How do I deal with toxic fandoms (fans who cannot accept different opinions)?

[Strawberry Banana Sundae]

Reviews: Barney & Friends - IMDb
Reviews: Barney & Friends

m.imdb.com

What I have above me is one example of fragile fanbases of popular media. For some of you who don’t know, I really cannot stand this show. For me, it’s way too cheery, lacks diverse emotional expression, and the characters are too one-dimensional and irritating. But as one can expect, there will be entitled fans who will not take criticism or opinions that contrast from THEIR beliefs. There will be so many of THESE people that will quickly come to defense to it and make up lousy excuses such as “it’s a kid’s educational show”. That honestly does not give a pass to dismissing others’ indifferent opinions. I would have different reasons for disliking a children’s educational show in comparison to another (for example, I despise Caillou and Peppa Pig mainly because it teaches terrible morals to children).

But as usual, there will be an obnoxious vocal minority who expresses hypocrisy and outright ignorance. For example, one fan would get angry and claim that haters dissing their favorite show does not make them “cool”, all while dissing the same exact people. These particular fans treat people who are indifferent as though they are children and yell at them to get a life, all while throwing tantrums over poor ratings of their favorite show.

Before I end this non-related post, I want to tell you: please do not go to extreme efforts to attack somebody all because they have a different opinion/experience from you. The main post is mainly to discuss why some fandoms can be toxic. This example may seem mild in comparison to other places of media, but I really don’t want to waste my time going through all this torture. And for those who are wondering, yes, there are also hatedoms that are toxic as well, and if I have the time, I might post about that as well. All in all, many of these comments are simply just personal experiences and opinions. No hurtful/insensitive comments please. Thank you.

 

[MATD]

To my knowledge, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I hope you don’t take my comment as hurtful, etc., but that’s the risk we all take when engaging in social media. If you put yourself out there, you must be able to allow others to voice their opinion as well as yourself.