ok

i know it's all the rage to insist "you can watch this but remember to be critical of it!" and i agree

to a point

the thing is... brains absorb everything. you can consciously work into unlearning harmful things, but brains will, unconsciously absorb SO MUCH without you even realizing it

and the only way to protect yourself from that is *not to look at it*

that's why we talk so much about and warn against consuming pieces of media like h*mestuck

there's a point where the bad overwhelms the good, and no matter how aware you want to be about it, how much you think you're protecting yourself from it, you will internalize at least part of it

it's like saying... hey. this pasta has a little bit of arsenic in it. but don't worry, i had a charcoal pill just earlier.

when you could literally just. not eat the poisoned pasta.