Stop.
Thereās something broken in nerd culture.
Thereās something broken, and painful, and wrong, and if we donāt correct itāhell, if we canāt at least learn toĀ seeĀ it, to recognize it in ourselves, to notice when weāre being thisĀ uglyāwe are going to spoil the very things that we cherish. The things that misguided posts like these are, however clumsily and cruelly, trying to protect.
Who ever told you that your fandoms belong to you?
I donāt care what it is. A band, a book. A television show. No matter what it is, at some point you stopped thinking about it as āa thing I likeā and you started thinking about it asĀ yours. And thereās nothing wrong with that, so long as you remember that itās a feeling, not a fact. So long as you remember that that feeling is best, is most powerful, when it is shared.
How dare you, OP on the bottom right. How can you sayāscreamā"no, itās not allowed to be your thing, go away" of fuckingĀ The Perks of Being a Wallflower?Ā Have you READ Perks? Because far as I can tell, that novel (and movie!) is all about the intimacy and necessity of inclusiveness. Itās about how weāre all broken inside, all desperate, all searching for a family to call our own. For people who will love us for our jagged edges; people whose own jagged edges fit against ours like puzzle pieces. Itās about finding the beauty in mediocrity, in discoveringĀ moreĀ in people than you ever thought they could give you.
HowĀ dareĀ you tell anyone they donāt get to be a part of that? How dare you tell them that because of what they likeāflower crowns, Instagram filters, a pair of broken shoelaces and a caption in Helveticaātheyāre somehow lesser, different, not allowed. Cut off.
How dare you make yourself gatekeeper?
What makes you think youāre worthy?
So youāre right, OP on the top, who in a fugue of almost self-awareness tagged your post āthis makes me angrier than it should.ā Because bow ties donāt belong to the Whovians, they donāt belong to anyone, and they donāt because theyāreĀ fucking bow ties.Ā Theyāve been a menswear accessory staple for a decent fewĀ centuries.Ā Matt Smith has been the Doctor sinceĀ April of 2010.Ā It doesnāt belong to you; itās not yours. And you donāt get to call anyone aĀ fuckwitĀ for putting aĀ decorative piece of silk around their neckĀ just because they think it makes them look dapper.Because lord knows you canāt just like the way something looks. Lord knows you canāt justĀ likeĀ something. You have to be in The Club.
Didnāt you join these fandoms because you wereĀ sickĀ of other people telling you you couldnāt be in The Club?
Has it ever occurred to you that maybe your Joy Division shirt was out of stock because ofĀ other Joy Division fans,Ā and not because some ~mindless wannabes~ decided to ruin your day?
Has it ever occurred to you that maybe instead of policing why other people like or attend movies, you could actually turn a critical eye to the movie itself? That you can and should taste your media with your whole tongue, so you know just what it is youāre swallowing?
Has it ever occurred
to any of you
that if you walk up to someone who doesnāt seem to know her way around and you say āHey, I notice youāve only highlighted that one quote, yāknow, the one about being infinite, and I was wondering why it spoke to you? And do you want to talk about the other parts?ā you might
just maybe
make a fuckingĀ friend?
Somewhere along the line, someone handed you a book. Someone sent you a playlist. Someone forced you to sit down on their couch and watch something with them, because they knew youād love it. And that act, whatever it was, gave you a sense of completion and home. Absolutely, you have a right to that feeling.
But what on earth gave you the impression that you have the right toĀ denyĀ that feeling to someone else?
Out of all the comments my post has gotten, this is my favorite.
^AMEN.
Really, Tumblr users have some of the weirdest superiority-inferiority complexes Iāve ever seen.
thank fucking god someone says it
I feel as if this needs to be on everyoneās blog.
