Third-Person Bias
For a while, I have seen posts defending both Earth and Nexus and understood both sides. I didn’t really know where I stood on this issue as a Nexus fan myself. However, recently, I looked back at a few of the posts defending Nexus and realized they were being unfair to Earth. This is where I believe the fandom has a sort of third-person bias.
Before New Moon changed his name, we, the viewers, saw his slow descent into madness. We saw how Solar’s death affected him; how it changed his mindset. Did Earth? Did New Moon tell Earth that he wasn’t doing well? No, he didn’t. During one of the therapy episodes, he told Earth he was doing fine. He lied to Earth about his mental state. Earth couldn’t have known what he was going through like we did because she doesn’t watch the show.
I believe some of us Nexus fans (myself included) have a tendency to be upset at the family for disowning Nexus so quickly. I think this is where we have a sort of bias because we see things from the third person—we see everyone’s views—while the characters don’t. The characters see from only their own perspective. With the Earth Q&A episode, I began to try and see things more by Earth’s side. And I think she was right. I implore you to take a moment and think as if you are Earth. You told your brother that you were there for him if he needed someone to talk to. He told you he was fine. You did not know just how awful his mental state was until he threw your insecurities back at you. And then he said you were simply collateral damage. In this situation, Earth is rightfully upset.
Another argument for the Nexus fans, however, is that the family would have noticed just how out of character he was acting. I think this is another area where we have a third-person bias, but for a different reason. We aren’t feeling the emotions they are. We aren’t feeling betrayal or sadness. Those kinds of emotions can cloud a person’s judgement, causing them to not really notice whether their actions are normal or not; causing them to not really notice if the people around them are acting as they should. We haven’t just been almost killed by our brother, but Earth has. All kinds of emotions would logically be clouding her judgement right now.
In conclusion, I believe that, as the viewers, we tend to judge characters by what we see. We don’t often try to imagine what they see; what emotions are plaguing their typically clear judgement. Because of this, we often have a sort of bias against characters without really thinking what they’re going through. Please note that this is not an attack against Nexus fans. I am one myself. This is just a possible explanation (please note, not an excuse, just an explanation) for why the characters act the way they do and why they disowned Nexus so swiftly, specifically Earth.
Feel free to elaborate on my thoughts or add on your own. Thank you for reading. :)
