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Why do non fans try so hard to engage with fandom?
(sopuli.xyz)
“never read a comic” part though just hurts any argument.
Actually, no, it doesn’t hurt any argument, and I will prove it to you.
Let’s look at some arguments against Batman.
“He beats up poor people.”
You could, again, say this about any rich superhero, but Batman doesn’t “beat up poor people.” Most of the people he fights are rich and wealthy crime lords who hurt innocent people in his city. That’s what the entire Court of Owls storyline is about. And even if the criminals are poor, these are still people who are going out of their way to choose to rape, kill, and maim people. The criminals who are criminals because they are poor—Batman gives them tons of job opportunities.
If someone is a pimp who pimps out underage girls, and is a rapist, an assassin, or a gang leader, should we not stop them because “they are poor”? Especially when they make so much money they could retire or go legit?
“He beats up the mentally ill.”
Again, Joker is doing what he’s doing because he wants to, and this is an insult to mentally ill people, because there are tons of mentally ill people who choose not to commit evil acts and want to treat their mental illness. Batman’s rogues gallery is not—and again, most supervillains are mentally ill—so this point is stupid.
“He recruits children.”
Teen Titans—the sidekicks of damn near every League member. And then they might say, “Well, they have powers.” They are still fighting threats that can kill them. Also, by this argument, you’re basically saying a teen should not be a superhero because he has no powers.
“Why doesn’t he use his wealth to help Gotham?”
Literally every comic, animated show, and movie shows he’s using his wealth to help Gotham.
People who use these arguments literally have not read a comic, nor are they Batman or DC/Marvel fans in general.
"probably just want to be included in the discussion"
If you have no real knowledge of something you can't discuss it.
If you don’t have knowledge of something, then you can’t really discuss it. Someone can’t and shouldn’t talk about Israel vs. Palestine if they don’t know anything about the history of the conflict.
And I think there are objectively some things that make you a fan of something, especially when most arguments against Batman are false. If you read one issue of one comic, or watch ONE episode—hell, HALF an episode—of Batman, how can you claim to be a fan of something, yet know NOTHING about the character outside of surface-level stuff?
Do I like Mario? Sure. Do I like his games? Sure. Did I like the movie? Yeah. Did I like the second one? No, not really. Am I a fan of Mario? No. Do I like it? Sure—but I don’t know much about the character to say I’m a fan. I can at least admit it.
Do I like Star Trek? Yes. Am I a ‘Trekkie’? No, because I only really like the three Star Trek movies with Chris Pine, the Original Series, and TNG and Voyager—and that’s it. So I’m not a ‘fan,’ and it would be disingenuous for someone to say, ‘you aren’t a Trekkie or a real Mario fan,’ and then for me to get offended when I genuinely am not.