Fandoms F*cking Suck
Planet Earth is host to six million known parasitic organisms living within its realm. Yet, these bloodsucking, nutrient-depriving, mind-controlling, and often deadly organisms pale by comparison to human beings. After all, we exploit our home planet of resources in the name of unbridled capitalism with the hopes that we can migrate to another planet when the ecosystem inevitably fails. Yet, there is a subset of human beings who are probably the worst of the lot. Which subset is that you ask? The hardcore fanatics that exist in every fandom, of course! A screeching horde of apes that will sling shit towards anyone who dares not to share their mindset.
I’m not the first person to ever say this, but fandoms suck. Whenever a group forms around a specific book, show, videogame, website, or president, expect it to attract the trashiest kind of human beings you can imagine. Fandoms are full of assholes, jerks, elitist snobs, holier-than-thou types, and at the very worst, death threatening immature children who can’t handle the idea of criticism. Their entitlement goes beyond the sphere of normalcy bordering on absolute obsession, creating nothing but problems.
The worst part is that no fandom is exempt from these people. There is no escaping them. If you ever go into a website to have a polite discussion on the ramifications of why Sonic the Hedgehog having blue-colored arms isn’t a problem in the grand scheme of his universe. Expect there to be at least a portion of the group trying to burn you on a stake for spreading heresy. At best, you’ll leave the page with your enjoyment of the series intact; at worst, though?
You’ll never want to hear about it again. Or you get doxxed by someone with too much time on their hands. Either way, your experience of interaction with other members of the fanbase will sour. You might never want to interact with them again. Or you’ll avoid being associated with the group by not outwardly sharing your enthusiasm. Neither of which helps the fanbase grow. After all, if you’re the average sensible fan and aren’t willing to talk about it, how will new people discover it? An elitist snob will not shut up about it, but that might put off people instead of interest them in the subject. Alternatively, the holier-than-thou members will instead try to humiliate newbies for not knowing nearly as much as them about a series. The latter and former are somewhat interchangeable; in some communities, the elitist snobs will be the ones yelling at others to “git gud” instead. Regardless, these behaviors don’t encourage growth and cause fandoms to stagnate and die. It actively drains the enthusiasm out of any potential fans of the series.
Toxic fandoms don’t seem to realize the damage they do to everything. They’re a malignant tumor spreading slowly, corrupting the cells around it and killing the host. Yet, this cancer doesn’t stop in one body; it extends to anything within its reach. Taking victim after victim until there is nothing left and causing nothing but pain to the people it affects. Because I wish I could say that it wasn’t anything other than harmless fun, but it isn’t. Toxic fandoms can be deadly serious.
Take, for example, the case of Hana Kimura, a 22-year-old Japanese reality TV show star. Kimura killed herself last year after fans of the show started bombarding her on Twitter, calling her names, and deriding her heritage. Twitter is extremely popular in Japan, more so than in the United States, making it an easy place to target someone in a vulnerable spot in life. We don’t even have to go that far from our shores to find this kind of behavior. Toxic Star Wars fans caused Kelly Marie Tran to close down her Instagram account after needlessly harassing her with racist insults for merely starring in The Last Jedi. Not even the production staff is safe, as even screenwriters and producers received threats for not pairing specific characters together. Which I’m sad to say is not an exaggeration.
People will issue death threats over fictional characters not being paired together. A concept that is so unbelievable that it borders on ludicrousness. I mean, they are not living people, you can picture them with whoever you want, and it wouldn’t change a thing. So what’s the big deal? Well, it has to do with identity and filling a void. Both of which were made worse by the advent of the internet.
The age of information has done wonders for civilizations as a whole. We exist simultaneously closer and farther than we’ve ever been in any generation of the past. Long gone are the days of pen pals and waiting for months to receive a letter from a friend that moved to another State or lives in another country. Even the idea that a convention was the only way to meet with a large group of people sharing similar interests is a relic of the past. Nowadays, all you need to do is turn your smartphone/computer on and go online to find a group of like-minded individuals to share in your specific niche. The constant stream of information and accessibility make it more likely that people will binge continuously on anything they want. On paper, this sounds fantastic. Staying home feels comfortable. But, it’s when you mix in anti-social or Machiavellian traits that things become distorted.
