The Dark Side of Fandom: Creating The True Believer
Fandom has a dark side. I saw it in the Harry Potter fandom and other Live Journal fandoms. It was present to a lesser extent on e-Groups and other listservs, and also to a much lesser extent on the fully public but still sockpuppet infested waters of Usenet. There are people who feed on a particularly geek-flavored type of naivete, and the idea that geeks do not _____. We look to our fandom friends as a haven that gives us a space to be geeks, included instead of excluded and bullied. The last thing we look for is to be harmed and the last thing we think about is harming others.
Unfortunately geeks do and one of the most powerful acts is the creation of the True Believer.
One of the most powerful cohesive acts is to create the common enemy - a person or group in which it is safe for all others to hate. Hitler was very effective in drawing together the masses of disenfranchised people by giving them a group that was now beneath them. People who were otherwise on the lowest rungs of society now had the Jews to look down upon. Not only did it elevate these people, but it gave them something to bond with the people around them, a common enemy.
“If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.” ― Lyndon B. Johnson
If this sounds familiar, ask yourself why the person you have recently befriended is campaigning for you to hate another whom you barely know? It feels good! Crap on someone else, join them and be accepted and protected and guaranteed it’s not you…until it is.
The second half of this process has to do with being ensnared for later blackmail or extortion or simply being used as a tool to eliminate a rival. The person doing this needs plausible deniability, they need clean hands, and if there's a scapegoat needed - there you are.
When a new acquaintance vents to you a lot about some villain you’ve never met before, ask yourself — do you do the same? Do you trash talk your least favorite acquaintances at length to people you’ve never met? Most likely, no - because this is not the 3rd floor bathroom in seventh grade. So why is this person doing it? What do they stand to gain by making you hate a stranger you’ve never met, or never had a bad interaction with? Two reasons off the top of many.
Help the smacktalker remove a rival and
Isolate them from their friends or those who might befriend them and
to ensnare you into a web of, “I’m gonna screenshot your smacktalk if you don’t toe the line”
Beware of becoming a True Believer and following the edicts of a charismatic group leader. You are being led into a dark space by someone taking advantage of your desire to belong.
