Fandom and the Mob: a Rant

[kennahijja]

As much as I'm often proud of fandom – its collective creativity, courage and subversiveness – there are a few things about it I dislike. There's extreme shipping, which fills me with scared amusement and confusion; there's writers deleting their stories for other but serious RL reasons, which pains me almost as much as the random destruction of historical artefacts. Those are minor wibbles. There is, however, one thing that above all else that just plain disgusts me – and that is the rabid mob mentality fandom can exhibit from time to time.

I'm talking of the attack dog mentality that stampedes braying after a leading opinion, hurling insults and mindless approval without pausing to spare an individual thought or a shred of consideration that the 'other side' might have feelings, or reasons, or might on some level be acting in good faith. Perhaps there's something liberating about feeling in the right and being edged on by a crowd of others feeling the same way; maybe that provides the sort of anonymity that allows one to behave like an utter arse which one wouldn't get away with in any other situation. I don't know. I only know that it's perfectly disgusting to watch.

I'm by no means saying that there can't be disagreement, or strong disagreement, or even sharp arguments worth falling out over. But if there are no arguments, not the flimsiest attempt of questioning one's own point of view rationally before starting to scream, and not the tiniest bit of respect for other people and opinions – nothing but a virtual mob, yelling – then it's truly fandom at its very lowest.

I'm only talking about mob mentality here, not about right or wrong. This rant has been brought on, of course, by recent events, but I've been in fandom for a few years now and have seen it happen again and again. Sometimes over an opinion I agreed with, sometimes over one I disagreed with. Truth be told, it sickens me even more if I happen to agree with the side the mob is on, because it makes me want to be able to change my mind, or yell the old "get off of my side, you're making me look bad (and feel sick!)." But then I've always believed that it's preferable to lose well than win badly.

It just makes no difference whether you (or I) think the cause is a bad one or the most worthy of all or anything in between: if in order to make your point, you have to incite, or pander to, or rely on the mob (or, if you happen to stir it up by accident and fail to try and slap it down again), you've already damaged even the very best of causes beyond salvaging. Yeah, it means you can be right and still be made of fail.

Most of the time, fandom is a great place to be, but at times like this, it sickens me. I honestly wish we could be better people, a better community than that, but sometimes, it seems we can't. And that's a bloody shame!

Won't make a habit of ranting for sure, but this has been festering inside me for a very long time.

ETA: Apologies if I'm owing any of you replies still, but I won't be getting around to it. It's time for War, not Wank.

Comments

[chthonya]

Impossible? Why so?

On an individual level it does take time and self-discipline to learn to recognise the signs of unreasonableness in oneself, but if loud empty nasty arguments (or whatever else has been going on) are seen as normal or inevitable, no one will have an incentive to learn to practice basic civility.

[oddnari.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't know.. I've frequently seen civil and courteous people lose their cool and end up behaving like the kind of idiots they came up against. The recent wank was a bit too O_O I personally found it distressing that even when people were apologising all round, there was wank about THAT and further micro-wanks in sundry comments. I figured that for most of fandom, inserting their $.02 is more imperative than to actually think of what's going on and how can peace be most easily restored (usually by hushing up, ESPECIALLY when they are not the active players).

Loud, empty and nasty arguments are not and should NEVER be normal or inevitable but for reasons unknown, the HP fandom seemed to be full of them for quite some time since the past three weeks. Got my view all jaundiced, that did.

Hopefully it would change and everyone will grow up and will know better than to just behave like empty vessels. Hopefully.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

I guess I see both your points - in the long run, stamping out that sort of brainlessness is probably not possible, but if thinking hard about it, it helps me to not fall for the same impulses, it serves its purposes. And I'd be lying if I was immune to the protect-my-friends impulse, but not to the extent of not occasionally acknowledging that friend-X has really made an arse of themselves :).

If posting about it spreads the 'think-and-respect before screaming' bug a little, I'd be additionally happy :).

[chthonya]

I figured that for most of fandom, inserting their $.02 is more imperative than to actually think of what's going on and how can peace be most easily restored (usually by hushing up, ESPECIALLY when they are not the active players).

Yeah, and I can't say I've never been tempted by that one - I tend to try to avoid sounding off in public by finding a couple of trusted friends to write/speak to if I'm feeling insecure or need to let off steam. I guess LJ's weird mix of interactivity and broadcast makes it more difficult to see appropriate boundaries.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Because it is impossible. I invite you to reflect on the meaning of the expression "The Stoic fallacy": namely, to expect that people are always and in all circumstances able to behave as the best people are able to behave at their best.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

They aren't. I sure am not. But well, it's something to aspire to even if it's impossible.

[chthonya]

Word. There's a difference between trying and failing to uphold an ideal, and succumbing to despair and thereby allowing the conditions for impossibility to prevail.