re: danmei fandom drama

[in_seclusion]

i think that if you've grown so attached to a material that you would hurt others over it -- going so far as to attack them as people -- you need to take a step back and sort your own issues out offline. fandom isn't actually your therapist, and no one in it signed up to be your punching bag.

this isn't about one specific wank; it's about all of it

Comments

[corvo]

The level of casual and callous dehumanisation put on display feels as if it is rapidly escalating, especially over the last few years. It was always present, persistent, but I think degrees of it are engineered, encouraged, and enabled not only by the platforms that we are using now, but by how we engage with 'drama' on every level. Outside of the cruelty enacted by people themselves, the way we bystander it while discussing it so publicly (often in view of the victims if not actively engaged with them) has minimised the 'human' element and exaggerated an 'entertainment' element. Everything is up for discussion. Everything is valid for criticism. Everyone has an opinion. At this point, drama itself - and the people embroiled in it - are themselves firmly mainstream content.

I have quite a lot of thoughts on this, many I am still working through. But an element of one of our recent conversations has helped me put better words to part of it: it's not an empathetic issue, but an economic issue. The capital we are exchanging may only be social, but the spirit remains: kindness is less profitable in the current (discourse) climate. Human life is cheap when it's not your cost to pay.

[in_seclusion]

yes, twitter decided that the dollars generated by discourse and outrage is worth more than human life. after all, one is a story; one thousand is a statistic. i'm working through some thoughts about how people now see clout and influence as capital due to valuation of influencers and how they sell nothing but their "brand". it's not hard currency but it's soft currency, and people are stockpiling it like cash.

[author_by_night]

I completely agree. In general I feel people can start using their interests to project other things onto people, and unfortunately it's even easier to do so in fandom. Fandom should be fun, damn it!

[in_seclusion]

No more harassment only fun D: