Wednesday, December 08, 2004

Fandamentalism

Recently I linked to a Digby post, where he reported on a 5 year study on Fundamentalism. The neat kicker to this little thrill ride is that the researchers surmised that there isn't Islamic Funadamentalism, and then Christian Fundamentalism, etc., etc. There's just one, universal fundamentalist model, which is co-opted by various agendas. Like, a D20 system of intolerance.

(The excellent book I'm currently reading, Fundamentalist World by Stuart Sim, analyzes the rise of fundamentalism in various social aspects. It's a bit more about the "how" of fundamentalism than the "what makes it tick", but also worth your time.)

The (allegedly) universal agenda of fundamentalism consists of:
  1. Men are dominant, rule the joint and make the rules.
  2. All rules must apply to all people, no pluralism.
  3. The rules must be precisely communicated to the next generation.
  4. "they spurn the modern, and want to return to a nostalgic vision of a golden age that never really existed." (spiffy fascism/fundamentalism parallel made here)
  5. Fundamentalists deny history in a "radical and idiosyncratic way."
Here's where we get to the fun part of this whole blogging business. One of our new pals, 1031, noticed my completely unintentional mix of this link and the TRANSFORMERS riff. He jokingly asked if the 5 rules applied to genre fans ...

Holy smoking crap.

1.) Men dominate. -- Well, duh. Sure, there are more geek girls out there now than there used to be -- primarily because of Legolas' non-threatening sexuality, by the way. He's the boy-band of medieval fantasy heroism. Still, it's generally a strutting, macho joint in the hardcore fan bases.

2.) All rules must apply to all people, no pluralism -- we've all seen hundreds of these posts: "Anyone who doesn't agree with me that Kirk/Picard/Sisko was the best captain, is an IDIOT and ISN'T A REAL STAR TREK FAN!"

3.) The rules must be precisely communicated about the Next Generation -- Well, how much more specific ... wait ... oh, sorry. "to the next generation." Again, easy. How many "these are the great writers/books" retrospectives do Marvel and DC alone crank out in a year? Never mind the sci-fi "Seasons One through Four are great, Season Five is crap, Season Six has it's moments ..." conversations at each con.

4.) "they spurn the modern, and want to return to a nostalgic vision of a golden age that never really existed." Such the softball. Go back, reread the soul-shattering genius of Crisis on Infinite Earths. Seriously. Try. It's like a spastic chimp hitting my pineal gland with a sockful of pennies.

5.) Fundamentalists deny history in a "radical and idiosyncratic way." -- "I'm looking forward to Episode Three."

Game, set, match.

All this allows me, in my quest for buzzwords, to create a new one: Fandamentalists.

" ... (noun, pl.); fans who violently believe the only valid interpretation of any entertainment source is a dogmatic adherence to their favorite version of that source. Any change to the smallest detail is inherently unacceptable (see also "heresy") and met with frantic scorn. See also Hal Jordan and Klingons, bumpy vs, smooth.

Thanks for your attention. Sometime this week, I'll clarify what I meant by 4th Generation Media. And those words aren't strung together at random because they sound cool; I'm quite specifically pulling ideas from this paper and applying them to modern entertainment.

24 comments:

  1. I wasn't jokingly asking about the genre fundamentalists. I was serious. Those people scare me sometimes. :)

    I like Fandamentalist. Good word. I'll have to stick that up on my site once I get home from work. I shoulda thought of that one.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous2:38 PM

    I like this term "Fandamentalism". It seems like it would be applicable in many different cases.

    In your search for buzzwords, I'm sure you'll end up coining "flogic" (flawed logic, but not 'flawgic', because that's just ugly). Anyway, I coined that term, feel free to use it if you like it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous2:46 PM

    P.S.

    You really need to do something about these purists. They're always yelling about everything that the movie has to do. In the past, they'd keep it to themselves, now they're orders are not just 'mental lists'. It seems like Transfandom has a whole new meaning, and the combination of it with the expectations have formed super Transfandamentalists.

    I tried to be too clever.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous1:47 PM

    As a comics fan, *and* a girl, *and* someone who likes both Jason Todd *and* the post-ZH Legion... well, you're not wrong. I spend more time bickering with Marvel-obsessed, Wolverine-venerating lunkheads than any sane person should.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous11:35 AM

    You sir have no idea what you're talking about. Your ideas lack coherence and substance.

    Especially the movie theatre post. People don't go to movies because it makes their pockets bleed.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous7:46 AM

