The biggest normalization crime of fandom is actually the normalization of fandom itself. The mainstream was never supposed to be so aware of fandom on such a wide scale. And the awful crusades to make fandom more “palatable” or “PR friendly” are some of the worst results of this culture shift. Fandom shouldn’t have PR. It should not have to reshape it’s entire foundation and culture so mainstream media, governments, and cops will tolerate it. The opinions of such groups shouldn’t be factored in at all. They’re not supposed to be part of it.
Casual fans are fine. But there’s too many “general audience” fans who don’t understand what fandom is now stomping around and trying to act like some “civilizing” force for fandom or something. Or just insisting on being in fandom spaces while having extreme disdain and mocking attitude for the culture. Because all/most of what they learned about fandom they learned from the mainstream media, instead of the fandoms themselves.
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