Because sometimes insanity should be celebrated

[neadods]

Warning: This post contains uncut CoE spoilers for Day 4 and bad language. It's uncut because it's not actually *about* CoE, but about fandom.

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When Catherine died, a Beauty and the Beast fan who'd been chairing a feed-the-hungry charity in the show's name shut it down because there was no point anymore if there was no Catherine/Vincent romance. (No point except HUNGRY PEOPLE NEEDING FEEDING. But that's just reality, which is so much less important than a TV show.)

This is why I'm so incredibly delighted that Ianto's death has started a Torchwood charity smackdown. There are now three - three! - charity drives started because of Children of Earth:
- Children of Earth Viewers for Children in Need (aka "Thank you, James Moran"): current total: 286.25 pounds
- Save Ianto Jones: current total: 2,674.83 pounds, also for Children in Need
(A smackdown so uneven that even the BBC doesn't bother mentioning that it is a smackdown.)

And now, Ianto Jones Wants a Pony. A serious charity with a silly name, (and already at 260 pounds and rising) this isn't for saying Ianto has to live or die. It's for adopting a pony from the Lluest Horse and Pony trust, a charity that Gareth David-Lloyd has been championing.

I eyeroll about the bags of coffee and the Internet petitions to bring Ianto back (as if RTD, or anyone, ever listens to the Internet fandom that much). [ETA: That said, I find it really amusing that both pro-Ianto charities are whipping CoE for CiN's financial ass. The fandom is speaking with its collective wallet, and loudly.] But what's wonderful is that even though the kids in Children in Need may not even know who Ianto is, and the horse surely doesn't give a damn about TV, all that angst and anger is doing good in the world for real living things.

And that beats the everlivin' fuck out of punishing hungry families because a fictional character snuffed it.

Comments

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

This reminds me of the great Chicago Opera Wars. Some 20 years ago, during the NPR fund-raising period in Chicago, someone called in and said, "I'll donate $50 if you'll stop playing opera in the morning."

Then someone else called in and said, "I'll donate $100 if you'll keep playing opera in the morning!"

And thus were born the Opera-in-the-Morning and No-Opera-in-the-Morning funds. When Chicago NPR fans called in to donate, they could specify if they wanted their donation to count toward one or the other. Whichever one had the highest total at the end of the fund-raising period, that's what Chicago got for the next year.

I have no idea whether this is still going on or not, but I was told about it by someone who was an active contributor to the No-Opera-in-the-Morning fund.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

It's a brilliant way of fundraising. At one point PBS in my home town was asking for specific amounts to keep specific shows on, so they could really leave things in the hands of the viewers. (I remember this because Whofen came out of the woodwork, while nobody called in for the next show.)