[ SECRET POST #328 ]

[degrees.livejournal.com]

⌈ Secret Post #328 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Sorry for the lateness!

Also, secret number one being number one was a complete coincidence. I do these things randomly! XD

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 40 secrets from Secret Submission Post #047.
Secrets Not Posted: 0 broken links, [ 1 ] not!secret, [ 1 ] repeats, [ 1 ] personal attack.
Next Secret Post: Tomorrow, Thursday, November 28th, 2007.
Current Secret Submission Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

And 39

[dots.livejournal.com]

If people are treating fandom and religion the same way, they are doing both wrong.

OP

[(Anonymous)]

I don't know about that.

I think that fandom for some people fills the same niche as religion does for others, just without (usually) the belief that these characters are somewhere, somehow, real. There are enough "this series/fandom/character changed/saved my life" secrets posted here to tell you that – and I've met enough Christians who squee, for instance, over how certain pop songs can be interpreted as about Jesus in a way rather reminiscent of fans.

Re: OP

[haleysings.livejournal.com]

Honestly, as someone who is both a Christian and a fangirl, I'd like to say that there's a difference between the two. Fandom is a hobby. Religion is how you live your life.

Re: OP

[(Anonymous)]

I think it honestly depends on how you approach each of them.

For some people, I don't think the line is as clear as all that.

I'm not saying they're the same, and I certainly don't confuse the two, but boy are there ever similarities.

Re: OP

[haleysings.livejournal.com]

Perhaps, but the day I start taking fandom as seriously as my religion is the day I get out of fandom, I think. That just sounds unhealthy.

Re: OP

[(Anonymous)]

The secret was actually inspired by some Christians acting like they were in Bible fandom, to be honest. *SHRUG* It was the filking popular songs so that they were about Jesus that drove me to it.

Re: OP

[enjolras.livejournal.com]

I agree with you so hard. Seriously, fandom = religion is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

Re: OP

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, they're not the same thing.

Mostly because in fandom if you think you're talking to Sephiroth on the astral plane everyone thinks you're crazy, and in fandom if you see things that coincidentally strongly remind you of something that happens in your fandom's canon then that's an interesting (or annoying, depending on where you stand) anecdote, but if you do that with something from your religious canon you can legitimately call it a sign.

Religion is like fandom if fandom was widely viewed as justified in being as crazy and obsessed as its craziest and obsessed members.

And without all the porn.

And with moar genocide.

Re: OP

[enjolras.livejournal.com]

Yes. There are some people who use religion as a security blanket, and that's fine; do what you want. But for those who live their lives and base their morals off of a certain religion, I just can't see the similarities that has with fandom. You don't live your life based off of a particular fandom or series. Just because a series gave you the strength to live does not make it a religion; people find SO many things to inspire them to keep on going. And personally, I don't think religion as a hobby can really be taken seriously anyway. Religion, unlike fandom, really is serious business.

Re: OP

[(Anonymous)]

Why can't you use fandom as a source of moral guidance? As long as you acknowledge that every fandom has a human creator, and as such no such fandom can have all the "answers" or be infallible (because each creator is as prone to making normal human mistakes as the rest of us) then I see no problem with attempting to incorporate traits or lessons learned from fandom characters into your own lifestyle.

Yes, there are major differences between the two but I don't think they are as dissimilar as you think.

Re: OP

[(Anonymous)]

I refuse to believe that anime, with stories and characters that are nothing more than an escape from reality could possibly be compared and equated to a belief in a higher power that provides guidance in how to deal with your fellow human being.

yes, there are anime that helps people deal with others or offers advice in a parable type way to be good human beings but anime is still not based in any sort of reality.

Re: OP

[(Anonymous)]

But there's no way to prove definitively one way or the other that any religion is based in reality, either – surely what's important is what something means to someone and the importance it carries for them, whatever it is? Either way, my point was that the difference is that with religion people can think that the books that have changed their lives are real without getting called nutters like they would in fandom, and that people can have life-changing/saving/affirming experiences through characters and stories without firmly believing the characters or stories are real like they would with religion, and I don't think that that difference necessarily means all that much.

Religion is different things to different people and I'm not vouching for fandom to be considered a religion or in the same standing as religion, just pointing out that they can do similar things for people and fulfil similar needs in people's lives.