Being a Snape Fan For the Win ~ Revenge is Sweet
Now that Snape has won the MTV World Cup ~ with 7.5 million votes cast for all characters in a fair contest against 63 competitors from the HP books ~ I keep thinking of all the times that certain people have accused us of "fighting" over Snape, of pushing our points too much, of not backing down when "warned," of not always following the rule to "be nice," and sometimes of not setting a good example for others (as if real life book discussion is kindergarten, and the other participants little tots who might burst into tears if they were to read an honest opinion. And meanwhile, the people telling us this and screaming the loudest are misbehaving somewhere else without remorse).
Tonight all I can think of is, to paraphrase the loser, Sirius Black, that some characters are worth fighting for.
Edited to Add for Clarity's Sake: Let it be known that the Snape fans also voted in other races, and I believe we may have steered some of those as well, considering the volume of voting that was Pro-Snape. I know that I voted for Ron almost as many times as I voted for Snape, and in other races for the past week. So I firmly believe the Snape fans were the majority voters in every race, not just for Snape.
I joined Fandom in 2003, nearly 8 years ago this August, and if I had to go back to the beginning, to the innocent newbie I was, a person who just wanted to talk about these fascinating books, I really wouldn't change anything.
Over the years, I learned to push back against the pressure to "conform" to Fandom's opinion of who is a hero or what makes a "good" character. I also learned that much of Fandom doesn't know what they are talking about. Some of them haven't bothered to read key chapters in the books, or figure out for themselves how the magic works. It's confusing why they bother talking about Harry Potter at all.
I have discovered that even "respected" fans who have the books memorized like automatons can ramble into a cul-de-sac of nonsense, or into a forest of facts without any clue of their significance. I learned that Fandom often has no respect for original thinking, or innovative theories, and sometimes the only way to get along is to become a slap-happy parrot repeating the same boring thing over and over. I'm not really gifted at doing that, and instead, I tend to say things people don't really want to hear.
But in doing so I have made some of the best and most loyal friends of my entire life. One could even call them, probably, the bravest people I've ever known. Because when the going gets tough, and the weird turn pro, and no one knows why Fandom is so screwed up on any given day, then it helps to have a supportive group of intelligent people who have your back. Yesterday, I watched those same friends celebrate and whoop their incredible joy at watching Snape get his due at last from an objective third party, but all because we as Snape fans voted - fairly - in a fair contest.
MTV gave everyone a chance to vote for their own favorite characters over two weeks. Millions of chances. And if those fans didn't vote, it is not our problem. So this time the chirping parrot twits cannot accuse the Snape fans of cheating or pulling strings or, to paraphrase loser James, merely existing.
Although one bewildered (loser) Hermione fan on the MTV Blog insisted that if we could just go back and let each user have only one vote, then all would be fair, and Hermione would win, in the best of all possible worlds. I guess she believed that because she thinks Hermione deserves popularity, while Snape does not. That because the Snape fans all over the world worked together to win this contest, something must be wrong with the system, because we, and Snape, don't deserve to win.
But please think again, dear. The Hermione fans had the exact same rules we had - they could vote as many times as they liked, just as we could. But they didn't. And it was never a close race against Snape - he had a 20 point lead over Hermione every time. Hell, he had a 20 point lead over everyone, every time. I am not a math person, but clearly One vote/ One Fan would NOT have helped Hermione at all. Nor Harry, Ron, Sirius, or James.
I think the person who wrote that was just your typical fan, distressed, illogical, and longing to tattle on the mean old Snape fans who must be doing something wrong. Winning against people like her - to paraphrase the winner, Severus Snape - is sweet revenge indeed.
Tonight all I can think of is, to paraphrase the loser, Sirius Black, that some characters are worth fighting for.
Edited to Add for Clarity's Sake: Let it be known that the Snape fans also voted in other races, and I believe we may have steered some of those as well, considering the volume of voting that was Pro-Snape. I know that I voted for Ron almost as many times as I voted for Snape, and in other races for the past week. So I firmly believe the Snape fans were the majority voters in every race, not just for Snape.
I joined Fandom in 2003, nearly 8 years ago this August, and if I had to go back to the beginning, to the innocent newbie I was, a person who just wanted to talk about these fascinating books, I really wouldn't change anything.
Over the years, I learned to push back against the pressure to "conform" to Fandom's opinion of who is a hero or what makes a "good" character. I also learned that much of Fandom doesn't know what they are talking about. Some of them haven't bothered to read key chapters in the books, or figure out for themselves how the magic works. It's confusing why they bother talking about Harry Potter at all.
I have discovered that even "respected" fans who have the books memorized like automatons can ramble into a cul-de-sac of nonsense, or into a forest of facts without any clue of their significance. I learned that Fandom often has no respect for original thinking, or innovative theories, and sometimes the only way to get along is to become a slap-happy parrot repeating the same boring thing over and over. I'm not really gifted at doing that, and instead, I tend to say things people don't really want to hear.
But in doing so I have made some of the best and most loyal friends of my entire life. One could even call them, probably, the bravest people I've ever known. Because when the going gets tough, and the weird turn pro, and no one knows why Fandom is so screwed up on any given day, then it helps to have a supportive group of intelligent people who have your back. Yesterday, I watched those same friends celebrate and whoop their incredible joy at watching Snape get his due at last from an objective third party, but all because we as Snape fans voted - fairly - in a fair contest.
MTV gave everyone a chance to vote for their own favorite characters over two weeks. Millions of chances. And if those fans didn't vote, it is not our problem. So this time the chirping parrot twits cannot accuse the Snape fans of cheating or pulling strings or, to paraphrase loser James, merely existing.
Although one bewildered (loser) Hermione fan on the MTV Blog insisted that if we could just go back and let each user have only one vote, then all would be fair, and Hermione would win, in the best of all possible worlds. I guess she believed that because she thinks Hermione deserves popularity, while Snape does not. That because the Snape fans all over the world worked together to win this contest, something must be wrong with the system, because we, and Snape, don't deserve to win.
But please think again, dear. The Hermione fans had the exact same rules we had - they could vote as many times as they liked, just as we could. But they didn't. And it was never a close race against Snape - he had a 20 point lead over Hermione every time. Hell, he had a 20 point lead over everyone, every time. I am not a math person, but clearly One vote/ One Fan would NOT have helped Hermione at all. Nor Harry, Ron, Sirius, or James.
I think the person who wrote that was just your typical fan, distressed, illogical, and longing to tattle on the mean old Snape fans who must be doing something wrong. Winning against people like her - to paraphrase the winner, Severus Snape - is sweet revenge indeed.