#twitter fans

My tl is full of those stories, all trying to get his attention and have some words from him. Some of them post every day and even beg to be noticed because all they need to feel better is him noticing that thread. It's scary, some of them, you can feel they suffering even more when michael replies to others but never to them. How can he reply to thousands of people? how can be healthy? Friends of some of this people 

have started to tag michael and pressing him to reply to them bc the person is really bad place and he should say something to them. I think he wants to help but I don't see how is helping at all. Some of the messages sound so desperate, and I worry that they get worse if michael doesn't reply to them. They keep tagging him everyday and he still doesn’t notice them, only when they sound truly bad. Thank you profiler anon and sorry for all my mistakes, english is not my first language.

 No need to apologize, darling, you expressed your thoughts very clearly and of course I think this is worth a post. A very important one. 

I’ve been getting a few anons about this, some of them requesting not to be published, and the range goes from something like your one, real concern for some fans, to ‘some of them you can tell it’s just attention seeking from their lord and savior using a sob story.”

While I don’t doubt that folk who tell embellished stories, or even plain lies, to be noticed do indeed exist and have done it before, I’m going to focus on those who are telling true stories and putting their deepest feelings out there for everyone, good and evil, to see. 

To understand it a bit better I’ve been having a look at MS’s responses to some of those stories, his likes to others,and also the kind of tweets people are sending him, daily, since the Be SuperGood call. There’re been handfuls of open letters every day, some very determined to get a like or a reply, some over the top, and some that if they’re real I’d be concerned about and I hope they can seek help other than a reply from MS. 

And well. I think you’re right, dear anon. I know he just wants to make people feel better and give back some of the support he felt he had and still has, although I’m not sure that picking a few chosen ones to be the recipients of his love and warmth and whatever, but not all of them, is going to help. It’s the very simple principle behind visiting your nieces and nephews and not giving presents to only two of them while the others look at you with hopeful puppy eyes. You just don’t do it. Because telling them you didn’t have money or time to buy for all of them, even if they are old enough to understand it, won’t fix the feeling of ‘why them and not me’.   

 Especially when all of them, chosen or not, are having mental health struggles. 

If I were one of those fans baring my heart and mind so publicly, thinking that a word from Michael Sheen is the only thing that can make everything worth it at the moment, I’d be asking myself why my letter wasn’t worth of his attention. Did he not see it? He must have seen it, my friends rt and he’s seen others with less visibility. So I might keep trying day after day, but still nothing. I may feel more and more unworthy, because MS silence is just confirming my biggest fears. So I rt twice more. Oh, he’s replied to someone else right now. I’m gonna tweet it again, he’s online so he’s gonna see it. But then he doesn’t reply, or like it. He replies to someone else, why them? What did they say that I didn’t say better or with more heart? I literally poured my heart and my feelings and how much I love him. My story is real and painful and I don’t understand how he could reply to that open letter and not mine. They sound faker than mine. Mine is real and I’m not feeling well because even Michael is ignoring me. 

And this, my dear anon, is probably why you’re worried about some of them. If these posters are in a real bad place and with mental health issues, contemplating ending it all, as I read just now, favoring some stories over others isn’t gonna help. 

Once again, he only wants to help and make those suffering fans feel better.

But the thing is, he shouldn’t hold ANYONE’s mental health in his hands. He shouldn’t be put in a position where he reads time and time again how the only thing keeping someone going on is him, his attention, his interactions on twitter... It’s such a massive burden to place on the shoulders of a person so wholly unconnected to any of us in real life. He’s giving more than he owes to anyone, but it’s not gonna be enough, because like you say, anon, there’s no way he can reply to everyone’s stories. It’s neither realistic nor fair, to expect that from him. Some are gonna feel neglected and worse than they originally were feeling. 

So, in short, dear anon. There’s little we can do for some of them if MS is the only thing that will help, but you can always be there for all those others who are also mentioning the fandom, or the sheendom, and who are posting their stories and you can tell it’s for the community support, not just for Michael. Be there for them if you feel you can offer some comfort, or a friendly ear. 

Thank you for your message, anon. 

PA

My muse and me- above And below! :)