Fanboys. These bias bastards, these internet idiots, these...troubled trolls of the web have always been, but it only seems recently with the advent of Web 2.0 that they have been given a voice unlike any other period in time. They have infiltrated every category of aggregate site from music to politics to movies to video games to science to technology. If there is an entry written on a blog about a particular subject, you can almost always count on a fanboy to show up and devolve the conversation into a flame war.
At this moment you may be asking yourself, "What exactly is a fanboy and do I know whether or not it has affected my family, or even me?" A fanboy is a person who is extremely passionate about and loyal to something (subject, object) and will defend said "thing" at every turn, even when proven wrong with hard evidence and facts. As a simple example, an Apple fanboy may say, "The iPhone innovated 'cut, copy and paste' on mobile and now everybody is going to follow." But when presented with evidence that the original Palm Pilot was able to perform 'cut, copy and paste' back in the late 90's, along with every PDA/Smartphone since then, they quickly retort with immature insults, often accusing the accuser with being a fanboy themselves.
Why do they do this? Some would say attention, others say purpose, but it might just break down to the basic need of wanting to be on the winning team; a longing to belong and be accepted. Ask yourself, why does one feel such astute loyalty to something inconsequential like the iPhone; in hip-hop Jay-Z over Nas and vice versa; in movies Scorsese over Coppola and vice versa, etc. One may never meet Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter or Nasir "Nas" Jones but yet feels the need to defend to the death one over the other with heightened passion with no compromise possible.
As this is site tends to focus more on entertainment and technology, I'll stick to these areas. The latest showings in fanboyism is the latest schism are two new hip-hop feuds between Joe Budden & Inspectah Deck and Jay-Z & Game. Fans on both sides of both feuds are furiously throwing out the usual taunts such as "dick rider" and "idiot" and completely misrepresenting facts.
First up, Jay-Z versus The Game. Fans of the Game (or more accurately, anti-Jay-Z fans) hurl insults such as "camel face" and "sell out" but never mention the music they like from Mr. Carter, or how successful his solo business ventures have been and the accomplishments he's achieved. Fans of Jay-Z look down up The Game as if he's a worthless nobody but fail to recognize how his debut reignited the West Coast hip-hop scene above the ground. Jayceon debut with fire in his stomach and a passion for hip-hop that hadn't been seen on a commercial level in a while. Intelligent hip-hop fans who like good music may not like the Game's antics off the mic, but usually have some praise for his body of work and at the same time feel the same for Jay-Z. It is ok to like both of their music at the same time.
Second, Joe Budden vs. Inspectah Deck. Wu fans (and there are an abundance) are quick dismiss Joe as an "internet rapper" who is a talent less hack. They don't recognize that Joe's self titled debut was certified gold (selling over 500k) by the RIAA and that even in the pits of defeat after being dropped from Def Jam, that he has developed a cult following (not unlike the Wu in the 90's) through this new media. Budden fans' #1 argument is that the Rebel INS only has one classic verse and is now a has-been languishing in irrelevancy. They don't give INS credit for crafting verses on some of the most influential and genre changing albums along with his solid streak of solo albums. His latest "Resident Patient" has plenty of what the hip-hoppers call "bangers" and showcase a man who isn't at the end of his career, but still enjoying it. It is ok to like both of their music at the same time.
The point I'm trying to illustrate and illuminate is that when you give in to fanboyism, you risk tearing apart yourself, your family, your country and quite possibly the universe. It can result in committing or receiving physical and mental harm, or even worse, death. We must remain vigilant, we cannot let fanboyism take over, and we must stomp it out everywhere it pops up. Only then will we be able to return to intelligent discussion, civil debate and understanding of both sides of the argument.
For this special report, I am Cannon for AllThatsFresh.
Release Dates
Games: NCAA Football '10 (PS3, X360, PSP)....It's official, we are in a summer drought
Music: Twista - Category F5; La Coka Nostra - A Brand You Can Trust; Yukmouth - The West Coast Don; Hell Rell - Hell Up In The Bronx; Lisa Lisa - Life N' Love; Joe - Signature
DVDs: Haunting In CT. w/ Virginia Madsen, Martin Donovan; The Edge Of Love w/ Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller; Horsemen (no Canibus) w/ Dennis Quaid
Find me here @cthecatalyst
Hot Shit: My first special report, my Xbox 360 is back, these nice ass days we've been having in Philly
Not Shit: Fanboys, trolls, idiots, stupid idiots, idjeets, this video game drought
-- The Catalyst aka Chris Handsome
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