The Power of the People

By: Mark Deutsch

Fans can get a little crazy from time to time. (Credit: Theodysseyonline.com)

Fans are essential to a star’s popularity and fame; although for some celebrities, admirers go above and beyond the normal expectations of a fan.

For any comic book brands, television shows, and book authors, the need for fans is essential for survival. But there are some cases where fandoms may cross the line, a line that thankfully few groups dare to cross.

There are many different variations and words used to describe fans who turn foul, and try to harm the fandom or weaken it.

For now, the term used to identify this poisonous strain for ease of identification will be coined as a toxic person. But there is more to toxicity than just common knowledge: things for which some people would rather deny than wholeheartedly admit.

The different types of toxic fans to be covered will be ranked from not-so-bad to worst, based from a few examples that will be listed.

These are probably going to be based on the more common species of well known toxic people. Here’s something that most people wouldn’t think of as being toxic, but it does count anyway even if the action or mentality seems minor in comparison.

Rated as a minor issue is the ordinary attention seeker that says negative criticism, fires insults and faults usually on the internet where he/she knows they are safe.

This breed of fans attack because they want the attention that their criticism generates, so the best method for dealing with them is to just ignore them. Since the attention seeker can’t be penalized digitally or physically for being annoying, starving them attention-wise would be the best course of action.

Sometimes a fan will go read, play, or watch a product that they had high expectations for. If the expectation was shattered by what the artisan incorporated into that work, then they may turn toxic and try to warn others about how the product was terrible.

What is merely a matter of opinion can turn into a fan renegade and disdain—something that conflicts with a matter of opinion.

There’s also the case of when either a minor or major celebrity accrues a stalker that is possibly dangerous, which constitutes under the definition of a toxic fan.  

The case of a deranged individual trying to murder a celebrity appears to clearly constitute as toxic. This case probably involves the stalker having some kind of mental illness that may be causing the person to act out this way.

Now, what gains the “worst” rank at the bottom of the barrel as the most toxic type of  fan? It is possibly something that no one expects, and it is not a toxic person.

Fandoms as a whole can cross the line and causing more damage than a single toxic person ever could. Sometimes, a person can have a toxic personality and still be a fan and cause only some damage. The greater the number of toxic people that come together, the worse it is.

When a significant portion of a fandom turns toxic when a change is made by either the original creator or someone else, things can get nasty.

There are many more examples that could be brought up that share these common themes.

Fans can destroy and raise stars in such a frightening way, as such that it should be feared about what a mob of fans can do with such an amount of power as that in their hands.

Before a person joins a fandom, they should at the least consider if partaking in this behavior is morally right.