NOTE: I received this anon Friday night, but it wound up in my draft folder instead of being published. Thanks tumblr mobile.
I think people who make this argument fundamentally misunderstand people.
True, there are a lot of very worthy causes, and as a trans woman, my heart goes out to all of those trans folks who try to fund raise for procedures that ought to be covered by insurance and/or treated like any other necessary procedure (the other big argument I’ve seen in the tag), or are trying to get out of dangerous situations, only to see their indiegogo or gofundme languish untouched.
As often as I’m able, I contribute to those when I can. But, none of those people have the wide reach that dashcon had because this was a situation in which a lot of people from a lot of different fandoms and sections of tumblr were presented with the same urgent short-term problem, the same solution and given a very vested interest in accomplishing the goal. I’m curious how much of the money was raised by non-attendees, since I have really only seen people whose only source of information was posts on this site bitching about the whole situation.
Splitting that amount of fundraising amongst a couple thousand people certainly makes it easier to raise that money. I wish it were that easy for every victim of DV or parental abuse, or caregiver abuse or trans person in desperate need of meds and treatment could get access to that kind of money in that kind of turnaround. Believe me, I do.
But, these were a bunch of people who had already paid to get to the con and get the hotel room and I’m willing to bet the majority of the funds came from attendees so that they could actually have the con they worked so hard to get to. They had every reason to chip in at that moment for that purpose. And that personal investment just can’t be in every indiegogo and gofundme that comes across people’s dashes. It’s just fundamentally impossible.
And, finally, I think it’s pretty fucking disingenuous to pick dashcon as the hill to die on, carrying the banner of underfunded and dangerously situationed person on tumblr. This is the same mentality that asks why feminism is so important in the developed world when the developing world is suffering real problems. We rarely have to only pick one as being the only worthy effort. Have you bought a video game, or a board game or spent your money on anything that isn’t food and lodging? HOW DARE YOU WHEN THERE ARE TRANS PEOPLE ON TUMBLR WHO NEED SURGERIES?!
…
Don’t even get me started on the shitty state of the world when it is so god damn necessary for trans people to have to fundraise for their own medically necessary surgeries, ok? So don’t come into my ask box as if you care about every single one, and lay the blame for them not getting their medical treatment at the feet of less than 2000 people who wanted to support a con they were already at. You pissed? Contact your senator, your congressperson, state and federal, your insurance company, volunteer at a domestic violence or homeless shelter. Don’t use those people’s real struggles as bonus points in your weak-ass argument about why people can’t have fun.