Sarahbat04 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 23, 2020 8:34 am
PlanetJanet wrote: ↑Mon Nov 23, 2020 7:24 am
chattybox wrote: ↑Sun Nov 22, 2020 8:29 pm
jysk wrote: ↑Sun Nov 22, 2020 2:23 pm
She's lucky she doesn't have a bigger platform because she would be (rightfully) ripped to shreds over this if she did.
It's interesting that she hasn't been widely called out over this ridiculous behavior. Especially with the hypocrisy of preaching that other people should take the pandemic more seriously. I do wonder why Sasha is (seemingly) impervious to criticism. Ariel Bissett was widely panned for her critique on libraries. Is it because this issue doesn't pertain to booktube? Is it because she's been absent from youtube for months?
I think it has to be the decline of her YouTube channel. I mean, the only person on booktube I see interacting with her posts on IG is Tasha. I’m assuming a lot of people who would have followed her on YT might not follow her on IG so they might not be aware of what’s going on in her life. A lot of people might not really keep up with the captions of IG posts or watch her stories, so they just might not know. Besides this page and the occasional quickly deleted comment on her IG, I really don’t see anyone criticising her or bringing up any of her antics.
I think that’s also because she very clearly deletes negative comments and most of the time, blocks the people. Even if it’s just constructive criticism or a question. People who know they’re doing wrong tend to make it so that everyone sees only positive reactions so that other people think it’s okay
I think it's a combination of everything mentioned above, and, to varying levels, the following:
(1) She's managed to maintain a lot of the perks of booktube (free books, sponsorships, dozens of defenders, friendship with a lot of the big booktubers and the protection that entails, the fact that booktubers never seem to face scrutiny for their bad behaviour unless it is tangentially related to books, etc) despite no longer being a member of the community by any means -- she barely reads, let alone posts book-related content. I think if she does end up facing blowback over traveling during the pandemic, it will be because someone calls her out for selling ARCs, and then it will snowball from there.
(2) Naivety about how the immigration system works. I am sure a lot of her followers who have never immigrated are under the impression that you need to be in the country you're immigrating to to complete certain parts of your application, which isn't true. When she was posting about getting her biometrics done at a VAC in the States, I was surprised, because doing so made it clear she had no reason to be in the UK. I was like "does she think her followers are stupid?" Upon further reflection, I don't think they are stupid, but I do think many of them have no understanding what it's like to immigrate. This thread makes it pretty clear that a lot of the people who are so heated about this (including me) have immigrated or lived abroad for an extended period of time, and can recognize that Sasha is framing her trips as necessary and immigration-related when they aren't. It's also obvious that her rich boyfriend has expedited the process for her. If you or a loved one has ever had your entire life put on hold what you wait for a decision to be made about your visa or residency, it's going to make your blood boil to see someone get a visa handed to them in the middle of a pandemic, all while they've broken the quarantine rules of the country they are moving to not once but twice (and, soon, three times).
(3) I think a lot of booktube are Anglophiles, and romanticize the UK as much as Sasha does, and I'm sure this is part of the reason she isn't facing as much pushback as she should. I've seen people in her comments saying they're living vicariously through her. If she was moving somewhere else, I don't doubt that she would be facing more criticism.