#tbci

So knowing this, you might think I don't know what it's like to be completely in love with a band. I attend around 20-30 concerts a year, I even went to different countries to see my favourite bands. Their names might not be One Direction, but they are still important to me. And well, a few years ago there was this really big German band and my life was literally revolving around those four boys. My room looked a lot like yours now, except the faces on the walls were different. I dreamt about them, collected all their merch, begged my parents for concert tickets and they were all I would talk about. Long story short, I was obsessed. I was probably about 13 back then and girls everywhere around me were reacting the same way you are to 1D now. That just to assure you that I know what it feels like.

So, back to One Direction: All I'd known so far was that Harry used to date Taylor, fans were making a big deal about Larry and Harry was pretty much used as the bands face by the media. After getting into their songs I decided to take it a step further and have a look at interviews on youtube and tracking them on tumblr. That's where I stumbled over the fandom. And here we are now, at the point where I am that concerned about a lot of you that I'm actually writing a 1000+ words post about it. I know most of the Directioners are really young and maybe that is part of the reason for all of this, but to be honest, if you're under 13 you shouldn't even be on tumblr or twitter and if you're older than that you should be able to use your brain. I'm not trying to say that anyone of you is stupid, but I feel like this is the main issue here. Society tells you to accept the facts you are given in the media, if it's in the newspaper it must be true, right? Let's talk about some things in more detail.

Larry, Elounor, Zerrie etc.: I won't state my personal opinion here and I'm not telling anyone that they are wrong about theirs, all I'm asking you is to take a step back from your 'ship' and look at all of this from a neutral point of view for a second. You get so many 'facts' served on the silver plate by tumblr, youtube and magazines but you don't really think about it critically. They might show you 'proof' videos or photos, but do you even realize how easy it is to fake all of this?! Everywhere they go, the boys have to give interviews and every single word is analysed into the very last detail. A lot of things are just taken out of context and sometimes made up to mean something completely different. And also, just because nobody posted a picture of a certain event/meeting/date etc. on twitter or instagram doesn't mean it never happened. All I'm saying is that 'proof' can't be found in one single picture and if you're really interested in this topic go investigate, find out more, but don't believe everything they feed you. Remind yourself that those people are public figures. And at the end of the day, the only ones who know the truth about who they like are themselves. It is what it is BUT not everything is what it seems. A good fan wants them to be happy instead of making their significant other feel bad.

Spreading rumours: These days, social media is such a powerful instrument, it can literally destroy lives. It can lift them to the top of the world, but it could also ruin them in the blink of an eye. I'm not saying everybody in this fandom is running through life blindfolded, but a lot of you just take whatever they see on the internet and spread it like a wildfire. I am 20 myself and I couldn't imagine living a life like they do. I thought graduating was stressful enough, but they are constantly under pressure, have to rush from one interview to the next, have shows in a different country every day. Do you even realize how stressful this is? I agree with you, weight loss, smoking or drinking excessively can be very dangerous, but after all, it is their life and their decision, not yours. They don't need you to babysit them

I've seen a lot of girls say 'They always say they think every girl is beautiful, but all they do is date skinny ones' and similar things. Look, these guys are role models. Millions of girls look up to them and picture them as their perfect boyfriends. What would happen, if one of them said 'I only go for natural blondes'? I imagine shit would break lose. And I really don't want to know how many girls would be devastated and how far they would go because they are heartbroken. Because let's face it, even if we know logically we'd never have a chance with our 1D guy, deep down we still hope. So instead of calling them liars how about we enjoy dreaming about having a change to be their princess. (I'm not saying they are lying, they might genuinely think every girl has something beautiful about them, they might just like some things about a girl better than others.) (Or they might just like boys.)

'Carrots': This is probably a thing I will never understand. You love a band with all your heart and you want them to be successful. So logically, you want them to have as many supportive fans like you as possible, right? Apparently not. This fandom literally kicks people out who haven't been there from the start, sends hate to people whose opinion differs from theirs and even sends death threats to others! What is wrong with you?? Apart from the fact that the human race is supposed to be intelligent and civilized, you should all stick together just for the fact that you're all in the same boat! You are the ones the boys count on. Without all of you, none of this would be possible, there would be no new record, no world tour, no funny interviews to watch! Yes, maybe you consider yourself a 'bigger' fan, because you've been there from the start but let's face it, without 'new' fans you wouldn't have any of this.The boys care so much about their fans, yet you don't appreciate each other at all.