A simple question with a simple answer.

[TheBreaker3321]

There's an adage on the internet that I have admittedly entertained a number of times in relation to fandom. It says that nobody hates Star Wars or Sonic or Pokémon more than their owns fans. I'd like to say now that I have begun to doubt the credibility of this adage. After doing much introspection on my life as a fan of Sonic the Hedgehog, and dealing with its supposed consequences, I would like ask a simple question that I believe has a simple answer.

Does everything that Sonic and the fandom do equal to causing 9/11?

I could ask this question when it comes to any and all fandoms, truly, whether it be RWBY or Rick and Morty or Steven Universe or whatever you may have in mind.

It's a simple question with a yes or no answer.

If your answer is yes, then you need to be blocked without second though.

If your answer is no, however, then you must under perfectly that there are far more pressing matters than either a video game not meeting your standards or a conflict on the internet. You should understand that a blow to your ego is not the worst thing to ever happen to humanity as a whole. People argue over different opinions everyday whether it's about pineapple on pizza or a something in entertainment. Ever since to mid 2000s, however, moralistic outrage over fandom has blasted off to frankly ridiculous heights. I believe if Beatlemania were still a thing today, it would be called the most toxic fandom without a shadow of a doubt. Regardless of my own experiences as a Sonic fan, I believe that something can be said of the current attitudes towards the franchise and its fandom. I refuse to label the fandom of Sonic, or any other for that matter, as toxic. Why? Toxic is a word that has no meaning. It's a thought-terminating cliche. People love to accuse fans of being obsessed with something that the nonfan would not dare to touch. To that assumption I ask two questions. Is that not the point, and are you sure you're not obsessed yourself? Let me explain. Bullies especially on the internet are terrifying masters of deception. They have the ability to psychologically project nailed down to a secret ninja spell. Haters are the ones who are truly obsessed with what they claim to hate, not fans. People may attempt to hit back with another tired catchphrase of everyone being entitled to their opinion, but there is still no guarantee of that theoretically or physically. Even if you have your own perspective of something, you are still subject to challenge, and to grant a sort of special privilege to people who insist upon that is simply that. People can believe all they want about Sonic supposedly being bad, but even then they're still delaying the inevitable. Change happens. It doesn't matter what happened in these games, they do not cement Sonic's position for life.

[Cosmos Rogue]

What in tarnation.

[Palas]

I was absolutely positive, up until opening this thread, no one in the world would compare whatever happens in Sonic online communities to an event that killed 2,996 people and catalyzed two wars of invasion with direct US involvement, plus many more conflicts indirectly, also ushering an era of increasingly common employment of state of exception in major world powers to sustain belligerence towards non-state actors in a paradigm that some scholars would claim all but eroded Westphalia (i.e.: the nation-state) as we once knew.

Now I'm not so sure.

[Danj86]

Fascinating.

At first glance, I thought this was an elaborate troll thread, but I can't help but feel that some of the words said in the OP sound profound. (While others are worrying.) I wonder if that is because of my Asperger's? Either way...

3 hours ago, TheBreaker3321 said:

There's an adage on the internet that I have admittedly entertained a number of times in relation to fandom. It says that nobody hates Star Wars or Sonic or Pokémon more than their owns fans. I'd like to say now that I have begun to doubt the credibility of this adage. After doing much introspection on my life as a fan of Sonic the Hedgehog, and dealing with its supposed consequences, I would like ask a simple question that I believe has a simple answer.

I can tell you right off the bat that this adage is incorrect. For the most part at least. Sometimes, I'm not sure.

What I'm trying to say is generally, when a person is so invested in an IP that they frequently talk about it, that can only come from a place of interest. If the person didn't like the IP, they wouldn't spend so much time talking about it. Of course, what an individual believes an IP should be and what the IP holders turn it into, are not always the same thing.

3 hours ago, TheBreaker3321 said:

Does everything that Sonic and the fandom do equal to causing 9/11?

I could ask this question when it comes to any and all fandoms, truly, whether it be RWBY or Rick and Morty or Steven Universe or whatever you may have in mind.

I assume some back story must exist behind this statement. I can surmise that it references how people perhaps take entertainment too seriously and when it goes in a direction they don't like, they act like it's the worse thing ever?

If that's indeed what it is meant to mean, I can understand it to some degree. After all, most of us in western countries have had a very good life and sometimes take that for granted. Especially when our ancestors had to go through so much to get us this life. Perhaps the statement insinuates that we should have more perspective and appreciate what we have? That would probably be fair to a certain degree. I'd only extend it to those that take things too far, as humans, we naturally get invested in things we like, so some emotional investment is inevitable. After all, "You can't see the forest for the trees." is a popular idiom for a reason.

3 hours ago, TheBreaker3321 said:

Toxic is a word that has no meaning. It's a thought-terminating cliche. People love to accuse fans of being obsessed with something that the nonfan would not dare to touch.

Actually, Toxic means poisonous. That's the first literal definition. But I'm only saying that as a joke, especially with how overused the word has become. So I think I understand what you mean.

3 hours ago, TheBreaker3321 said:

Bullies especially on the internet are terrifying masters of deception. They have the ability to psychologically project nailed down to a secret ninja spell. Haters are the ones who are truly obsessed with what they claim to hate, not fans. People may attempt to hit back with another tired catchphrase of everyone being entitled to their opinion, but there is still no guarantee of that theoretically or physically. Even if you have your own perspective of something, you are still subject to challenge, and to grant a sort of special privilege to people who insist upon that is simply that. People can believe all they want about Sonic supposedly being bad, but even then they're still delaying the inevitable. Change happens. It doesn't matter what happened in these games, they do not cement Sonic's position for life.

I....do actually see that a lot these days. As in, people projecting themselves onto others, specifically, a negative trait. I'm not sure how that fits in with Sonic and I'm not fully sure what the OP is saying in it's closing words.

Wait....maybe...if one Sonic game is bad, it doesn't mean the next one will be? I'm sure somebody would pick-a-part a claim like that, after all, ign famously once said "Sonic was never good." I think every fandom has it's own self proclaimed smart mouth that often brings down the mood. Sometimes that's me.

But I just think it's better to like what you like and not sweat what others think. That's true for all entertainment, I think.

Edited December 18, 2023 by Danj86

[Strickerx5]

Please don't relate the ongoing of an entertainment series about a blue hedgehog to real life events.

Locking thread.