A note on bashing

Woohoo, I'm a great big nerd. This is old news, and also the standard disclaimer that prefaces me talking about Japan or Bollywood or Japan.

Except this time, I'm going to talk about fandom. For all you poor unenlightened folks out there who don't know what fandom is, let me clarify. A fandom describes the mostly-online (though of course convention-goers are included) community of fans for a TV show, book, movie, what-have-you. Forums, fanfiction sites, etc. are all usual fare for this crowd. Sounds geeky but fairly harmless, right?

Unfortunately, there are a lot of REALLY STUPID PEOPLE on the Internet.

And here begins my rant, which was prompted by a few crazy fandoms but can apply to even you less-than-nerdy readers....or not.

See, all the stupid people, being stupid, tend to pick a favorite character. Which would be fine, except that they then see any other character who may outshine their favorite as the worst thing since the ten plagues. And then they proceed to whine about it, loudly and publicly, through every available medium. You've all seen fools like this--the ones who comment on a Youtube video just so they can say "this is sooooo retardad :P" They can't spell, and apparently they can't think.

Because here's the thing--while characters like Edward Cullen may not be literary genius, the fact is that if the author chose to write a character a certain way, IT IS THEIR PREROGATIVE. Don't get all huffy at the rest of the world just because they clearly misunderstand poor Joe Bob--he's not really evil, and the protagonist of the story is obviously a pitiful weakling who deserves to die!

Here I would go on to talk about how just because a character is attractive DOES NOT MEAN THEY ARE GOOD. But I don't think you want to read about it, and I don't really feel like expounding. It's as simple as "Evil=/=Ugly". QED, and all that.

Anyways, this habit of character bashing is immature and uncalled for. It's fine if you don't like something. It's fine if you speak up about not liking something. Just don't make other people submit to your opinions, because regardless of what you yourself think, you are NOT the world's foremost expert on these characters. That would be the author.

You ask, perhaps, why I've decided to share this rather random rant with you all?

Well. Here's a little something I think you will enjoy. What happens when fanbrats don't get quashed and pronto?

You get RUSSET NOON. Also known as the UNOFFICIAL TWILIGHT SEQUEL. Cringe, I tell you, cringe.

God knows I am.