RANT: Book Snobs

You know what makes me irrationally angry? Book snobs. Or any kind of snobs, really. Book snobs, music snobs, gaming snobs, etc. 

This is a rant that just fell out of me after stumbling across some snobs online. Nothing has been directed at me that made this rant be born, but reading it just made me so annoyed.

You know what I’m talking about, the kind of people who go “You’ve only watched the movies? You’re not a real fan!!!” 

“You’ve only heard this one album and you call yourself a fan? Get back to me when you know the name of every single song the band has ever made and you should also know the exact date each album came out!!!!”

Please stab me in the eye and get off your high horse, will you. 

If someone likes/loves the thing, they are a fan of the thing, simple as that. You don’t know the reasons for why someone hasn’t read an entire book series and only watched the movies. Maybe they don’t simply like to read. That’s a thing, not everyone enjoys reading. Why would you force someone to do something they find no enjoyment in? They got enough of that at school, thank you very much. Or maybe they’re not good at reading, maybe they’re a slow reader and would rather spend their valuable time doing something else. Maybe they just don’t have time. Who knows, who cares! 

I call myself a fan of Game of Thrones even though I’ve only read two of the books this far. I call myself a fan of Sherlock Holmes even though I’ve only seen various tv and movie adaptations and read only three of the stories. I actually own all the stories but I have other priorities than reading them right now. Imagine that. I am also a fan of Doctor Who and own plenty of fandom merch that’s displayed in my room. And I’ve mainly watched the rebooted show with a couple of episodes here and there from the older seasons. I’ve never read a marvel comic but I love the movies (and that Spiderman cartoon as a kid, that one is great). Clutch your pearls, snobs. If that makes you mad then I’m going to lean back and enjoy you spluttering around like a tiny angry hamster. Maybe you are a bigger fan than me, who knows. Does it matter? No one’s getting a diploma.

I also know for a fact that a bunch of the most hardcore fans of The Lord of the Rings haven’t read the books. Whatcha gonna do about it? 

Just because you’ve read all the Harry Potter books or all the ASOIAF books (these are just examples) doesn’t mean you’re automatically a “bigger fan” than someone who’s just seen the filmatized versions. That person could be a giant Harry Potter nerd who dressed up for every movie premiere, LARPs in their spare-time, and marathons all the movies once a year, while your snobby ass watched each movie once or twice and let your own Harry Potter books collect dust in a corner of your bookshelf. What’s this about the “biggest fan” again? Who died and made you the fandom police? 

Don’t let anyone dictate what you’re allowed to be a fan of. If you like it you like it, nothing they can do about that. Maybe you’re not the biggest fan in the world, but let’s be honest, they’re probably not either. 

Like what you like and don’t be a pretentious snob. We’re all nerds here. 

So, that’s that. A very spontaneous rant written in five minutes. What do you think, does this make you angry too? What’s a thing you’re a fan of that snobs would scoff at you for?