Dear readers,
As a website, AIPT believes in fairness, inclusivity, and honesty above all else. Our team comes from all walks of life, and with many different points of view, but shares the belief that all fandoms should be an inclusive and welcoming space for all. The trust of our audience is essential to AIPT and we always welcome feedback.
In the last month or so, AIPT has published two pieces that have encountered significant backlash. We think it’s important to address these.
The first piece explored the island of Krakoa through the lens of libertarianism. This piece, despite our original intentions, misrepresented certain ideas that we should have known to examine more closely. It was a mistake to publish it in the form that it was, and we deserve to remain 100% accountable for it. The article has been removed, and AIPT and the article’s writer have since agreed to part ways.
The second piece, discussing the right-wing figure Jordan Peterson and Red Skull, is a bit more complicated. We remain committed to the core message of the piece — a pipeline into alt-right political extremism exists and should be called out as dangerous, and comics are part of the media landscape that contends with this political event. However, we recognize the piece could have been more tightly edited and its intention made more clear. We’ve made changes to the piece accordingly, including removing links to Peterson’s Twitter.
We want to be clear, this article was never meant to platform either Peterson or white supremacy (just the opposite), but upon further review, we understand more work could have been done to avoid any confusion. We hope to use this article specifically to find ways to improve certain fundamentals in our writing and editing.
We will always encourage healthy and robust discourse through everything we publish. We take the removal of content from the site very seriously, and reached these decisions only after extended talks among both editors and our contributors. It’s our hope that this can be a moment of importance for the site as we continue to take greater control in the voice, focus, and overarching message of the various pieces of journalism and criticism published here daily.
As part of larger plans and efforts to address these issues and grow from them, AIPT plans to take immediate steps to reevaluate our editorial process. We hope to bolster our efforts as an editorial body, and through those efforts, publish work that we can be truly proud of.
To those who we’ve let down, we are sorry, and we’re dedicated to continuing to provide you with the great journalism you expect from AIPT.
Thank you,
AIPT Editors
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