There’s one thing I love about Tumblr and it’s how you get these people acting all super mature like, “I’m more of an adult than you because I don’t get into drama, or fights, or arguments, or any of that.” Like, sure, there are people who just don’t like that stuff and keep to themselves without complaining. They mind their own business and do their thing. But then there’s this group whining like, “Lately there’s so much hate in the fandom,” or “It bothers me to see people arguing every time I open Tumblr.” Buddy, welcome to the internet. This has literally always been like this. When there were only janky forums, it was like this. When people were on LiveJournal, it was like this. It’s like this on Twitter, on TikTok, it’s everywhere. The internet is full of all kinds of people, and fandoms are breeding grounds for people to project both the good and the bad. You know what you’re getting into when you step into online fandom spaces. If it bothers you, that’s your damn problem for showing up. End of story.
There are filters. There are block buttons. There are tools to avoid certain things. But people aren’t going to debate what you want them to debate, or do it the way you want them to. That’s just not how it works. You’re not special, or better, or worse, or morally superior, or any of that bullshit just because you want to enjoy fandom differently than others. You’re just someone with a specific way of interacting that might not match how others do it. That’s it.
If you don’t like how others engage with the fandom, then block everyone except for the handful of folks who vibe with you. But stop whining, this is a public fucking space, and it literally belongs to anyone who signs up with the same rights as you to interact however the hell they want. “Oh, I don’t even want to log on anymore because it’s always the same horrible hate-filled discourse” so what? Nobody’s going to stop interacting however the hell they want online just because Your Highness finds it annoying.
And you’re not more adult or mature, you’re just someone who, for whatever reason, doesn’t like conflict. Some people do. You vent your way, others vent theirs. You love writing seven-page meta posts comparing Schopenhauer to your favorite character, and that’s great. Others love drawing political parallels. The difference is that I think it’s totally cool that you write biblical-length essays, but you get annoyed when I bring politics into fandom and start crying about how that’s “politicizing fiction” or “using characters for political discourse.” As if you’re not doing the exact same thing with your own worldview.
Maybe the problem is you’re just a lame centrist who votes “progressive, but not too much,” and it bugs you when certain political theories or comparisons show up in your fandom because they force you to take a stance, and you don’t want to, because then your true colors will show. Maybe what really annoys you about some fandom interactions is that they put you in front of a mirror and make you actively choose something instead of coasting passively through it all, and that’s not how you want to escape reality. Totally fair, you’ve got every right to feel that way, but the rest of us also have every right not to give a single fuck about your comfort or your privilege, and to keep engaging with fandom however we want.
So yeah, cry in the crybaby corner, because what’s actually exhausting is people dressing up their discomfort as moral high ground or “ethical engagement,” when really you’re just pissed that you thought you had control of the narrative in a space, realized you didn’t, and now it annoys you that people won’t play along just to be polite. Fandom police? Dead fandom cop, fertilizer for my crops.
