The Disconnect of Fandom and Nerd Culture

[theotherbaldwin]

Originally posted by neo_prodigy at The Disconnect of Fandom and Nerd Culture

A couple of buddies requested that I post this comment as a standalone post:

Recently box_in_the_box was having a discussion on his blog about fandom and nerd culture and why a subgroup comprised of marginalized peeps and outcasts insulating themselves from the oppressive mainstream still fails

Comments

[akktri]

I think a lot of problems people have with fandom is that they want it to be something like an IDEAL family or an IDEAL church community. (I say IDEAL because I'm sure you can point out many churches that aren't perfect for this analogy.)
They want love, forgiveness, caring, sharing, charity, and other things, but it doesn't work to fill up that vacuum because it doesn't operate in the same fashion. Fandom is profit oriented, the people in it don't take as much shit without dishing it out, and it's pretty much the same experience as high school. You can be an outcast, you can be in a clique, you can be popular in a nice or not so nice fashion, or you can just have a handful of friends that you hang out with and have fun with those friends and try to avoid the jerks.
Unlike churches or families, fandom has no real universally agreed upon standard of caring or acceptance. IDEALLY, churches and/or families are expected to welcome everybody. There's no rule that says a Star Wars convention has to behave like a church and welcome everybody in without paying. There's no rule that any fandom has to be a charity, either.
In summary, I think people just expect too much from these fandom type groups, and shouldn't act surprised when they don't live up to their lofty ideals.