Twitter and concerned anons
sadly, this i do agree with. i really hope michael doesn’t feel like he is the only thing that can save people -- and i hope those people don’t think michael is the only thing that can save them. the point of a loving community is to lean on each other and support each other. it should not be a top down pyramid with a savior at the top.
PA, i still don’t think it’s cool the way you smack strangers around on the internet (those strangers being MS and AL), but this topic is a concern of mine.
Don’t be sad for agreeing with people you don’t like, if that’s what you mean. Some issues are important enough to speak about them regardless who else is talking, without the need to clarify you still don’t like them. But onto more important issues.
I’m getting lots of anons from twitter fans who’ve never sent me a message before, speaking of how worried they are about what’s happening at the moment. Saying they’ve tried to help but it is, as you say, a pyramid with a savior at the top, and many supportive fans try daily to lift the spirits of those having bad days or self-confidence issues etc, only to see them perk up and feel better IF MS is the one saying the same things, or liking their stuff.
So this is a thing, people are seeing it and worrying about it but no one seems to want to say anything on twitter, where it’s actually happening. I do understand why, though, it’s a tough one. No one wants to rock the boat and no one wants to sound rude or heartless or say anything about Michael’s lovely messages, because how can there be an issue when all that’s happening is Michael being lovely and wonderful to his troubled fans? Everything is awesome and we’re just sharing our love for him so he feels how loved he is.
But...think about how you, whoever you are reading this right now, would feel if someone you know only from internet told you day on and day off that you’re the only thing keeping them alive, that your replies mean EVERYTHING to them, that only seeing your smile every day is the reason they’re here today. Please let that sink, feel it. You open your tl and sometimes you have to scroll down because you can’t possibly reply to all of them, the same ones every day sometimes. But maybe you get a bit concerned about how some sound, so you reply as lovingly as you can. Just in case. And then another one of those. And another one. At some point you’d probably start screening and scrolling down, replying only to those who you think sound like they need your reply more.
How is that fair to you, to him, to anyone involved?
Because if you reply once, to someone, the message to others is, if I try harder, he’ll give me his attention too. What if one day you don’t see their messages and something happens? What if you decided some tweets were just over excited fans a bit too in love with you, but one day you learn they did commit some sort of self-harm because you didn’t notice them? What if they’re not seeking help, or accepting from the many ready to help in the fandom, because you’re truly their main, or only, source of help?
And what if, say, you’re going through some troubles of your own? We know Michael was, last year. How would those messages affect you then? No one knows the inner status of anyone’s mental health unless disclosed.
Some very concerned anons have gone as far as giving me specific handles and asked to please have a look at their messages and content and basically red flag them if I see something truly worrisome. I’m genuinely surprised and almost touched by the fact that someone would think I could actually help somehow...but I’m afraid that is beyond whatever help a friendly ear online can, or should, provide, my loves.
It’s indeed my background, but Profiler Anon is nothing but another stranger on internet, and me, the person behind it, would consider that type of behavior to be intrusive, especially when I don’t belong to the twitter fandom community. I don’t know anyone enough to ‘assess’ them from afar, to tell whether they should be really getting help or it’s just extremely out of proportion love/obsession for MS or something more serious.
I really wish it was that simple.
But YOU, concerned anons, friends, are the ones who can do something about it, from the community you belong to. Speak aloud if you think it’s too much. Say it, if you think Michael shouldn’t be this saviour figure to whom so many are reaching to. It’s a wonderful thing that someone like Michael cares so much and so genuinely about his fans and tries to support them, but are his fans really thinking about him as much as they surely mean to? Are they thinking of how all these messages might be affecting him?
Otherwise, dear twitter fans, I don’t know what to say. Perhaps, like I said to my other concerned anon, if you still can’t bear speaking up and voicing your concerns, just keep an eye, try to support those who seem to be too focused on MS’s validation. If you’re close to someone who’s received tons of validation and support from the community but still didn’t help because it wasn’t from MS himself, I don’t know, just keep reminding them. Keep being there for them. Just in case.
Please look after yourselves, whoever you are, wherever you are.
(ETA: as ever, I might have time to proofread this later, content will remain though.)
