I am a Hetalia fan.

I am not ignorant, intolerant, and I like to believe I do have a relatively high level of intelligence. I am at least smart enough to be able to say that I realise Hetalia was made for comedic purposes. I am an avid USUK supporter, but I don’t ever bash any other pairings. I am aware that USUK isn’t necessarily “canon”. I support them together because they do have a history together, but I’m aware that other characters do also. I simply like them together, and I understand that other fans enjoy seeing different characters paired together. I am absolutely fine with that because I comprehend that everyone has different opinions and tastes.

I do not despise the fandom despite there being a lot of idiocy involved. Every fandom has people involved who aren’t the most compassionate or accepting, but that doesn’t change the fact that there are also fans who are above all that. I’ve had the pleasure to meet many people involved in this fandom who like certain pairings but accept others, and even those who don’t even support pairings but are tolerant and respectful of other people’s opinions.

Yes, I do ship two male characters together. That does not mean that I am a mindless fangirl who thinks that England is “kawaii desu” or I only ship them so I can read PWPs just to fawn over how cute they are. I love their characters, both in the canon-verse when they’re portrayed as silly, and in the fandom when people often take a more serious route. I enjoy reading stories that are educational and actually do give you information about history and cultural facts that I might not have known before because even though there are some fairly uneducated fans, that doesn’t mean all of them are.

I like the female characters too and I also ship some hetero pairings and am not above shoujo-ai either. I focus primarily upon my OTP but that doesn’t mean that I’m restricted solely to reading or knowing about America and England. I know that America is separated into two different continents of North and South and I am aware that England does not represent the entirety of Britain or the United Kingdom.

Quite honestly, I am willing to admit that I did learn more history after discovering Hetalia. I took History at school until I was fourteen, after which we chose certain subjects to take for our GCSEs. When I had taken history, I learnt about Ancient Egypt, Henry VIII, and the Tudors. Whilst Hetalia did not necessarily teach me excessive amounts of history, it did inspire me to find out more for myself.

I don’t sugarcoat history. I don’t think the World Wars were initiated due to squabbles between countries or that it was amusing in the least. I am aware of the gravity of battles and wars. I realise that some people may be sensitive towards such issues. However, once again, Hetalia was made to be amusing, not offensive.

If you don’t like a character, fine. If you don’t like a pairing, fine. That doesn’t automatically give you a right to detest anyone who does. Just because someone might disagree with you doesn’t mean that they are unworthy of being involved in the fandom, and nor does it imply that their intelligence is less than your own. There are fans that utilise bad grammar and seem fairly ignorant and maybe some people who are only in it for the yaoi, but not all of us are.

Stop hating and start accepting. Tolerance doesn’t mean you have to like it, but it means you deal with it.

I refuse to apologise for my own opinions, but I am fine with the prospect of you having your own. I hope that you will feel the same way.