isitandwonder:doomsteady:monikakrasnorada:isitandwonder:trapped-in-1895:redpeacoat3:isi...

isitandwonder:

doomsteady:

monikakrasnorada:

isitandwonder:

trapped-in-1895:

redpeacoat3:

isitandwonder:

squashsplat hat auf deinen Eintrag geantwortet:
Do you remember Mark tweeted a painting on…

So it was confirmation bias, you’re saying?

That’s one possibility I’d like to see acknowledged and discussed, yes.

Glad to see I’m not the only one researching collective obsessional behavior, mass delusion and confirmation bias.

Gotta be prepared for my therapy next week, at least.

Combine depression & OCD with gaslighting and this is what happens.

I’m not saying we’re crazy to make this up, but that our emotions were definitely toyed with for amusement.

I also think there was an amount of trust in the writers. They specifically stated that they cared about representation. They inserted all kinds of references to Johnlock in just about every episode. We saw that, and we believed it without considering it may have been queerbaiting the whole time. I don’t think that’s entirely our fault, as queer people have had to read into subtext ever since queerdom was banned from television (and even after it was re-allowed, we still have only received crumbs). We were led on, and we dared to believe because we were led on.

So, while we were somewhat naïve, let’s not misplace the blame to be entirely on us. The writers and the media as a whole toyed with us and our hopes. They did it to profit off of our ratings.

@squashsplat @redpeacoat3 @trapped-in-1895

I want to tell you a story, I’m sure many others who’ve been around pre-S3 can tell much the same:

Last spring, when it became known that a young Sherlock actor had been cast I made a post asking if this meant that S4 wanted just to explore Sherlock’s family history and his past and not address johnlock. I received some brilliant comments, analysing the text of the previous episodes and explaining thereby why johnlock would be very likely at the centre of S4. This was possible because there truly were hints in the text pointing in this directions. Now I think these hints were deliberately put there to get an already vulnerable and appreciative group of marginalised fans hooked to the show, without the plan to  ever deliver. And the argument ‘gay or trash’ proofed right - without the gay the show became mediocre trash (not just because of that but it’s one aspect why S4 was so bad). I just never thought the trash option valid, for which I must ‘blame’ myself.

Then some people wrote to me that they feared the same, that the became / stayed sceptic and didn’t believe in Johnlock as endgame, even as they were hoping for it. And I swung between these two readings of the show, as I’m old and had been disappointed before but still wanted to believe in something good.

I’m a grown up, I can handle uncertainties, and it was somehow thrilling not to be sure. It was also selfprotection against yet another disappointment.

But then there was a third category of comment, not directed at my post but I nevertehless stumbled about it. An influantial BNF accused me of spreading doubt, complaining that after my post their inbox was flooded with fearful asks and that people like me irresponsibly spread anxiety. I tried to talk to this blogger, voicing my opinion that I think a discussion needs two sides, that we are here to discuss stuff in the first place, that we therefore need different opinions, that this is a good thing, that without doubt there are no questions and without questions there’s no advancement, no insight. I said that no-one of us knew where the story was heading and that I thought it dangerous to evoke the impression that it could only lead to johnlock, because if it didn’t, there would be bitter disappointment.

I was shut down because again I was told that I was spreading doubt which upset people, made them anxious and unsure, shocked fellow fans believes. When I replied that I thought such a view and reasoning very narrow-minded I was told that my behaviour was triggering and that the blogger in question couldn’t engage in this form of argument because it was to tiresome and distressing.

And I think that’s a big part of the problem. Fandom made people their spokespersons that were totally overwhelmed by the trust placed into them. They had not enough knowledge in how to conduct this process of reasoning. They just wanted to be right. They were young and enthusiastic but couldn’t look beyond their own opinion. They felt threatened by counter-arguments instead of taking them into account and considering their vaildity.

And because talking against a firm wall is not much use, I stopped arguing with them. I found a different group of people with whom I could discuss my ideas in private, where different opinions could be voiced in a friendly, accepting atmosphere, where we could disagree without hating one another. But which nevertheless became kind of an echochamber.

I’m not putting all the ‘blame’ for the state the fandom is in on the door of TJLC and a few prominent blogs. That would be too easy. We all wanted to believe in a good thing called Johnlock.

But I have to say that what happened was a two way process (that has to be seen in the context of far too less lgbtq+ represenation in general and complicated gender issues, media impect etc.): Mofftiss and the BBC baited us, promised us a fix that they never intended to deliver; and we thankfully lapped it up, assured by too onesided blogs run by people who couldn’t fully fathom the complicated web of influences and dependencies, who were not schooled in academic reasoning and had a tendency to shut down any criticism because they took it personally. And then there was the broad mass of people - me included - who led that happen.

That’s why I said we should all take a good hard look at ourselves. I know this post will make some people angry. But some things just have to said, if you like it or not. Because otherwise we won’t escape the self-assuring cycle I described above.

I applaud you for this, @isitandwonder. ALL of this needed to be said. We all had a hand in our own downfall, putting faith and stock in the word of too few with too far a reach and an unwillingness to ever entertain the idea that they just might have got it wrong.

Thank you for telling that, @isitandwonder. I think this was a tough lesson for some people to learn, but they did need to learn it. There are still some putting their entire self-worth and belief in a 4th episode and they are going to ruin themselves if that turns out to be wrong. They see it as “being happy for just one more week” but don’t have the foresight to realise just how much worse they’re making it for themselves in the long run. No amount of temporary happiness in ignorance is worth causing oneself and one’s followers additional emotional damage after the fact.

I hate to invoke it, but this is a real case of theory vs. dogma. Opinion vs. faith. I see people treating this subject like they’ve heard the word of God whispering in their ear. Nothing that contradicts their worldview is seen as valid or acceptable. What kind of “happiness” is that? It’s the kind that breeds hatred and self-loathing in the long run, IMO. We could all do with a whole lot less of that sort of thing in general.

Thank you Moni and @doomsteady. Reblogging this because now I see people starting to Postulate the 8th March as the Date for another Episode! People, please get real and lets discuss the queerbaiting and misogyny for example instead of declaring it all a dream and continue to believe in some sort of salvation by mofftiss.

I agree. I come to my dash and continue to see so much hype about a 4th episode that I don’t believe exists. I’m planning to give it until Monday and then start culling my dashboard follows. When the episode doesn’t happen on Sunday, there will likely be fans holding out for Jan 29th and then Mar 8!  Seeing that stuff on my dash just makes me feel sad.

The biggest issue though is that as long as people have not accepted S4 for what it is, we cannot reasonably discuss S1-S4, what went wrong and why, what the writers actually intended, why it’s shit, where we go from here, and what might be salvaged. It’s also impossible to talk about my real disappointment and grief over the show when most people are convinced it will turn around at any moment. I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade! But I would love to be able to discuss it

posthumously.

I have a feeling there may be a permanent schism between those who keep expecting more and those who don’t, rather like the one that occurred between those who believed johnlock would be canon and those who didn’t. 

I’m not sure where I, personally, go from here. Because at this point, I don’t expect johnlock from the show anymore, and that kills my interest in it considerably. At the moment, I can’t even bring myself to read fan fiction, but I am interested in the press reviews, thinking about the show critically, following the actors, hearing news about the show, and talking with others who are in the same boat I am.

I’m doubtful there’ll be a S5 at this point. Mainly because I think they’d have a hard time talking Ben and Martin back into doing it with S4 being not so well received? But maybe I’m projecting my own bitterness on them.  I’d love to know what B&M really think about S4, Martin particularly, and if they want to do more.