    Bedava Oyunlar
    kız oyunları
    yarış oyunları
    oyun oyna
    oyunlar
    oyun
    hedef oyunları
    spor oyunları
    dövüş oyunları
    çizgi film
    oyun hileleri
    zeka oyunları
    hedef oyunları
    çocuk oyunları
    minikperi
    kraloyun
    kral oyun
    oyunlar1
    rixoyun
    rix oyun
    fixoyun
    fix oyun
    oyunlife
    oyunmemo
    oyunyolu
    oyun99
    oyun oyna
    oyun sitesi
    oyun siteleri
    oyun ara
    oyun
    oyunlar
    barbie oyunu
    barbie oyunları
    barbie oyunlar
    barbie
    winx oyunu
    winx club
    winx oyunları
    winx
    bratz oyunu
    bratz oyunları
    bratz oyunu
    giysi oyunu
    giydirme oyunu
    kıyafet oyunu
    giydirme oyunları
    giysi oyunları
    giysi giydirme oyunu
    giysi giydirme oyunları
    makyaj oyunları
    makyaj oyunu
    makyaj yapma oyunları
    yemek oyunları
    yemek yapma oyunları
    pasta oyunları
    pasta süsleme oyunları
    futbol oyunları
    çocuk oyunları
    yarış oyunları
    boyama oyunları
    araba oyunları
    araba yarışı oyunları
    motor oyunları
    basketbol oyunları
    beceri oyunları
    dövüş oyunları
    manken oyunları
    komik oyunlar
    oda oyunları
    spor oyunları
    zeka oyunları
    yapboz oyunları
    cep oyunları
    yeni oyunlar
    oyunambari
    oyuncambazi
    oyun sitesi
    oyun siteleri
    oyun hileleri
    hileler
    çizgi film
    cep oyunu
    oyun oyns
    oyun oyna
    video izle
    chip oyun
    barbie oyunu
    kız oyunları
    sue oyunları
    güzel oyunlar
    pop oyunlar
    pop oyun
    popoyunlar
    popoyun
    popoyunları
    çizgi film izle
    çizgi film seyret
    çocuk çizgi film izle
    şirinler çizgi film izle
    tom ve jery çizgi film izle
    cizgi film izle
    çizgi film
    cocuk sitesi
    cocuk siteleri
    cocuk sitesi
    cocuk sitesi
    cizgi film seyret
    çocuk cizgi film izle
    şirinler cizgi film izle
    tom ve jery cizgi filmi izle
    Aksiyon Macera Oyunları
    Macera Oyunları
    Motor Oyunları
    Mario Oyunları
    Strateji Taktik Oyunları
    Yemek Pişirme Oyunları
    Dekor Oyunları
    Boyama Kitabı Oyunları
    Hugo Oyunları
    Sonic Oyunları
    Webcam Oyunları
    Peri Güzellik Oyunları
    Battleon Oyunları
    Bebek Oyunları
    Süper Oyunlar
    İlizyon Oyunları
    Komik Oyunlar
    Teletabi Oyunları

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous1:59 AM

    tibia money tibia gold tibia item runescape accounts buy runescape accounts runescape money runescape gold runescape gp runescape power leveling runescape powerleveling cheap rs2 powerleveling runescape equipment buy rs equipment runescape runes cheap rs2 runes runescape logs cheap rs2 logs runescape items buy runescape items runescape quest point rs2 quest point cheap runescape questpoint runescape gold runescape items runescape power leveling runescape money runescape gold buy runescape gold buy runescape money runescape items runescape accounts runescape gp runescape accounts runescape money runescape power leveling runescape powerleveling tibia gold dofus kamas buy dofus kamas wow power leveling wow powerleveling runescape questpoint rs2 questpoint Warcraft PowerLeveling Warcraft Power Leveling World of Warcraft PowerLeveling World of Warcraft Power Leveling Hellgate money Hellgate gold buy runescape logs buy rs2 items cheap runescape items Hellgate London gold Guild Wars Gold buy Guild Wars Gold runescape items rs2 accounts cheap rs2 equipments lotro gold buy lotro gold buy runescape money buy runescape gold buy runescape runes lotro gold buy lotro gold runescape money runescape gold cheap rs2 powerleveling eve isk eve online isk buy runescape power leveling rs2 power leveling tibia gold tibia item runescape accounts Fiesta Silver Fiesta Gold SilkRoad Gold buy SilkRoad Gold Scions of Fate Gold Hellgate Palladium Hellgate London Palladium SOF Gold Age Of Conan Gold AOC Gold ArchLord gold tibia money tibia gold runescape accounts runescape gold cheap rs2 powerleveling buy ArchLord gold DDO Plat Dungeons and Dragons Online Plat

    ReplyDelete
  8. 美容整形に携わる美容ドクター専門プロフサイト 美容の杜美容整形に関するお問い合わせ整形することによって絶対的な美を得られるわけではありません。『自分は変わった』という事実を物理的に確認することで、気にな……

    ReplyDelete
  9. FX、(外国為替取引)はじめるなら、為替マーケット。- FXの新東京シティ証券外国為替取引はじめるなら、新東京シティ証券の『為替マーケット』。最新FX情報を手に入れてリスクの少ないFX取引!仮想トレードでの外国為替無料体験も

    ReplyDelete
  10. インプラントにしたい」と思ったときが最も治療に適したタイミングたまに「インプラントにするには何歳ぐらいが適していますか」という質問を受けますが、ご本人がインプラントにしたいと思ったときに手術を行うのがベストと思います。FX・外国為替証拠金取引の比較サイト「FX-外為比較.com」では、複数の条件からFX外国為替会社の比較!また資料請求、口座開設もできます。

    ReplyDelete

  11. خرید نان می تواند بسیار وقت گیر باشد. اگر علاقمندید که ان مصرفی تان را آسان تر تهیه کنید می توانید در سایت کماچ
    عضو شوید و
    سفارش آنلاین نان
    دهید.
    https://komuch.com

    buy online home and garden, kid’s, women’s & men’s clothes and tools

    https://aixonne.com


    If you are looking for
    freight forwarder from china to usa

    services then we recommend you topshipping. Freight forward to everywhere!
    Visit our site for more information.
    https://topshipping.cn/freight-forwarder-china-usa

    ReplyDelete
  12. You really need to do something about these purists. They're always yelling about everything that the movie has to do. In the past, they'd keep it to themselves, now they're orders are not just 'mental lists'.
    Pabrik Boiler steam
    jual boiler steam vertikal
    jual burner Gas Riello
    jual boiler solar 500 Kg
    jual pompa KSB Etanorm SYT
    jual brner solar

    ReplyDelete
  13. hello blogger, the perfect page site and the speed of the crawl process that is very good for viewing and exploring the contents of the article is also convenient, hopefully the other bloggers can have a website like you
    jual thermal oil Heater
    Jual thermal oil Aspalt
    Jual Hot water boil
    Distributor Boiler steam
    Jual Boiler batu bara

    Jual Gas Burner Riello

    ReplyDelete