a thousand pardons | underhanded | parting shot | sucker punch 
Call Me 'Queen!'

"The average man thinks he isn't."

I don't know whom I ought to credit with the above quote - probably 'anonymous' 
- but I believe it to be extremely telling of human nature despite being 
simplistic and not the least bit sentimental or flowery. Perhaps even because of 
those things. The less Freudanizing involved, the better, right? Well, maybe not, 
as Freud is quite entertaining, if not nearly always comically perverse and 
oozing with prettily worded bullshit.

Where am I headed with this? Why, to the obvious, of course: An analsys of 
elitism in the online anime community, if we can call it that. I'm aware that 
some anime enthusiasts would rather peel the skin off their own backs with their 
fingernails than be lumped together with other anime enthusiasts, as devoted 
fandom of any sort has this funny way of being tasteless and best avoided, but 
let's be honest: we're all anime fans here (unless you stumbled onto this page 
accidentally, in which case my heart goes out to you) and that alone links us, 
like it or not.

Now, while we all have our fandom in common, there are many areas where fans 
differ. All men may be born afforded the same rights in an utopian setting, but 
in the real world we are not all created equal. Some fans are better than others, 
and the superiors do not like to mix and mingle with their inferiors when it 
does not suit them. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Elitism is a 
defense mechanism. We use it to ward off the impurities the same way your mother 
uses Lysol to clean the kitchen counter. Elitism is also, by definition, the 
state of superiority. Elitism is not conceit or a belief that one is of a higher 
level of competence than others: it is truth, irrefutable and concrete. 
Therefore, one might conclude that the holier than thou bithces one meets are 
not elitists and are, in fact, mere assholes. Assholes are a dime a dozen, and 
while an asshole may be an elitist, an elitist is not intrinsically an asshole. 
The two are mutually exclusive.

The consensus among the dictionary-deprived is that elitists are snobs who do 
not wish to share the wealth, so to speak, and refrain from advertising their 
hobbies for fear that mediocrity will seep into their mailing lists, newsgroups, 
chatrooms, and fandom in general. This is half true. If your I.Q. were one 
hundred forty-five, would you want to be surrounded by a dozen people whose 
collective I.Q. did not quite equal your own? No, probably not. The average man 
may think he isn't, but he pretty damn sure is, and he'll talk like it. He'll 
say what others say, do what others do, think what others think, and add little 
worth adding to a discussion. He's just there as a conversational buffer, when 
all's said and done. The elitists will take over and make him feel small in due 
time. That's what they do, and they do it well. This is nature's way. Some 
people are brilliant, some people are average, and some people are dumb. Would 
you risk denying that? No, I didn't think so.

One accusation nailed to the heads of elitists everywhere is that they don't 
want fandom to grow. This has nothing to do with not wanting the rest of the 
world to know about their interests, nor is it because they think that obscurity 
equates greatness. The number of average-to-stupid fans increases exponentially 
as a fandom grows, but the number of intelligent fans remains nearly the same. 
The one and only sensible, effective tactic to use in this war against idiocy is 
condescension. Yes, condescension: The fine art of making others feel 
insignificant. If one is significant, one need not worry. If one is not 
significant, one need only find a new hobby that better suits one's intelligence, 
or lack thereof. I have no sympathy for people who can't keep up with the 
elitists, and will not pretend that I do just because they have trouble 
conceding that maybe - just maybe - this certain group of elitist fans has a 
right to be as exclusive as it is; that maybe this is an act of self-preservation 
rather than sheer vanity.

In our feel-good, warm-and-fuzzy society, it takes a good bash upside the head 
to straighten people out, and sometimes that bash comes in the form of verbal 
abuse. I'm all for talking down to the little ones and making them think twice 
before opening their mouths. Fools are only amusing in conservative measures, 
but they are seldom satisfied with this allotment and feel the need to spread 
their sludge about in liberal doses.

If I am holding a discussion about Mad Hatter's sexual ambiguity in Angel 
Sanctuary, simpleton's need feel no obligation to burst in with objections about 
how bisexuality is icky and, gee, Setsuna's a sweetie for wanting to do the 
right thing, but golly, his relationship with his sister is nasty, and he'd look 
oh so much cuter with Kira, who looks awful with Rosiel, who's just a mean, 
dirty bastard whose sister is way prettier than he is. *giggles* *huggles* *smiles* 
*wuv*

I don't need to hear that. I shouldn't have to listen to that. I will try to 
ignore that. But failure to do so will result in my short fuse burning out. Don't 
test my temper, because it's never scored well.

Let me break this down: I don't want to join a mailing list just to be bombarded 
with spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and senseless drivel that can be 
summed up in "[blank] is totally cool!" That is not the way I like to spend my 
time. Join a random mailing list someday and see how many people always agree 
with the majority, never post a unique thought of their own, and constantly 
waste bandwidth with sentimental gushing about their favorite Flavor of the Week.

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