“Lying in a crater on the surface of Neopia sits a colossal mass of rock, stretching tens of miles in every direction. Resting atop that rock is a vast, recovering city that has been home to Neopia’s faeries for as long as anyone can remember… Faerieland!”
This is the description that, among other claims, makes the Faeries’ casual brand of ignorance so insensitive. Neopian Faeries are a great example of why self-involved, privileged, white Neopets have drawn a line between themselves and NOCs (Neopets of colour) within the feminist movement. Faeries are so distant from Neopian reality that, to them, it is good enough to have been inhabitants in Neopia “for as long as anyone can remember,” when in reality they are an essential cog in a system which oppresses the majority of female Neopets and NOCs. Why do Faeries feel so often that they must insert themselves into the narratives of all Neopians in the first place? Just because the Wheel of Excitement is arguably the most profitable wheel in all of Neopia does not mean that I want to explain how the Healing Springs’ “healing powers” are culturally appropriative and that their ancestors probably stole them from Tyrannia many Kreludors ago whenever I visit it. To any Faeries reading this, did you ever consider why Brucey B —whose family clearly ascends from Terror Mountain—spends all his days gambling Neocash away at Cheat in the Lost Desert? Ever heard of a little thing called Diaspora? Maybe you should look it up in a book from Brightvale, or is it too much to ask that you leave your sheltered, privileged bubble? The one where you are the only Neopian species privy to cars that fly, where you are the one percent of Neopians who have magical powers and who have never had to work for a doubloon?
The Faeries create a social hierarchy where white skin and thin bodies are deemed the standard for “beauty,” leaving many Neopets, like Chias, Krawks, and Chombys feeling excluded and marginalized. To make things worse, the Faeries have commodified, branded, and sold this ideal of whiteness, preying on the insecurity of NOCs, in the form of paintbrushes. Why be a gross, plain, and ugly Skeith, equipped with a pile of dung, when you can look white, magical, and bright with a Faerie paintbrush? The cost? 1,700,000 Neopoints. Most Neopets will never be able to afford this constructed ideal of beauty, and will probably die of starvation in the process of trying. Sure the Giant Omelette is fruitful when you are a single Neopet of less than 1,000 hours old, but when a family of level 19 Tuskaninnys, each with their own petpets and skills, relies on you, a free jelly here and there isn’t going to cut it. Notwithstanding, Faeries have lobbied in congress for years to dismantle the Free Jelly program. It’s sickening: white neoliberalism is, for the marginalized lower class, murder.
Moreover, the Faeries are disturbingly silent regarding the gross representation and racialization of the weird Egyptian-themed part of our world. That is definitely super racist, right? Don’t think we have forgotten either about the intense cultural appropriation encapsulated by the 2005 PlayStation 2 Neopets game The Darkest Faerie. The Faeries have a history of silence, dodging their responsibility to speak out against racialization and marginalization across Neopia. Let me ask you this, fellow Neopians: who is it that profits from games like Faerie Cloud Racers? To whom do your spent Neopoints go when you bet them all, thousands of them, on Poogle 4 when Poogle 2, who is chalk full of Mashed Potatoes and healed to full HP by the innocent Water Faerie, sprints away with the title, and all of your points? Your Neofamily’s points? I’ll tell you whom they aren’t going to: the JubJubs, the Moehogs, and the Bruces of the Neo-world.
The important thing to know here is that when you support Faerieland, you are complicit in the systematic oppression of the ordinary neopets. You are funding the status quo, jumping through hoops to fulfill quests for the Evil Faerie. Don’t let your Neopoints, hard earned playing Hasee Bounce, go back to the forceful fist of Faerie capitalist greed. The responsibility is on all of us to stand in solidarity, to build a stronger working class and equal opportunity for women and children, and to pay reparations for a long history of NOC invisibility.
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