Actually, Allan, fandom is scary. The number of people I see in online fan forums who seem increasingly unable to distinguish between fiction and reality is really disturbing. I suppose that's part of the nature of being in an online medium where everything is virtual anyhow, and that in conjunction with being surrounded, even immersed, in the company of others who share your obsessions, it's a little too easy to get out of touch with reality. (Some just happen to get back in touch with it more easily than others.)
Thing is . . . I never said fandom was the absolute scariest thing out there. I'm hardly stupid or naive enough to do so. I haven't lost my sense of perspective yet -- when I live in a country whose so-called president seems hell-bent on global domination and has no qualms about feeding the citizens barefaced lies while he rapes the life and well-being out of them, when there are people like Fred Phelps and Laura Schlessinger spewing hate, when the whole world seems to be going to hell in a little tiny handbasket . . . most of the weird fandom goings-on are piddling in comparison. But the incident I mentioned -- and another recent, similar incident involving someone on this board -- crosses the goddamned line, no doubt about it.
On that note, there are a notable few (a little too notable, unfortunately) who really take things too far. And a mindless, irrational, obsessive focus, be it on a hatred like homophobia or on a celebrity or fictional character, is pretty fucking terrifying regardless of its focal point.
When it all comes down to it . . . I don't think there's a great deal of difference in the kind of obsession some "extreme" fans have (the vehemently defensive kind that melds with animosity toward whoever thinks differently) and the kind of obsession held by homophobes, anti-Semites, and other hate groups.
To bring it back to our corner of fandom: It worries me that Buffy/Angel fans refer to Buffy/Spike fans as "the enemy" as a matter of course, and that Spuffy 'shippers return the animosity with full force. (For example: rabid Spike fans who attack anyone who is tired of talking about him.) It worries me that W/T fans feel they absolutely cannot coexist with W/K fans, or that the merest mention of Kennedy or anyone else at all having the tiniest hint of romantic overtones in their interaction with Willow is a threat to their OTP. It worries me that I've started to actually . . . well, not hate, but actively avoid all things W/T because I've had it with the closed-mindedness I encounter from that corner and the urge to vomit threatens every time I run across someone's sappy W/T LiveJournal icon. Hating an online persona because of what they write or what they think to the point of causing them harm in real life really isn't too far off from hating people and causing them harm because of who they are. And the fact that so many people seem to allow themselves to slip to that point without even giving it a thought is, quite frankly, terrifying.
*curls up in the corner of Plan C with a fuzzy blanket, a cuddly Shadow, and a beer* I like it here. I think I'll stay.
Shanie
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"In fact, this may have escaped your keen notice, but . . . I'm kind of a brat. I've sort of always gotten my way. So you're gonna make it through this no matter how dark it gets, because now? You're my way."
-- Kennedy, "Chosen"
Bringing You Back to Life: W/K Message Board Goodness
Thing is . . . I never said fandom was the absolute scariest thing out there. I'm hardly stupid or naive enough to do so. I haven't lost my sense of perspective yet -- when I live in a country whose so-called president seems hell-bent on global domination and has no qualms about feeding the citizens barefaced lies while he rapes the life and well-being out of them, when there are people like Fred Phelps and Laura Schlessinger spewing hate, when the whole world seems to be going to hell in a little tiny handbasket . . . most of the weird fandom goings-on are piddling in comparison. But the incident I mentioned -- and another recent, similar incident involving someone on this board -- crosses the goddamned line, no doubt about it.
On that note, there are a notable few (a little too notable, unfortunately) who really take things too far. And a mindless, irrational, obsessive focus, be it on a hatred like homophobia or on a celebrity or fictional character, is pretty fucking terrifying regardless of its focal point.
When it all comes down to it . . . I don't think there's a great deal of difference in the kind of obsession some "extreme" fans have (the vehemently defensive kind that melds with animosity toward whoever thinks differently) and the kind of obsession held by homophobes, anti-Semites, and other hate groups.
To bring it back to our corner of fandom: It worries me that Buffy/Angel fans refer to Buffy/Spike fans as "the enemy" as a matter of course, and that Spuffy 'shippers return the animosity with full force. (For example: rabid Spike fans who attack anyone who is tired of talking about him.) It worries me that W/T fans feel they absolutely cannot coexist with W/K fans, or that the merest mention of Kennedy or anyone else at all having the tiniest hint of romantic overtones in their interaction with Willow is a threat to their OTP. It worries me that I've started to actually . . . well, not hate, but actively avoid all things W/T because I've had it with the closed-mindedness I encounter from that corner and the urge to vomit threatens every time I run across someone's sappy W/T LiveJournal icon. Hating an online persona because of what they write or what they think to the point of causing them harm in real life really isn't too far off from hating people and causing them harm because of who they are. And the fact that so many people seem to allow themselves to slip to that point without even giving it a thought is, quite frankly, terrifying.
*curls up in the corner of Plan C with a fuzzy blanket, a cuddly Shadow, and a beer* I like it here. I think I'll stay.
Shanie
----------------------------
"In fact, this may have escaped your keen notice, but . . . I'm kind of a brat. I've sort of always gotten my way. So you're gonna make it through this no matter how dark it gets, because now? You're my way."
-- Kennedy, "Chosen"
Bringing You Back to Life: W/K Message Board Goodness
