On Negativity Within The Fan Community

Got into a heated ‘discussion’ over Facebook yesterday over a picture I posted of some negative comments directed towards a ‘larger’ woman who made one of the most kickass TARDIS dresses I’ve ever seen. It truly angers me that in my community there are some about destructive arseholes who tear someone down because they don’t fit their body type. I suppose this is one of the things I find discomforting within myself, that I’m going to be ridiculed because of my weight whenever I put on a costume, that it infuriates me whenever I see it now. I’d like to believe that it was just a handful of insensitive cunts in an ocean of high praise however the internet has sadly robbed me of that delusion. I think it’s true that once you’ve looked into the abyss, you’re forever changed and the internet is nothing but a focal point for such things.

Wil Wheaton writes about this in his book ‘Just a Geek’ where he states, “I will never understand why the Internet seems to take away the basic humanity of most people, and allows-no, enables-them to say things that they’d never say to another person face to face.” I think a part of it has to do with the inherent duality of a person, the nasty side of humanity that thinks the nasty things but doesn’t dare voice them in public for fear of retribution. Maybe it’s the internet, and alcohol, that gives that voice a pedestal to spew such vile hatred and then immediately back it up with “Well I have a right to do so!” or something just as equally cowardly. If we can go through our real life social interactions with strangers without resorting to use vile and nasty statements, why the hell can’t we do that online? Oh that’s right, we don’t withhold these statements in real life, that’s why we have assholes who tell complete strangers that they are ugly and fat and why we have bullies who gang up and pick on their prey. I suppose the internet just allows more assholes a chance to fuck up more peoples lives.

Kinda makes you think trying to clear up the whole mess to be an exercise in supreme futility? Well maybe that is so, but there is a hope. The internet, whilst giving a platform for the negative, allows good people to get together and fight back. It allows people to say “No!” to having to put up with some of the worst attributes man seems to like to hold onto like a social festering appendix. I see the negative attributes of my community and I want to scream and fight back. Part of the reasons why I want to make a documentary analysing the fan community in Perth, and go into detail the positive and negative attributes I think exist within. I think this discussion has taught me that some things are worth standing up for, despite whatever negative feedback you might face. I want to see my community to be the safe haven it should be, free from the haters and the jackals that seem intent in bringing it down from within. Why do I have hope that this could be accomplished? One word, Bronies.