You just watched the new Star Wars movie. You leave the theater feeling happy and inspired. You turn to Twitter to voice your satisfaction so your fellow Star Wars nerds can rejoice with you. Big mistake. Turns out a LOT of fans HATED the movie and MUST tell you that your viewpoint is INVALID. Suddenly, a family of fans becomes a battleground of caps lock, blocking, and sharing screenshots of conversations in hopes of getting your account banned. All you did was say you liked a few scenes in The Last Jedi.

Don’t block me just yet! I didn’t like The Rise of Skywalker, so I’ve experienced what it’s like to be on the opposite side of this scenario – although, I did not take it out on the people who liked it. More power to you if you liked TROS. It must be liberating to feel that 40+ years of an iconic, interstellar family feud was wrapped up nicely. I wish I shared your optimism.

I get it, Star Wars is a hot-button issue. It goes beyond a series of movies; it reaches out and embeds itself into our memories of movie nights with parents, playing with siblings, deep discussions with peers, gaming with friends, and cosplaying with fellow nerds. You saved a screenshot of your one Tweet Mark Hamill liked, and you still check on the close cadre of international friends you made when Stars Wars came to life for all of you. (Prequel Besties, my fam!)

But what about fandoms within the anime and gaming genres; are they safe? After all, individual shows and video games aren’t as widely celebrated as Star Wars is. Nope, NOT safe! You’ll still find toxic outbursts in those fandoms, too. How did sharing common interests get so ugly?

The internet. Thanks, Al Gore. (90s kids will not be seated during this portion of the blog.) The internet is a tool that provides a vast well of knowledge from which we can draw, and it allows us to communicate with people across the globe. It’s become a staple in our daily lives. But the internet has been around for 37 years, and fandom feuds seem to be an increasing issue in recent years. (Then again, a lot of us nerds haven’t been around for 37 years.) So, what’s more recent? The rise of social media.

Myspace (now I’m really dating myself) was created 17 years ago. That, for teenaged me at the time, was the start of it all. Social media took off when Facebook and Twitter came into the picture. Then, with the popularization of smartphones, apps like Instagram and TikTok (*shudders*) were born, and social media became nearly impossible to put down. (If you’ve managed to curb your social media habits, I applaud you, and I wish to learn your secrets.)

Suddenly, we all have a virtual voice, and, if we’re lucky, a sizable number of people interested in hearing that voice. I mean, they follow us for some reason. And it’s easy to let that attention go to our heads. Social media is very self-focused – what can I do to gain recognition? I look nice in this picture. I have something clever to say.

So when something in media exists that’s not to my liking, I have a voice to speak out against it. And, since this is a social sphere, many others who also buy into the “the world revolves around me” lie (consciously or not) are there to lend their own voices and shoot down opposition. But, if we swallow our pride and get real, we’re just wannabes. What have we accomplished, other than being virtually loud and proud? But then… our favorite actor speaks up within our favorite fandom! Their input must automatically supersede anything we nobodies have to say. I mean, they’re practically best buds the writers/directors/producers, right?