Not too long ago I got into an internet hullaballo when I made what I thought was a casual comment on a thread in a Facebook community. Many Facebookers were talking about how excited they were for the new Bill and Ted movie, a sequel that was made quite awhile after the first two movies. In this thread I mentioned that I wasn’t that excited about seeing the film. That I was just kind of “Meh” about the prospect of seeing the new B&T movie.

And the response was a flood of blood curdling vitriol. I was showered with F-Bombs and angry responses, so much so that I deleted the comment. I mentioned this incident on my personal Facebook, and while most of my FB friends were also kind of meh or said they liked the film, I was singled out for an attack again, this time by a Facebooker who went as far as proclaiming, (On his own Facebook, not in the comment thread on my post,) that people who openly held their nose at Bill and Ted should be dragged into an alleyway and be beaten until they lost a kidney or an eye. The entire premise of his violent declaration is that their enjoyment and appreciation for Bill and Ted was being ruined by Mehers and nose holders of the movie, that either their approval or personal self censoring of any negative opinions, (Or even ‘meh’ opinions,) was required in order for them to bask in the glory of Bill and Ted. In other words, we weren’t letting them enjoy things.

Indeed, in other corners of thee internets many Bill and Ted fans have had really vitriolic reactions to anyone who expressed disinterest or disdain at the new movie. I was far from the only one being targeted by frothing Bill and Tedders. It got so bad that I went as far as qualifying my statement, saying I was merely “meh” at the prospect of seeing the film and was not criticizing the film itself, which I cannot do since I haven’t seen it.

It’s another corner of the “Let people enjoy things” concept, something that comes up now and then.

A popular meme that pops up on
social media now and then

Everyone can relate. Whatever you’re into, whether it’s a show or a books series or whatever realm you’re a fan of, you’ve no doubt come across detractors who have held their nose at whatever it is you love and may have even disdained the followers of a particular fandom. The example I used in one of the B&T threads was my love of sports.

Yes, I am one of many sports fans who root for a team. I have been a 49ers fan since I was very young, and that’s my main team. I love watching the NFL. I also enjoy basketball, baseball, and follow the San Jose Sharks. And yes, I have become quite irritated at detractors of team sports. If I had a dime for every time someone asked me “Oh, are you watching the sportsball?” or saw yet another Julie Andrews dancing on the mountain meme declaring “This is me not caring about (Insert type of sports) Season!”

I wince whenever someone says “Sportsball”. And myself and all of my sports fan brethren have had to put up with plenty of mockers. But I’ve never gotten so agitated that I felt I needed to gather up a bunch of obnoxious NFL fans and drag one of the sports detractors in an alleyway so they could be permanently maimed by our anger. And I don’t think about these detractors when I’m cheering my lungs out for my 49ers, or whatever team I’m rooting for in whatever game I am watching at the time. (I always choose sides!)

It seems to me that most people bring up the “Let people enjoy things” concept when something they love is being mocked, and they’re tired of getting bagged on for loving something in particular. I even had one of those Let-People-Enjoy-thingsers tell me that it didn’t apply to sports, only to things that were considered nerdy or weird, which I don’t believe is really in the spirit of the whole concept.

Given that, let me bring up a much maligned fandom of which I am neither a part of, nor a detractor of.

I can think of no fandom that gets more flack than the legions of Twilight fans, lovers of the books and the movies and the teeming armies of fans whose loins ache for thee Robert Pattinson.

I have never read any of the Twilight books, and I have only seen the first movie. A woman I was dating years ago insisted that I watch it as a condition of our relationship. I thought it wasn’t a bad movie, but I wasn’t enthralled or captivated by it either. I did think it was interesting how they fashioned vampire cultures, how there were different clans of vampires and how they made them dynamic and varied with different living dead philosophies.

Even so I personally don’t have a strong opinion of Twilight, either way. Yet I have seen over and over again people denigrate the sparkly vampires, compare Pattinson’s character with the Lost Boy Vampires or the supreme vampire himself, Bela Lugosi. Over and over again I have listened to people just dump all kinds of negativity, not just on Twilight, but also on the many fans and followers of the fandom, calling them lame and stupid for liking such an “awful” series.

So where is the “Let people enjoy things” attitude when it comes to Twilight? Has it occurred to the many detractors to hold off on posting nasty memes and shutting their traps so that the members of the Twilight fandom can enjoy their books, movies, and fan fiction in peace? I can tell you this: A lot of Twilight fans deflect the criticism pretty well. Some of them are defensive about it, but others scoff at the haters, and declare that they don’t need other people’ approval to enjoy Twilight. Yet others get really self-conscious about it, and the heaps of criticism and derision does affect them. Indeed, I have had a few people, (Not all of them twilight fans,) “confess” that they’ve read one or more of the books.

But what can you do when you have an opinion? If the thought of sparkly vampires makes you gag, do you really have to put a lid on it? If you think Bill and Ted movies are dumb, what’s wrong with saying that?

Or is it the way you express your criticism. If you don’t like something, do you really need to make your opinion that sharp? If you really don’t like something, should you hold off on derogatory memes to spare the fandom?

Many people don’t like team sports. And there are real reasons why someone might find American Football to be distasteful: It’s a violent game, it causes a myriad of health problems and serious brain injuries, many of the people involved in football are quite conservative. It’s also run by a large multi-billion dollar corporation which has more than few problems when it comes to fair trade and practice.

Some people who have denigrated Twilight point out that there are sexist under and overtones in the work, some of which could be harmful, because it normalizes obsessive behavior, that some of the characters are practically stalkers, and that makes the story quite pernicious when it comes to gender dynamics.

But then again most people who disdain football or Twilight do not actually bring up any of these points. The basic premise of these haters is that teams sports and sparkly vampires are “Stupid” and “lame”.

All I can say is, yeah, people should have opinions. But if you don’t like a thing, maybe not bag on the people who do. I feel no need to dump on Twilight fans, and I can honestly say I have nothing against people who are ga ga over Bill and Ted, even though they would insist I do because I went “Meh”. I have to ask, is your enjoyment really dependent on what other people think of it? Or can you enjoy something regardless of what others think of it? When I’m shouting my lungs out for my beloved Niners I don’t think about the sportsball detractors, nor does people not caring about sports diminish my excitement for it.

And if you’re going to insist on the philosophy of “Let people enjoy things”, then it should include all the fandoms, not just the ones you like or approve of. That means the sports fans and the Twilighters and the Trekkies and Whovians and lovers of musicals and Downton Abbey nerds and Pumpkin Spice drink lovers and pineapple pizza people and all the rest. You shouldn’t just yarp about laying off peoples fandoms if you’re only thinking about your fandom. That’s something that should apply to everyone!