kennahijja (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kennahijja) wrote2007-08-01 10:27 pm
kennahijja) wrote2007-08-01 10:27 pm
Fandom and the Mob: a Rant
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.
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.
no subject
If that aint a propper email signature... ;-)
I remember Terry Pratchett said someting like "The intelligence of a mob is the IQ of its dumbest member devided by the amount of people". There's truth in that. All the points you said are valid. I would add one more though: take into account that the average age of those around you in fandom is somewhere in the twenties.
I started on the 'net somewhere in the 90s and I was somewhere in my twens as well. With apssing time I find it increasingly easier to *not* reply immediately to a post or email with a snide and smart-ass comment but let it rest for a day or two and then forget about it, even if I have a strong opionion on the subject itself.
The younger people are, the more the worls seems to be made of black and white.
It also helps to remember with a smirk that those who comment in a wank more than once a day are probably poor little creatures with very few real friends. Joining a mob is like quoting Luna: "It almost felt like having friends."
Of course she's rather the opposite of a mob person, but everybody copes in their own way, don't they?
no subject
Granted, I also started with the net sometime in my (mid)-20s, and can look back on a handful of spectacular humiliating-in-retrospect instances of me jumping the gun which, though, helped immensely in (trying to) not make a total arse of myself in the future. Which, admittedly, doesn't quite stop me from having and 'sharing' strong opinions, if less so in purely fandom matters (if I have strong opinions, I'd rather pick my fights in the real world where it's, well, *real*).
Though black-and-white thinking isn't really the sphere of youth, I think (even if you might get more objective with age). But I've seen adults (even post-twen adults) behave worse than the silliest pre-teen gits (and teenagers behaving in extremely mature ways) way too often to think that's true. Pity, but...
no subject