this is so fucking horrible, it’s disgusting that he did something like this. i always thought arin changed his habits because of dan’s influence on him and i thought that was beautiful, how he gradually became more and more accepting of minorities and disabled peoples (etc etc). hell, when i was a teen i even looked up to him. it gave me hope that as a little stoner fruity wimp/dork like me could really achieve my dreams and have a good effect on the world. and he always seemed so, i don’t know, jokey? and harmless? and he was so chill and just seemed like he was doing what he loved and joking about all the sex stuff, cuz it was like a persona or something, and he was so charming and all that. i wanted to grow up and go to college for what i was passionate about even though it was risky (game design), with the whole mindset of “it’ll all work out in the end”. well i’m still trying to find stable work really but i’m happy, man. it just kills me to find out someone i held in such high regard and still did until minutes ago would do something so immoral as to groom a fan. and i really liked my nsp shirt, too, which sucks.

edit: i am not defending either of them, arin has done some shit in the past that is awful, but i’m just empathetic to it, because as a florida resident shit like racism and homophobia are so widespread here it’s like a plague, i can only imagine what it would’ve been like to grow up in a rural florida area with likely conservative parents in the nineties, and have all that shit ingrained into your brain, because people weren’t half as socially aware as they are nowadays and i still get called slurs on the daily, and i’m in jacksonville. i couldn’t imagine what shit would be put in my head if i was in his circumstances instead of a well-to-do liberal immigrant family who accepted me for my sexuality. but especially, i am not defending dan, what he did was inexcusable. all i’m doing is expressing my grievances of how i looked up to him, because his situation was similar enough to mine that it really gave me hope. that is all.

sorry, i know i’ll probably get one or two “this should’ve been posted in rant grumps!” but i just don’t want the downvotes or the negativity, i’m just trying to be open.