Seriously, just block the mean people
Sep. 19th, 2021 12:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingI recently read an academic article comparing anti-fandom to a cult:
https://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/2147/2829
While I don’t deny that a lot of the behavior associated with anti-fandom involves social coercion – bullying, basically – I think it might be disingenuous to call anything related to fandom “a cult.”
What defines a cult as such is that it isolates members and, by means of that isolation, controls every aspect of their lives – where they live, what they eat, what time they wake up and go to sleep, who they talk to, who they marry, what level of education they receive, and so on. Cults aren’t scary because they believe in aliens or whatever; they’re scary because they physically entrap people and then force them into genuinely dangerous situations.
When it comes to fandom… People know they can just turn off the computer, right?
Like, I don’t mean to suggest that fandom social dynamics aren’t “real” in an emotional sense, but you can just log off of your account and come back to it later. Or delete it and make a new account. Or migrate to a different platform. Or get into a new fandom. Or leave the internet alone and watch movies or play video games instead. You can create things and not share them, or save them to share when you feel like it. Whatever. It’s all good.
I guess the caveat is that, if you’re an independent creative, getting cancelled by a fandom and having to leave social media can have serious professional consequences…
…but the truth is that I don’t think it matters that much in the long run? Speaking personally, I don’t do any sort of background check on the books I buy or the Kickstarter projects I back, and most of the full-time professional creative people I follow on social media update their accounts maybe once a week, if not once a month. Most of the artists I support on Patreon fall into the same category of only updating their social media accounts sporadically. The pandemic has recently affected this, of course, but (in the United States at least) a lot of the business of art and publishing is still very intensely based on personal connections, convention networking, and in-person meetings, not to mention pitches, portfolio reviews, and relevant work experience.
Online fandom is interesting and important, but it’s still really nothing more than an underground subculture. It’s not a cult, and you can leave anytime you want.
https://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/2147/2829
While I don’t deny that a lot of the behavior associated with anti-fandom involves social coercion – bullying, basically – I think it might be disingenuous to call anything related to fandom “a cult.”
What defines a cult as such is that it isolates members and, by means of that isolation, controls every aspect of their lives – where they live, what they eat, what time they wake up and go to sleep, who they talk to, who they marry, what level of education they receive, and so on. Cults aren’t scary because they believe in aliens or whatever; they’re scary because they physically entrap people and then force them into genuinely dangerous situations.
When it comes to fandom… People know they can just turn off the computer, right?
Like, I don’t mean to suggest that fandom social dynamics aren’t “real” in an emotional sense, but you can just log off of your account and come back to it later. Or delete it and make a new account. Or migrate to a different platform. Or get into a new fandom. Or leave the internet alone and watch movies or play video games instead. You can create things and not share them, or save them to share when you feel like it. Whatever. It’s all good.
I guess the caveat is that, if you’re an independent creative, getting cancelled by a fandom and having to leave social media can have serious professional consequences…
…but the truth is that I don’t think it matters that much in the long run? Speaking personally, I don’t do any sort of background check on the books I buy or the Kickstarter projects I back, and most of the full-time professional creative people I follow on social media update their accounts maybe once a week, if not once a month. Most of the artists I support on Patreon fall into the same category of only updating their social media accounts sporadically. The pandemic has recently affected this, of course, but (in the United States at least) a lot of the business of art and publishing is still very intensely based on personal connections, convention networking, and in-person meetings, not to mention pitches, portfolio reviews, and relevant work experience.
Online fandom is interesting and important, but it’s still really nothing more than an underground subculture. It’s not a cult, and you can leave anytime you want.
