codenamecesare:

Here are the six stages of a toxic fandom, as perfectly expressed by author Sam Sykes:

1. “I love this”

2. “I own this”

3. “I control this”

4. “I can’t control this”

5. “I hate this”

6. “I must destroy this”

But to be fair to the awful fans and their stupid, entitled rage, brands absolutely want you to be obsessed with their product, to treat it like a religion, a lifestyle – that weird sense of exclusive ownership comes with it. Politicians do the same – when a guy at a podium says, “We need to take our country back!” the cheering crowd thinks the USA is “their” country for the same reason those Star Wars fans think the franchise belongs to them: Because it profited someone else to make them think it.

This creates confusion about what we as individuals own and are owed, a confusion that will continue throughout your life, until one day you will find yourself in a hospital bed, your organs shutting down without your permission, at which point you’ll realize the answer to both of those questions was always “Nothing.”

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“Why You’re Being Kept in a Constant State of Impotent Rage” by David Wong