Avoiding the Fandom War

When it comes to our beloved fandoms, we are ruthless. 

The love we have for fictional characters can be easily compared to the love a mother has for her children. Anyone who dares to get in the way of that love...is asking for a death wish.

If a person with not much knowledge about fandoms triest to insult us...they can be easily forgiven. Why? Well, they don't know any better. Come on, we're not that heartless.

BUT...if a fellow person with a certain range of fandoms dares to insult any of my fandoms...even if it is just about single strand of Killian's hair ...there will be blood.

Anyone who has a love for anything that's not real, getsinto fandom wars. It happens all the time. There was the war of the directioners and directionators; A war between DC and Marvel (Team DC for layf); A war between bookworms about Pro-John Green and Anti-John Green; A war between Team Jacob, Team Edward, Team Peeta, and Team Gale deciding who rules the YA fiction world; even Stephen King and George R.R. Martin are creating their own wars. And sadly, their war is something that not even the great Gandalf himself can pass through.

We all want to prove that our fandoms are the best. That our taste in books, movies, music, and TV series are superb than anyone else's. Waging war against other fandoms though is ironically, like a double-edged sword. It creates both harm and good. Up till now, I am not sure if it is generating more harm than good, or vice versa. These wars, exercises our minds. I thought I would forever be the girl who can't speak her mind. But when it comes to fandom wars, I go full-on Amazonian mode for the books and series that I love. And as much as possible, I try to do it in a healthy way. I end up explaining why this show is good, why the characters are not what they seem. I am not only using voice via social media, I am developing a critical mind. Yes, believe me, there are plenty of other ways of being intelligent other than trying to get straight A's on college algebra. That's what makes Fandom Wars good. Our right to express anything we want, is being used at its best advantage.

However, you know what they say. Too much of something can also be a bad thing. Now, the bad thing about Fandom Wars is that they can get so out of hand, to the point we become demons. We terrorize others by swearing, insults, and even cyberbullying others. All because we want to rub it in everyone's faces that Game of Thrones is the best TV show, that One Direction is the best boy band, that no novel series can ever compare to what John Green writes, and that this character is the worst.

I am not saying we should all stop being mean to each other, because that can't be done right away. We are all very convinced that social media can help us take advantage of the opinions and inner voices we thought we never had in the first place. And for now, we do not want to let go of that very idea. Social media has somehow made us feel powerful. We can easily criticize one thing and get away with it. We can bash this celebrity and there's nothing anyone can do about it because it is your opinion. Same goes in fandom wars. I can easily say that Tyrion Lannister is the worst character ever, and you can easily tell me that Arrow is the worst DC-adapted show in history. We can go on and on about what we want to believe in. But in the end, nothing much is going to change. No fandom will win. Will that very idea give us a reason to stop fighting?

Till the next post~