fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #6254 ]

[ SECRET POST #6254 ]

⌈ Secret Post #6254 ⌋

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

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[Steven Universe]

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 30 secrets from Secret Submission Post #894.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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07. https://i.imgur.com/yzfUMtC.jpg

For sure, and fans like this have always existed. It gets magnified to a ridiculous degree because of social media but I can remember meeting non-chill fans of artists/bands irl who thought I'd said I wanted to come over a kick their pet if I said I didn't like their personal fave artist. Not even trashing the artist, just simply saying something very banal like: 'I don't really care for their music' when ASKED if I liked the artist. Some people very much affix a lot of themselves into the media/music they like.

The real issue is this kind of behavior is being encouraged in online fan groups, or even expected if you like an artist at all, and that's the part that troubles me because there leaves next to no level of moderation when talking about art. You can love something very much but not have it be a personal attack if someone else doesn't like it the same way and that kind of attitude is dying online.

This has been my experience with MCU fans. A coworker trying to get others to talk about the latest movie (this happened a few times so it was actually a few different movies) and asking everyone, “have you seen this yet?!” They’d chastise anyone that didn’t watch the first screening and lord help you if said you don’t watch the MCU. He’d actually throw a tantrum and slam things around the office. He was an extreme example but my experience with MCU fans has been that they cannot understand or tolerate anyone not being in competition for “best MCU fan ever.”

It's definitely a bigger problem with Taylor Swift than with most, but it's a problem with fans across the board. It's also partly why fans struggle to accept when their favorite has done something abusive - they can't accept it because accepting it means confronting the fact they liked someone capable of that and they worry about what it says about them.

Yeah, I think this is typical of a lot of fan parasocial relationships. "HDU criticize my friend Taylor!" ...more than "I am projecting that this is me."

That's just people in general, these days. I was in a discussion where some rando said something that was mostly a derail and was getting a lot of flack for it. They were upset that people were mad at them, so I explained that what they said was very popular with anti-vaxxers, so people were shutting them down regardless of their intentions or affiliations. They then came at me, calling me names and suggesting horrible things about me because I wasn't agreeing with their point AND "called them an anti-vaxxer". Pointing out the actual words I wrote just got me more vitriol and an accusation that I was a stupid asshole just trying to make myself feel better by putting other people down, so....

I barely pay attention to Taylor Swift and yet she is the sole frequent target I see of criticism about her private jet. When like, isn't having a private jet just the typical thing for everyone at her level of fortune? The fact that she gets so much more criticism for it that I don't even have to go looking to find does strike me as not unreasonable to blame partly on misogyny.

Honestly I don't think people would make half as big a deal about it if not that her fans loudly wet their pants about it whenever someone brings it up. Also it's one of the relatively few legitimate complaints to be made about her and people aren't happy to just dislike someone these days, they have to frame their dislike as a moral issue, so those who dislike her for what are probably just matters of taste or preference have latched onto the pollution thing really hard.

You missed the whole "LOL DiCaprio using a private jet everywhere while making an environment documentary lol hypocrite!"?

She's being criticized for being a billionaire who doesn't care if she leaves a bigger carbon footprint than a good chunk of the US population combined, the same as any other billionaire who frequently flies on their private jet. She is not being singled out for being a woman. Hell, if I recall, at one point there were Twitter accounts dedicated to tracking the activity of other people like Musk, Zuckerberg, and even Trump.

She is being singled out for this by, strangely, Republicans who are mad that she's not one (and who don't give a shit about Elon's carbon footprint.)

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2024-02-20 03:12 (UTC) - Expand

Those accounts still exist except the one tracking Elon Musk. And his information on the website is subject to a 24 hour delay. That’s the best TS can hope for with her legal challenge but if she had decent lawyers she never would have filed suit, so I doubt she’ll succeed.

She’s not the sole target, though? This has been a recurring issue with loads of the super rich. TS is just a bit more in the news in the last week for it because she’s trying to shut down the guy who publishes the (already publicly available) information. That created a Streisand Effect because it jumped from shallow pop culture blogs and into the news. It was incredibly stupid of her tbh because even Elon Musk couldn’t get the guy shut down and no one knew or cared that she topped the list until she tried to have it squashed.

How long has she been trying to cover it up? I feel like I've seen whataboutisms about her private jet cropping up in conversations about her for a couple years.

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2024-02-20 15:15 (UTC) - Expand

I've been hearing complaints about her private jet for at least a year now. It definitely didn't start with her getting upset about being tracked recently.

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2024-02-20 15:17 (UTC) - Expand

I'm just so done with hearing about her in general. I actually had someone tell me that I'm a bad person and a "traitor to women" for not liking her. Of course they don't want to hear it, but I think her fans are just as obsessive as Trump supporters in their blind devotion and belief that she can do no wrong. Obviously they're different in that they're at least not enabling an existential threat to the country/world and aren't domestic terrorists as far as I can tell, but the cult-like mentality is mindboggling. I mean, sure, there are celebrities I like, but they are in no way perfect and I'm not going to attack anyone who dislikes them. The idea of idolizing someone like that is just insane to me.

I think there is some truth to this, but I think you're missing a couple of pretty significant things that can also play a part in hyper-defensiveness. One is that people don't have to necessarily identify as her themselves, they can also really, really like her and how she makes them feel and so criticism aimed at her can feel like it is aimed at their taste for liking her. Another is that, historically, women have had the things they've liked attacked and deemed silly/unimportant/stupid/bad just because a lot of women have liked them, or if there were also a good number of fans who were men, women's fervor for those things was presented as hysterical/stupid/indecent. This has been especially evident to me in the music scene and decades of it have built up defensiveness.

There are hella other female musical artists whose fans don't respond to every single criticism of them with the same kind of clearly-deeply-personal "no possible reason but misogyny!" type of outrage, though. There are perfectly valid reasons to feel meh about her, or even to dislike her, that aren't "she's an icky giiirrrlll," but her fans will not countenance that fact at all. She must be everyone's fave, or else they hate women. Another commenter above says they've been told they're a "traitor to women" for not loving her, and I've seen that kind of sentiment tossed around myself.

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2024-02-20 11:31 (UTC) - Expand

All I know is Lana Del Rey should have won Record Of the Year and not Taylor Swift.

But Miley Cyrus won that category?

I mean, Nicki Minaj's fans were trying to desecrate the grave of Meghan Thee Stallion's mother because they were mad she wrote a lyric that was maybe possibly referring to Nicki's shitty husband, Swifties seem pretty sane in comparison to that.

IKR? There are some screwed up folks out there and sometimes they also like music. Or movies, remember that guy who tried to kill Ronald Regan so Jodie Foster would love him? This shit isn't new.

Swift does also attract a lot of absolutely insane criticism and negative attention though.

The same or less than anyone else who has reached her level of popularity, honestly. Hell, she hasn't even been condemned by the leader of one or more major religions yet.

Not that it matters. The extreme fans being discussed in this secret react with at least as much over-the-top vitriol if someone accuses TSwift of having a bad hair day as they do over accusations that she's part of a CIA operation to vaccinate Missouri with liberal soy microchips.

For me, Taylor Swift having reacted defensively toward criticism thrown her way is the reason why her stans are extra aggressive (similar with Nicki Minaj/Barbs). They feel like their anger/upset is legitimate because Taylor is upset too. They're just standing up for their idol.

Which IMO is a way to vicariously get a sense of vindication/justice. They can get this feeling of reacting defensively to criticism/negativity and getting to show up those who hurt their feelings because Taylor usually lands on her feet.

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