Community is a term I’ve grown to despise. I’m not sure when this happened, but it must’ve been when everything started to be a community of sorts. Best example would be Fighting Game Community. There isn’t one. It’s just a catchall term for “people who play fighting games.” The whole community bit would indicate there’s this one massive blob of people who are categorized into one fitting slot, something that describes the bottom-most common point between these players, massively devaluing individuals and their own circles all the while dehumanizing all but the biggest names that supposedly represent some sort of leadership.
It’s a damn marketing move, easily putting people into categories of Us and Them, the true believers who support whatever your fandom circles around and the people who are detrimental to it. Companies love to stoke this fire, as it creates emotional connection with the brand they’re selling.
Everybody innately knows this, but it’s so easy to just to say community as it’s supposed to have a much better ring to it than fanbase or target consumer group or whatever past buzzwords the marketing teams used to have. Every customer group have always spit into uncounted smaller groups, which function differently from one another. Some fans of Star Wars have never played the role-playing games, while some of the tabletop players have never touched the Rogue Squadron series. These two groups supposedly belong into this massive umbrella of Star Wars fan community and that is outright stupidity. These two supposed groups don’t even play via the same medium, probably have very different view on Star Wars in general.
The split is like saying PC and console players belong into a same category, and the moment that’s stated some PC-only consumer will have their hair raised and spouts about the superiority of the PC hardware to never-changing console hardware. It’s still easy, because it still creates the image of wholesome community of likeminded people coming together to celebrate a brand, or in other words, to give free public PR and to consume whatever it is sold to them.
Companies don’t exactly like to count detractors and heavy critics as part of the community they like to sell to. Nowadays its not too uncommon to see social media manager to say that their brand community doesn’t need certain kind of people, or are not welcome in it despite these shunned people are just as valid customers. Message be damned, the whole term is confusing the marketers and people trying to manage the brands, causing readily splintered fandom to be at odds with itself even more.
Community implies participatory actions as well, requiring the fans actively take part of events, streams and whatnot. The whole shitshow sounds like a cult circulating around brands, but that’s the best outcome for these companies. They get fully loyal and fanatic consumers who build majority of their self-identity and interests around their brand, yielding a zealot defender whenever things change. At the same time, there will be a countering factor that will openly and loudly denounce the brand, often continuing to criticize the brand and the company, or keeping the brand in the minds the shunned and outcasts. Even bad PR will keep the brand relevant, hence the only way to kill a brand is to ignore it wholesale and make it irrelevant. Worst things you can do is to move unto greener fields.
There’s no reason for companies to silence their media critics, because that’s part of the PR now. On top of that, yelling at the top of the soapbox is now someone’s job on Youtube, raking in money by spouting the same shit the Nth time. When South Park made that episode about culture wars, some latched on the whole Put a chick in it and make it gay bit while ignoring the episode also criticizing the people yelling about it and promoting it. That said, the Message and diversity has always been the least of the issues with e.g. Disney era Star Wars. The issue is that they have nothing but sloppy writing and no plans where to take things. Everything else is just a symptom of this.
On the opposite side of the isle are the leaders of the community. Million subscriber Youtubers and influencers of whatever social media you have. These are the people communities circle around and build up. They get all the connections with the companies and trickle down information other forms of media don’t necessarily get. They might have their own groove going on, but ultimately have to tow the line in order to be good buddies with the companies. That’s their job; being a sort of freelance PR face that’s an arm length’s away from the company. There’s plausible deniability when products are showcased, yet they get all that stuff through sponsors and get early codes for free or get invited for special events for more PR content. In old parlance, they’d be called sellouts.
For companies, both sides are important regarding longevity and relevance of the brand. As long as they can keep things at the top of customers’ heads, they’ll make money somehow.
However, when the mass market, the mainstream consumers or the general public loses interest in your particular product, that “community” had better be full of whales large enough to keep these brands afloat. When the mainstream grows tired of the PR heads and critics as well, the game is already lost.
Frankly, I find the constant potshots and political war-ticking in articles and videos I go through distasteful. The whole culture war mindset hasn’t just poisoned the well, but also the brains and mindsets of people who used to do direct, objective commentary. All of it is so tiresome, and I’ve seen movements in the mainstream feeling the same. If the mainstream media were not worth consuming, neither would the criticism of it be either. There are better pastures, better media to see and hear.
Hence the title. Detaching from the whole media war that’s raging on social media seems to be the only healthy thing to do nowadays. We all are responsible on the media we consume. You don’t need to be a part of some larger community, especially if it is corporate driven. Influencers should be background noise at best, giving variety of different points of views. Ultimately, there’s only one you and its your call how you’re going to spend your limited time on this Earth. Unless its your job, or for entertainment while waiting things to happen, flamewars on social media might not be the best way to spend time. Let someone be wrong on the Internet, you’ve got better shit to do.
Aaltomies 