moonstone-coral:

Don’t let a “bad fandom” spoil something you enjoy

Every fandom is full of individual people and they’re all doing whatever they want. Fandom isn’t a hivemind. No one individual is responsible for policing a fandom or apologizing on behalf of a fandom. A fandom is just a group of people and some of them are assholes. Stop blaming “the fandom” and start blaming the individuals who happen to like the same thing you do but in no other way are meant to represent you, your opinions or your thoughts. The larger the fandom, the more diverse and varied the group. The more likely there will be people you disagree with.

Don’t be ashamed to be a part of any fandom, even if it’s got a bad reputation. Negativity and ugliness always attracts peoples’ attention much more than positive things and it’s easy to forget the positive or neutral interactions within a fandom.

You are NOT responsible for the actions of other people in “the fandom”. You are not responsible for representing the fandom in a certain way or being an ambassador to the fandom. You’re not responsible for the emotional reactions of people in your fandom. Enjoy the media you love, shamelessly and freely. That’s what it’s for.