I have.... a theory about fandom and why people, particularly those younger than 25 tend to subject real human rights to fictional characters. A thread. If its not your cup of tea, please mute/block.

So, I'm making this under the assumption that roughly people at least above the age of 23 have experienced how its like to live without internet. And was there when the internet was first introduced. They were 1st users when the 1st socmed were made back in the 90s and 2000s.

Because Internet and socmed was more of a past time/luxury/hobby back then, people were able to safely distinguish online activity from RL. They usually use internet when they wish to communicate with other people, entertainment, information searching or to dabble in hobbies.

It was easy to separate one's online persona with RL. But then came the 2000s and 2010, social media evolved further and faster than we imagine, the Internet is becoming more of a necessity rather than a hobby. Safely put, you NEED Internet if you wish to live in modern society.

The line between RL and online slowly blurred, to the point where everything that they see, read, consume online bears the same emotional weight as it does IRL. Projection to fictional characters occur, the inability to separate and distinguish fiction=/=reality grows stronger.

Unlike people born before Internet became a necessity, people who are born after that has been exposed to Internet their whole lives. Everything on the Internet is as real as life to them. To some people, it IS their life. Their entire life is on the net.

People now spend more time online than they do irl. And while I can't say its a bad thing (because it really depends on the person and the situation), it does not help them from separating real life and online.

And here's the dangers of using the Internet: you have to curate your own selves. The govt/authorities can do anything they need to ensure that people are safe online, but try as they might, they can't stop people from actively searching or looking for content.

Really, the govt can try geo blocking, forcefully disconnecting, whatever it takes to make sure everything is safe, but if people have drive, then they will find it. No amount of effort will be able to stop that.

So now you have a space where you can do whatever you want, and there are no rules, no police to watch over you. You want to look for content, and you found it. But it has problematic themes.

The fictional character you associate/project/consider a representation of yourself is in a morally bad situation. They're hurting and because you associate so much with them, it feels like they are hurting you and other people who feel the same way about the character too.

Worse still, you see that there are people who want to see this! That they like these problematic content! The idea that people will put fictional characters, whom you connect with, in a setting that hurts them, unsettles you. Makes you uncomfortable. You don't like it.

But when you report it to the authorities, they say its alright! They're not doing anything. They let this happen. Because they're fictional characters, not real people. You, who feel so strongly about these characters and themes, cannot stand that.

If people were okay doing this to fictional characters, who is to say they won't do this to real people? If they have such dark thoughts, they could potentially be dangerous! They're basically criminals to you. So if authorities won't do anything, you will.

So start the bullying, fandom pollicing, dogpiling. And you will not stop because you do not feel safe until you are absolutely sure these people on the internet are gone. Such collective behaviour can result into toxic fandoms and environments.

All because they could not separate and dissociate their online life from real life. TLDR: people who go around hating on problematic content and fictional characters are people who are unable to separate online/fiction and real life. ...not like this is a new thing lmao.

Somehow this blew up more than I thought it would, so I'm muting this. Be kind everyone, and remember that behind these accounts that you see, there are people reading through your tweets and comments. Let us make fandom experience safe for everyone.

....I'm already getting comments and people getting way off track with what I'm trying to say but... Seriously how on earth did my thread lead people to this kind of assumption dhsjsb like no offence man, it is morally dubious but. Just. H O W. twitter.com/SophieTanuki/s…