Anti-social traits:
- Irritability
- Aggressiveness
- Disregard for social norms ( such as not understanding that threatening others is not a good thing)
- Impulsivity
- Reckless disregard for safety
The list above is incomplete, and it’s just a few of the characteristics they can share.
People who generally display these behaviors won’t suddenly change their ways because they found others to share in their interests. Instead, they might turn it an us versus them mentality. Commonly, it starts by excluding anyone who doesn’t share in their hobbies (sometimes including people who want to learn about it). But, after some time has passed, even the fandoms begin to fragment.
In-fighting begins about which characters are the top tier, which ones make the cutest couples, and what shade of beige goes best with this salad dressing. Anything and everything is worth arguing about, and if the creators disagree, well then, screw them too. The author’s words lose all significance, and now it’s the fandom’s show, book, videogame, team, etcetera. Fans take over for the creator because once a work is published, fandoms are free to morph it into whatever they want.
Meanwhile, throughout this process, fans are internalizing the fictional universe. This group of fanatics is their people, and these characters are their world. They’re friends, acquaintances, family, reflections of their desires, and an escape from the drudgery of life. It’s a world that caters to their whims. It has everything they want, and thus it appeals to them on a deep emotional level. Fans feel a burst of dopamine when they’re feeling depressed, along with a sense of familiarity where there is often none while partaking in these interactions. However, it can come at a high price.
The constant barrage of feel-good hormones from something enjoyable is intoxicating; it’s how addictions are born. Gambling, drugs, and other addictive behaviors all trigger a similar response. It doesn’t matter who you are if you enjoy something to an unhealthy degree, it’s going to cause damage. You might start ignoring your nutritional health to buy fandom paraphernalia or isolating yourself from family members and the people around you. Inevitably, you’ll end up digging yourself into the rabbit hole deeper and further until there is almost no way out. And, what’s the worst part? Anyone is susceptible to that last part, even people who don’t watch television series or read books.
You read that correctly; it doesn’t need to be an alternate universe to have a toxic fandom. For example, white supremacists can arguably be called fans of the color of their skin tone. It’s not only one of the worst fandoms in existence; it’s downright atrocious. Of all the things someone could enjoy about the world, it happens to be low melanin production in the skin. It’s a fanbase so toxic it’s willing to kill and shun people with a different coloration, or worse, listen to Tucker Carson. You would think that’s ridiculous nobody would willingly listen to that guy, but, as we have seen in the news recently, it’s more common than we’d like to believe. Three-million people tune in daily to listen to some guy pretend America wouldn’t be a better country without its oppressive institutions. But, hey, I’m not the guy asking the difficult questions here; I’m just looking at him with a healthy degree of skepticism.
What about conspiracy theories? That’s a low-tier garbage fanbase too. QAnon was able to gather a substantial fanbase by employing people of low IQ into his folds. Not only did they help organize an insurrection, but they also did it in the name of a president who doesn’t even care they’re in jail for him. I’d also like to point towards former President Trump’s fanbase, right-wing conspiracy nuts and these guys practically go hand in hand.
At this point, it’s hard to justify the existence of fandoms as every fanbase loves to argue they’re civil and have healthy open discussions. But it’s rarer to see a healthy fanbase than the opposite. The majority of the time, the obnoxious members tend to be the loudest in the group. However, If you want to see a picture of a healthy fandom, take a look at Korone Inugami’s fandom. It’s a self-policing ecosystem and a civil one too. Most of the fans are content to tease the character regarding her skill level, but she takes it in stride. However, it’s important to note that her anonymity helps to shield her from toxic people.
However, that’s not the norm, and shippers (people who argue about fictional couples) are the worst of the lot. Seriously, fuck those people. Fandoms are the worst part of a series because instead of treating it as fertile soil to grow, they treat it as a minefield full of pitfalls with tiger traps. Toxic fans are parasites, draining the enjoyment of a fictional world for the sake of their fragile egos.