Fandom, toxic fandom, and Marxism

Thinking is optional

As a Grinnell College webpage puts it: “Fan culture, or fandom, is a term which describes communities built around a shared enjoyment of an aspect of popular culture, such as books, movies, TV shows, bands, sports or sports teams, etc.” Merriam-Webster's Unabridged Dictionary speculates that “fan” might be short for “fanatic,” and its definition “an enthusiastic devotee of a sport (as baseball) or diversion (as ballet) usually as a spectator rather than a participant” dates back to 1885.

In most cases, a fan’s devotion to its cause is difficult to elucidate, and is best described as an emotional attachment. For sporting events, one usually roots for the home team, but that doesn’t explain why the passion continues if the franchise moves to a different city. Fans may follow a certain movie star, but will often root for a particular film to win Best Picture, even though the award goes to the producers. Perhaps the award validates them liking the movie?

If one is a fan of Team “A,” he will often despise its greatest rival Team “B.” Sometimes, a rivalry can get ugly, as fights in the stands are not uncommon. We can call this “toxic fandom.” That’s why followers of a particular team are generally on opposite sides of stadium, if this can be arranged.

During the 2016 election, passionate fans of Hillary Clinton inspired a phenomenon called “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” whereby an intense and generally unexplained hatred for her opponent Donald Trump emerged among millions of Democrats. When asked to articulate why they felt so negatively about Trump, they either had no answer at all, or passed off tired platitudes such as “racist” and “homophobe,” both of which could be disproved in a moment.

In reality, they hated Trump because he was a far more likable candidate, and it forced them to ponder—at least a little bit—what qualities, other than being the wife of a president, a do-nothing senator, and a pathetic Secretary of State, she brought to the table.

However, toxic fandom can be a lot more destructive than simply hating your fandom object’s opponent. Consider what happens when you add Marxism to the equation. Marxism views the world through a simplistic prism in which everything is divided between “Oppressors” or “Victims.” Usually, in this dichotomy, very little thought is given to which faction truly deserves its designation.

Given their string of woke disasters, movie studios are now going after their “toxic” fans. Anyone who doesn’t like the contemporary offerings is (yawn) racist and homophobic. After signing an ill-advised sponsorship arrangement with Bud Light, Ultimate Fighting Championship’s Dana White savagely attacked the fans for their harsh reaction to the deal.

In the current strike between SAG-AFTRA and the Producers, conventional wisdom would label the union as the victim and the producers as the oppressors. Bear in mind that the union has around 160,000 members, and they all pay dues, even though only 12.7% of the membership works enough hours to qualify for health benefits. To do so means they must earn at least $26,470 in their 12-month base earnings period.

The national initiation fee for becoming a SAG-AFTRA member is $3,000. Total annual dues include base and work dues. Base dues are $214.32 per year and work dues are 1.575% on earnings up to $500,000. Maximum total dues are $8,089.32 annually if earning over $500,000. Is the union an oppressor?

The intrusion of Marxism into fandom also explains why so many bleeding-heart Leftists, and that includes nominal “Jews” and feckless academics, support the Palestinian/Hamas cause. Who needs to think about anything when mindless Marxism will define the conflict for you?

Getting more basic: Most people delude themselves into believing that their decision-making processes are cerebral, when they’re usually limbic.