we have this Batesplot that is LITERALLY him walking around in circles and getting released after a relatively shitty/horrible/uninspiring/unexciting/we-know-the-ending-already time in prison.

Therefore, I hate Bates. A FUCKING LOT.

[floridaredsnapper]

Who. Cares?

I could write a dissertation twice as long about how much I hate Mary Crawley and how I find her worthless, spoiled, snotty and cruel. Why, though? Who gives a shit?

Hate all you want, I could not care less, just don't go out of your way to crap on it for those of us who love him.

In short.

Piss off.

[teamhousemaid]

I'm really wishing I wouldn't have stumbled upon that.. shes got me all angries.

Ohhhh I have just realized. This is HANNAH? You guys all mentioned her last week with hangbates photo. shes a peach.

[foreverodd]

Oct 22, 2012 19:14:02 GMT -5 floridaredsnapper said:

In short.

Piss off.

I approve this message.

[hww]

Let her hate. HE'S IN HER HEAD!

[drumher]

Geez. after reading her 'argument', I certainly hope she's not a member of the school debate club. It's such a waste of energy to be hating on other characters rather than celebrating the one you love. But if you must, keep it to yourself and the few unfortunates who follow you. I hope Bates and Thomas become friends. That'll really fuck her up.

[ELV]

But he's coming home and he and Anna embrace and kiss and stuff like that and lovely lovely things happen in the Christmas episode.

So there. Ner ner ner ner ner.

(Notice how none of us attack her obvious favourite Character, Thomas in response? Bates fans are therefore morally superior).

[FGNP]

Oct 22, 2012 19:41:00 GMT -5 teamhousemaid said:

I'm really wishing I wouldn't have stumbled upon that.. shes got me all angries.

Ohhhh I have just realized. This is HANNAH? You guys all mentioned her last week with hangbates photo. shes a peach.

Ah yes. That's the one. She's a peach indeed. She actually TRIES to get into fandom fights. How sad is her life?!

I got pissed off the first time she posted hate and replied, then I read that long ass load of bollocks she posted about why she hates Bates and thought about replying but changed my mind. Javing to sit through the next 2 eps will hurt her enough for all of us! ;D