Human Brian

#rant #DrWho13
Not the rant you are thinking of.

Being a fan is not a rational thing, it's an emotional one. And while we'd like to think that fans are all smart folk that stick together, it's not really true.

I've seen stars gently explain to grown fans that they are not the characters they play. I've seen flame wars over things much, much smaller than the gender of the title character of one of the most iconic SF TV shows there is.

Fandom is emotional, not rational.

Jul 17, 2017 at 11:42amWeb
Show threadHuman BrianJul 17, 2017

« So:

1) You don't get to call someone "not a real fan" if they don't like a change in a show. Even if you think they are an idiot, and the change is a good one. They may be an idiot. Still a fan.

2) There are going to be perfectly nice fans, not bigots or idiots, who are upset by #drwho13 being female. They may not be able to articulate why to your satisfaction. Tough. They have that right.

#endrant

Show threadnein09Jul 17, 2017
@shadowfirebird someone being upset by that reads to me as someone being upset that I'm as much of a person as a man is.
Show threadHuman BrianJul 17, 2017

@nein09 And sometimes that would be an apt analogy, because, let's face it, some people are a bit crap.

And sometimes it wouldn't, any more than it would be for, say, coming home to your parents for a visit and being entirely thrown because they've repainted your room.

Again: it's about emotion, not rational thought. You can't control how you feel -- although you can sure as hell control what you do about it…

Show threadnein09Jul 17, 2017
@shadowfirebird also, it's not analogy, what I said, it's really what men are upset about a lot of the time. That not all people are men.
Show threadHuman BrianJul 17, 2017
@nein09 Well, that's an enormous generalisation … which is more true than not, probably. But still a simplification.
Show threadHuman BrianJul 17, 2017
@nein09 I mean, for example: how on earth do you know they are all white?
Show threadnein09Jul 17, 2017
@shadowfirebird that's overwhelmingly who I have heard the same shit from for years and years and years.
Show threadmykola 🙃🌎🤘Jul 17, 2017

Ok sure, so it's emotional - but does that mean it's automatically ok?

There's nothing intrinsically male in the character, the creator wanted a woman doctor decades ago.

It's a constantly changing actor. I would argue that folks who are upset but can't articulate it are simply not owning their misogyny.

thought experiment: if the new doctor was a black man, do you grant that there would be similar outrage? ...would that be somehow ok?

@shadowfirebird

Show threadmykola 🙃🌎🤘Jul 17, 2017

People can be 'perfectly nice' and still hold unexamoned but toxic views, right?

Our job, as humans interested in actively and intentionally constructing a healthy society, includes discussing this phenomenon when it happens. In my opinion.

Do you disagree? @shadowfirebird

Show threadHuman BrianJul 17, 2017
@mykola
I think we should criticise people for their behaviour but allow some leeway for their feelings.
Not everyone has learned to be as emotionally mature as some of us have, and, as I have said, not all this reaction can be put down to bigotry.
Show threadmykola 🙃🌎🤘Jul 17, 2017

That's mostly fair - but aversion to woman because woman is bigotry, isn't it? Can you give an example of how it could be interpreted otherwise?

@shadowfirebird

Show threadHuman BrianJul 17, 2017
@mykola
How do you know it's "because woman"?
Example: It might be your headcanon that male and female timelords are different. (There's even some justification for that if you go back far enough, although not much, and gods knows, continuity in Who is hardly consistent.)
(Incidentally, that's not my headcanon.)
Show threadHuman BrianJul 17, 2017
@mykola
It's emotional, and therefore neither "wrong" or "right" - you can't control how you feel.
You can certainly control *what you do about* how you feel, and many people appear to be acting like arseholes, which is definitely something they should take responsibility for. (And I would personally include in this category those complaining that Ms Whittaker is white, but maybe that's just me.)
All of this, of course, is just my opinion.