If you have followed my writings on Odyssey for the past few months, or have seen my biography on my Odyssey profile, you know that I consider myself a "self-hating millennial." If you want to know why, it's because millennials do some weird f*cked-up shit.
In one of my past articles, I talked about a bunch of things that I hate on the Internet. However, that article didn't even scratch the surface of everything I hate on the Internet. Because the Internet is a fucking cesspool of disgusting hobbies and activities.
One of the things I despise on various social media sites is the stan accounts.
No, not fans, stans. There's a huge difference.
While fan is short for "fanatic," that can lead to crazy behavior. Stan might as well be a nickname for "Satan," because I'm not sure what it is short for, and it might as well be shot for Satan, because of the way stans behave online.
Stans are way worse than fans could ever be. That's why there's an extra letter in their name.
We all have seen a stan in action. They're the ones who tweet in all lowercase letters, or reply with a gif from a reality tv personality. They call they're favorite person "mom" or "dad," which in my opinion, is just weird and I have no idea where it came from. They're the ones who combine their favorite person's name with the words "queen" or "god" or "goddess" or "slay" or "bae" or anything else.
They sound innocent on paper. So, why are they so dangerous?
In my article about the things I hate on the Internet, I talked about how people praise pettiness and can send hate to someone for things that that person might not have even had control over. Those things are all done by the stans, who feel like they have to defend their favorite person. Irregardless of how their favorite person actually feels about the incident. Sometimes, this even leads to death threats and offensive remarks being made.
Now sometimes, there are legitimate incidents that need to be called out. I called out Kim and Kanye when they used Taylor Swift's naked body without her permission, because it was a form of sexual harassment that I felt needed to be called out.
It's not okay to send hate and/or "call someone out" for small instances that probably don't matter. And that's what most stans do.
I understand the need to defend people you love, but at the end of the day, you don't know these people, and they can stand up for themselves if they feel something is wrong. But if they are okay and accepting of the situation, or choose not to speak about it publicly, that means you should be too.
We have real issues going on that deserve our anger. There are children being separated from their parents. The Earth is getting hotter. People are getting raped and assaulted. That's what we need to talk about. That's what we need to get mad about.
Your favorite singer not getting a Grammy isn't important. Your favorite queen on "Drag Race" getting eliminated isn't important. Your favorite person being targeted on "Big Brother'' isn't important.