Fanbase Wars

AKA: Everyone involved in this is an idiot
I've been actively Twittering for a good year now, and I think I'm finally starting to understand it. In terms of networking, it's pretty much perfect for building casual ties to people of a similar interest and keeping in touch with a community. Given it has a less personal nature, you don't feel at all awkward 'following' a total stranger, whereas on Facebook becoming somebody's 'friend' whom you've never met feels equatable to lunging on a passer-by in the street.


This has allowed fanbases to seamlessly come together in a massive online arena. Personally, I seem to have got myself into Portsmouth FC and Formula One circles, which gives me plenty of chance to keep in touch with the general opinions and latest news regarding the areas of interest. It took me a while to really get to grips with this point, but now I've really learned to appreciate how Twitter has aided me in that respect.

However, I am lucky enough to engage in subjects that (on a whole) are devoid of cretinous dullards. On the surface of Twitter lies the major fanbases that threaten to tear your faith in humanity to a catastrophic oblivion, and then shit on in just to be sure. The discussion that occurs in other fanbases becomes a reactionary, rage-filled shouting match for others. It is filled with mantras, emotive bewitchery, spite and delusion.

There's no prizes for guessing what sort of thing I'm on about here. Yes, Justin Bieber. Yes, One Direction. Lady Gaga. JLS. Jonas Brothers. You know the drill. I guess it's not a surprise that the most obnoxious fanbases come from the pop-acts that specifically target teenagers, but the effectiveness they drive up a complete frenzy within their support is astonishing and frightening.

Let's take Justin Bieber as the main example. I want to be clear that I have absolutely nothing against the poor woman, but the self-appointed "Beliebers" are a spectacular culture that rings scarily close to a modern day Third Reich. No, honestly, look at some of their similarities: They both worship an almighty leader, they both have total and utter blind faith in their almighty, they both attack those who dare question the leadership, they both have a set of catchphrases that pledge allegiance to the almighty, they both celebrate those who show the most loyalty towards the almighty, and they both hate Jews. (That last one may be a fabrication of sorts).

Don't believe me still? (God, you are a persistent blighter) Alright, let's take a few tweets from these Beliebers. One Belieber tweets "We will support Justin, no matter what". Ooh, what even if he started killing Jews? See, Nazis. Then another one writes:  "When Believe tickets go on sale, World War III will start." OH MY GOD I WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG. NAZIS! NAZIS!

OK, I'm exaggerating but there's a great deal of over-protection and sensitivity regarding this sort of thing (and I'm not just referring to Bieber, this can apply to any of the ones I mentioned earlier - Bieber is just the example I'm going to go with). So much so that fans will often pre-emptively defend their hero. One girl, simply calling herself Girl of Bieber, sassily writes "Boy: I hate Justin Bieber. Girl: No, you hate the fact that you're NOT Justin Bieber." This biting wit towards something that she made up, though admittedly breathtaking in it's intellect, seems like a tremendously unnecessary defence against no-one. Another writes "you hate justin bieber? Cool, I love him.". Again, I must emphasize the fact that this was written towards nobody.

We can see this in trending topics as well. Often there will be one referring to Justin Bieber festering away on the screen, with the Beliebers all assuring themselves that they have proven their great leader's credentials in the music world with a display of his fanbase's enormity. This can often lead to comical scenes when, due to the saturation of Bieber posts, a large influx of Justin Bieber tweets are no longer possible and it becomes more difficult to trend. The fanbase then assumes that Twitter is conspiring to work against them and trend Bustin Jieber in a bizarre protest.

Then things get more interesting when the fanbases begin fighting with each other. I'm not really sure what happened, but I gather there was a row between Lady Gaga and Madonna fans, which ended in both of them pushing to trend a RIP for their opposite star. Sometimes they even end up fighting with themselves. After a few more hoax RIP trends, people started to declare that it meant 'Really Inspiring Person'. With this in mind, 'RIP Nicki Miniaj' started trending, which prompted Nicki Miniaj fans to become furious about another supposed hoax. It was like watching ants fight in a jar.

It all seems like the hardening of skin against potential wounds. To be fair, this is only what you might expect. Many of these fanbases primarily consist of teenage girls, and the popstars they idolise today are subjected to the internet in which all the criticism towards them is mightily exposed. It's perhaps not surprising that they end up feeling very protective over their heroes. While they do come across as obnoxious, frenzied and downright irritating, we all had our phases in teenage years where we idolized one thing or another. The teen icons of today, despite a more sporadic market, focus in on only a few huge stars, giving us their massive fanbases that unfortunately have the numbers to dominate Twitter, but it's only fair that we let them have their time of fandom before Justin Bieber takes the Macauly Culkin route or JLS split up, or however their careers all end in a few years time.

One thing I would add though, is that the trending topics such as 'Pray for Belieber Lizzie' are sickening. While I can appreciate that young people are highly falliable, this seems to suggest a moral misfiring that is more difficult to justify. True or not, the story of a five-year-old girl dying is not something that should be used to push forward a fanbase, and by labelling it with a title like 'Belieber Lizzie' you are making it crystal clear that the only reason you feel she is worthy of a hint of concern is her love for Justin Bieber. After all, you'd never see anything like "Pray for coca-cola Mark" or "RIP Labour Jim", because it would be downright heinous.

Other than that... as you were, Twitter.