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The One Ring Forums:
Tolkien Topics: Main:
Echoing Eldy echoing CuriousG (and agreeing with everyone else):
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noWizardme
Half-elven
May 19, 9:45am
Views: 7375
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Echoing Eldy echoing CuriousG (and agreeing with everyone else)
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I'm so sorry you had this hoirrid experience, AshNazg. Hateful and angry online comments are something some folks can just shrug off (or find amusing), but are really upsetting to others. I'm often in the second camp.
Do I think things have changed since 2012-13 when you and I signed up to these boards? Well yes (but also no).
Folks have already said that Tolkien fans have come from across the political spectrum for a long time. I think that developments in social media have just made it much easier for people to be really nasty to each other.
And developments in politics and current affairs have been such that more people feel threatened by one thing or another, and I think that can come out in how people approach social media. And of course it is true that there are many people and robots with a propaganda, political or commercial agenda to fulfil.
I think another thing that might have happened is that the Tolkien fandom has become big enough for new kinds of exploitation. I agree with Eldy how noticible it was that provocative rumours about ROP were circulating long before it made any sense to do more than just wait and see. I think that this was because provocation was now worthwhile (stoking the American culture war for political purposes; or for rankings in a ruthlessly competitive world of Tolkien influencers; or for commercial gain; or for online attention of other kinds).
But it was disapointing how credulous about this speculative stuff some fans seemed.
I also think that Tolkien fandom online has become big enough that more people don't care who they offend. Or at least I'm contrasting how things went in the run up to ROP with how TORN felt when I turned up. At that point it still seemed amazing to me that there was a community I could discuss Tolkien with, and I felt there was a shared sense of purpose (I imagine tha was an even stronger feeling when the site first started). I think that kept a number of us on best behaviour, and willing to swerve away from marginal subjects that might be contentious.
Of course we had a sprinkling of tedious pedants, attention-seeking smarty-pants and people who could not accept any opinion other than their own (a strange approach for someone joining a discussion site, where you'd imagine you expect to find you ideas ....discussed?). But whether a pleasant and worthwhile conversation can be maintained is about numbers and ratios of positive and negative contributions.
Like others, I really could have done without the cantankerous drunken uncle runining the family gathering with his monologue behaviour of some fans over ROP. And in some way -- I'm not sure exactly how when I don't see that kind of behaviour in such volume now -- something seems to have permanently shifted or broken in how I feel about this place. I haven't worked that out yet, or what I want to do about it.
I fear that all this will get worse.
- There are new tools - in AI and so on -- to automate the production of hateful, wrong, fake, libellous or otherwise maddening or confusing content on social media.
- I don't see our multiple current affairs crises being solved quickly.
- I have my own opinions about the quality of political candidates up for election in many different polities around the world this year.
- I also think we have entered the age of increased 'fan impotence' -- the vulnerability of caring about something deeply but having no control over it..
Concerning that last point:
Compared with the time when Tolkien (and his estate) could just sell books, really there's big money to be made (or at least sought) in Tolkien entertainment products nowadays. And a lot of that market is the casual audience, rather than the Tolkien aficionado (or asphyxionado perhaps, when I think of how some fans would like to choke the life out of anything tha doesn't exactly match how they had personally imagined Tolkien's world).
I expect ROP to be only the first media production that some fans are really going to hate vociferously from before the moment there is the slightest actual thing except rumour and prejudice to base an opinion on. I suspect that will become standard. I think many fans have become just impossible to please.
But that is the fate of all kinds of fans when the big money moves in. As a parallel I'm thinking of the exploitation of football (soccer) fans by their clubs in England. Probably it is the same elsewhere, and for other sports. The ticket prices go up and up, and yet you are not a proper fan unless you attend the games. The team strip is changed more and more often and yet you must collect it to be a proper fan. The club is brought by some dodgy reputation-laundering (or money-laundering) billionaire or corporation who can sell your favourite players, bankrupt the club, move the ground or do any number of other vexing things. It is not uncommon for fans to hold protests at games whre they boo their owners. The apparently obvous thing to do -- just switch support a better-run or less annoying club -- is I'm told impossible. The worst transgression of all is to for a soccer fan to switch alliegence.
I feel comparatively lucky here - I don't feel obliged to watch ROP, or buy the last barrel-scrapings of Tolkien's writing, or compete to be the Alpha Tolkien Nerd.
What to do then? Or, what not to do?
NoWizards seldom give unguarded advice, for advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the wise, and all courses may run ill. 
Also of course, I can't make folks less credulous, less addicted to doomscrolling, less angry, or less inclined to drunk-post. We can't make folks less enthusiastic about picking out the tiniest possible fault with shows or other fans (to show how much they know). Or to then make the greatest possible fuss about it, to show the extent of their 'passion' -- or to get clicks, likes, follows, or sales of vitamin supplemets (or because they are a propaganda 'bot stirring thinsg up).
For myself, I think I'll be taking up the advice folks here have already offered - as smaller doses of online stuff begin to affect me, I'll take less. I'll go and do something real instead. I'll do my best not to be an ass online myself. And I'll not worry about things I can't control, like the direction of the 'fandom' or what Tolkien entertainment products of the future will be like, or how the future will view Tolkien or his fans.
____
*These are all genuine -- though in my view pretty ridiculous -- historical gripes about ROP.
~~~~~~
"I am not made for querulous pests." Frodo 'Spooner' Baggins.
(This post was edited by noWizardme on May 19, 9:51am)
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Edit Log:
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Post edited by noWizardme
(Half-elven) on May 19, 9:49am
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Post edited by noWizardme
(Half-elven) on May 19, 9:51am
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