Extremist Fans - A Realization
Sept 6, 2021 19:43:04 GMT
glutamodo, whiskeybrewer, and 5 more like this
Post by tuigirl on Sept 6, 2021 19:43:04 GMT
I will be honest.
I HATE toxic fans with passion and bile.
And with really toxic I do not mean the usual complainers and the ones posting "the writing is sh*t" under every social media post in the comments.
With this I mean people who actively insult and belittle the creatives themselves.
As I have mentioned in other threads, this is not unique to Doctor Who, and it is a trend that somehow got bigger and bigger and it just spoils everything for everyone.
It spoils the fun for the creatives (writers, actors....) because they cut their contact to the fans and so the fans cannot discuss and hang out with these guys directly anymore.
In an online sense, you could still go to conventions, but that is much more heavily regulated these days.
And this also spoils the fun for us slightly crazy fans who really enjoy interacting with authors and directors and producers and actors (at least online, even my big mouth gets intimitated when confronted with my heroes face to face).
It makes me very sad, and it frustrates me and I feel ashamed for people who call themselves fans and they have nothing better to do than insulting a writer just because they have a different opinion or include some piece of writing or character certain people do not agree with.
Since I had many wonderful fandom experiences over my long years of fan of different franchises (including a fun dinner with my Star Trek fanclub with Robert Picardo 15 years ago), I can really see the differences now and how much things have changed for the absolute worst.
I am (not) sorry, but people like that, who behave in such a way, are fair game to me. When in the right mood, I have made it a sport on ridiculing people like that and going on counter-trolling offensives.
People like that do NOT have an opinion. They are not worth sharing any olive branches with. I have no patience, understanding or respect for them.
At least you somehow can still discuss with the "the writing is crap" crowd. But the crowd that goes livid and calls an author bad names because they include gay characters in their audio play? No way.
And I am not even gay.
But I am always reminded of the old saying by Mr. Niemoeller about the Nazis:
"First they came for the Jews, but I said nothing, because I was no Jew.
Then they came for the socialists, but I said nothing, because I was no socialist.
Then they came for the Catholics, but I said nothing, because I was no Catholic.
And then finally, they came for me, but by then, there was nobody left to speak for me."
There is always a small beginning. Even the smallest avalanche starts with one snowflake.
Let them call me a woke socialist SJW fascist.
I draw a line.
Just remembering that wonderful email I got from Karen O'Leary this weekend. She is a lovely person, and a very talented person, who made me laugh so much the past few weeks.
She is not a trained actor, she is a kindergarten teacher. She obviously has not experienced too many toxic people yet, since her contact details are just there for everyone to find on the WWW. I hope against hope she stays safe from this. She just does not deserve this.
On the other hand, she is close to a gay activist and her show has just started up in the US.
You do the math.
Sometimes I lose faith in humanity. When did this all go off the rails?
I HATE toxic fans with passion and bile.
And with really toxic I do not mean the usual complainers and the ones posting "the writing is sh*t" under every social media post in the comments.
With this I mean people who actively insult and belittle the creatives themselves.
As I have mentioned in other threads, this is not unique to Doctor Who, and it is a trend that somehow got bigger and bigger and it just spoils everything for everyone.
It spoils the fun for the creatives (writers, actors....) because they cut their contact to the fans and so the fans cannot discuss and hang out with these guys directly anymore.
In an online sense, you could still go to conventions, but that is much more heavily regulated these days.
And this also spoils the fun for us slightly crazy fans who really enjoy interacting with authors and directors and producers and actors (at least online, even my big mouth gets intimitated when confronted with my heroes face to face).
It makes me very sad, and it frustrates me and I feel ashamed for people who call themselves fans and they have nothing better to do than insulting a writer just because they have a different opinion or include some piece of writing or character certain people do not agree with.
Since I had many wonderful fandom experiences over my long years of fan of different franchises (including a fun dinner with my Star Trek fanclub with Robert Picardo 15 years ago), I can really see the differences now and how much things have changed for the absolute worst.
I am (not) sorry, but people like that, who behave in such a way, are fair game to me. When in the right mood, I have made it a sport on ridiculing people like that and going on counter-trolling offensives.
People like that do NOT have an opinion. They are not worth sharing any olive branches with. I have no patience, understanding or respect for them.
At least you somehow can still discuss with the "the writing is crap" crowd. But the crowd that goes livid and calls an author bad names because they include gay characters in their audio play? No way.
And I am not even gay.
But I am always reminded of the old saying by Mr. Niemoeller about the Nazis:
"First they came for the Jews, but I said nothing, because I was no Jew.
Then they came for the socialists, but I said nothing, because I was no socialist.
Then they came for the Catholics, but I said nothing, because I was no Catholic.
And then finally, they came for me, but by then, there was nobody left to speak for me."
There is always a small beginning. Even the smallest avalanche starts with one snowflake.
Let them call me a woke socialist SJW fascist.
I draw a line.
Just remembering that wonderful email I got from Karen O'Leary this weekend. She is a lovely person, and a very talented person, who made me laugh so much the past few weeks.
She is not a trained actor, she is a kindergarten teacher. She obviously has not experienced too many toxic people yet, since her contact details are just there for everyone to find on the WWW. I hope against hope she stays safe from this. She just does not deserve this.
On the other hand, she is close to a gay activist and her show has just started up in the US.
You do the math.
Sometimes I lose faith in humanity. When did this all go off the rails?