And it began with... two
Three years have passed since. Not as long as some of the truly old timer, but it's been a while since the whole craziness with the series have started for me.
Now, I've rambled on something very much similar to what I did in one post - a year ago - so I'll keep on giving some personal thoughts on how much my perception have changed on the fans and fanbase around here. The good ol' fashioned rambling.
I'll admit, that yes, when I'm in my early stage I've adopted a rather elitist mindset on the Touhou series. It became a point which I feel like it's worth do warrant a blog post, because boy, I was really stoked on making sure that I'm not one of the 'secondaries', and I believe we need to rid of those people.
Note that I use the inverted commas there. I've since come to agree with a few concerned people here that the word 'secondaries' is a demeaning word and should not be employed at all in describing other fans. True, I would no sooner cry out these words to refer to a group of people back when I wrote that 2 years old post... but for what purpose? And why?
As someone had commented, are the 'secondaries' people who really want to be there? Is it something which they want to really be? Well... I sort of disagree with the question - and not because of the usage of the word itself. It is true that some people might be content with just having a bit of knowledge on the series without delving further - they are not interested to know more about the games, or other cast of characters... but you know what? That's cool. That's perfectly cool. Unless of course if they involve a bit in the series and then have the cocky mindset of know it all... in which they'll probably drop off the series sooner or later, so no harm done there.
I personally blame it on the prevalent elitist mindset which brings about the instillation of an elitist mindset in some of the ones who are just into the series. It's more of... a fear I guess, to try and not being those of these 'secondaries'. And unfortunately, it becomes a vicious cycle, with the more casual fans being put off while the hardened elitists grow stronger.
See the chart over here? This is a terrible way to represent the series in my opinion. Unconsciously (or perhaps even purposely) this has some sort of elitist mind behind it - or at the very least, a big element of divison.
Going closer to home, I believe we have quite a lot - if not, decent - number of Touhou fans here - the only thing that's missing is proper communication and team collaboration. The reason for this is up to debate - are they put off by the apparently cold and distant hardened elitist
Being an elitist is like criticizing the person who's driving the car, and trying to push him out. Or perhaps this explanation by someone on the way the elitist are affecting the more casual fans would be more accurate in describing the situation:
Imagine you have a piece of well cut diamond - something so precious and valuable - but you notice that there's a certain small flaw on it. Now being the hard substance it is, you'd need to spend considerable time to remove the impurity, using the right tool, working slowly until you have a flawless diamond.
Whereas the elitist would see the flaw, take up a (diamond) hammer and smash the gem to pieces - in the hope to remove the flaw immediately.
The thing about the fans is there's a whole load of other serious, casual, interested, and possible fans, who're using their own ways to show just how much they love the series. Sure not everyone have to be good at the games, or produce music, or create artworks - but just the fact that they're talking about it with others is enough. And that's something we should ideally embrace, instead of making it a point for divisions.
Everyone has their own different way of enjoying the series, but don't use that as a reason to not communicate about. My hope is that there's more in interaction among the fans here - get the interest going, talk around to get ideas going... do whatever random shit man.
Just enjoy. And of course:
Take it easy~
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