The idea of this post is that “1DHQ” has supposedly shot themselves in the foot by breeding such a suspicious fandom that now they can’t get fans to accept any “stunts” (such as the band breaking up…).
It’s so, so sad to read because the people who have created this environment in fandom are the tinhatters themselves. Look at what they’ve done, in their own words:
lack of “a mostly positive atmosphere”
“a solid contingent who learned to question nearly everything instead of taking it at face value”
“this mindset that things are shady, that something suspicious is going on, that things are bad but we can endure until it passes”
“Even those that do believe most of the official narrative have gotten used to seeing negative press and have learned how to brush it off.”
“Many have already come around to the idea of a promotional element to the boys’ relationships even if they don’t completely believe in fauxmances or bearding.”
a fandom who believes hints and codes are the best way to “see where the boys’ feelings truly lay”
a fandom that is used to feeling “beat up on”
a fandom that needs to feel like they have “tools to figure out what’s going on so that we don’t have to get anxious about whether things are real or stunts”
Tinhatters did that to this fandom. They taught this fandom not to trust the boys themselves, not to trust what they say about their lives and what they actually do. They taught this fandom to be suspicious and anxious. They taught the fandom to obsess over negative press, analyzing it endlessly and assuming it’s part of an organized campaign. They taught this fandom to see reality as bad times that only need to be endured until they pass, so people remain in a fandom that makes them unhappy and cling to a fantasy that doesn’t exist. And they spread some of this mindset of distrust and disrespect even to the non-tinhatting side of fandom, and they’re proud of it.
