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A Love Letter to People Who Believe in People

(www.swiss-miss.com)
377 points NaOH | 1 comments | 24 Apr 25 22:35 UTC | HN request time: 0.204s | source
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HanClinto ◴[25 Apr 25 14:08 UTC] No.43793725[source]▶
This is so needed. This was a very encouraging article.

"Being a fan is all about bringing the enthusiasm. It’s being a champion of possibility. It’s believing in someone. And it’s contagious. When you’re around someone who is super excited about something, it washes over you. It feels good. You can’t help but want to bring the enthusiasm, too."

Stands in contrast to the Hemingway quote: "Critics are men who watch a battle from a high place then come down and shoot the survivors."

It feels socially safe, easy, and destructive to be a critic.

I'd rather be a fan.

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pjc50 ◴[25 Apr 25 14:25 UTC] No.43793906[source]▶
Yes, but .. there is no worse critic than a scorned fan. There's a lot of fandoms all around the world, and while they're mostly harmless fun the edges can get weird and dangerous. Or when fandoms collide.
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HanClinto ◴[25 Apr 25 14:42 UTC] No.43794109[source]▶
Not entirely sure what you mean. Care to expound?

Are you talking about people who act out on their fandom by criticizing others? "Oh I'm a fan of X, therefore I'm a vocal critic of Y". I agree that such things are toxic -- fandom doesn't need to be a polemic.

I want to cultivate the kind of fandom that builds up without feeling a need to tear down others.

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1. bombcar ◴[25 Apr 25 15:12 UTC] No.43794403[source]▶
They're referring to "anti fans". You see it with online personalities especially; the most rabid fans (often parasocial, think online streaming) are the ones who will become the biggest detractors or anti fans.

Most people are "oh that's fun to watch ok" and then when they don't like it anymore, they get bored and forget about it entirely.

The anti-fans continue to follow it, but rabidly hate it.

Think Syndrome from Incredibles. He's always been the biggest fan.