Truly there was some shift somewhere where people lost the ability to form nuanced opinions. I attribute it at least in part to the intense polarization of the USA’s two party system, but I digress…
When it comes to fandom, you are kind of forced into choosing between “I like this character and this character is my baby blorbo” versus “I hate this character and everything they stand for”. And neither party can stand the other, which means that if someone critiques a particular opinion at all, they are immediately assumed to be in the opposite party, and are pushed away. This may eventually lead them into aligning more with that opposite party as well, so nuanced opinions are often crushed by misunderstanding until nobody has them.
It’s abysmal. Especially when the discussion of authorial intent gets dragged into the crossfire. Like, there’s no way to have civil discussion anymore, it’s just attacks back and forth.
(‘-▽-)
When it comes to fandom, you are kind of forced into choosing between “I like this character and this character is my baby blorbo” versus “I hate this character and everything they stand for”. And neither party can stand the other, which means that if someone critiques a particular opinion at all, they are immediately assumed to be in the opposite party, and are pushed away. This may eventually lead them into aligning more with that opposite party as well, so nuanced opinions are often crushed by misunderstanding until nobody has them.
It’s abysmal. Especially when the discussion of authorial intent gets dragged into the crossfire. Like, there’s no way to have civil discussion anymore, it’s just attacks back and forth.
(‘-▽-)
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