“Everyone loves a witch hunt as long as it's someone else's witch being hunted"
(Walter Kirn )
Something very worrying is happening within the Susan Boyle community....
One of the younger members of the fandom is a prolific contributor in terms of posters and tribute videos.
Some months ago our fan (whose first language is not English) decided to add simple prose to some of his posters. He used sentiments to express his admiration for Susan and, at times, her faith. Simply written, they have a charm and simplicity that is harmless, if sometimes idealistic.
Many members of the community appreciate this young man's efforts; others loathe them. That is, of course their prerogative. The problem is that some members of the latter group have taken it upon themselves to try to force this young man to desist. He was recently personally attacked twice on Facebook, thus:
The bolding above is mine. This attack took place on July 7th.
I know I'm going to ruffle a lot of feathers but I have to say what is necessary.I apologize to you in advance R***.
Where does M**** get off making posters and videos of Susan Boyle when he doesn't have permission to use them. They are not his work! There are copyright laws and they apply to him as well. He puts HIS words on these posters, and they don't make sense. Get a grip of the English language M*****! You absolutely butchered Susan receiving her doctorate! I will keep hammering you until you give up your fantasy about Susan Boyle.
On August 10th the following was posted on his Facebook wall, by the same person as before:
What accusations now? Me and millions of other people adore Susan Boyle only we don't spend endless hours on posters with silly words on them. News flash M****.... YOU ARE NOT THE MAN IN SUSAN BOYLE"S LIFE !! There are also a great many of us that are sick of you. You're 35 years old and still living in LA LA Land. Geesh!Again, the bolding above is mine.
Can anyone honestly agree that this sort of attack is morally justifiable? Can 'hammering' at someone to try to force them to change ever be acceptable? These are prime examples of cyber-bullying.
How would anyone of us feel if we were told that 'a great many' were sick of us? I would feel wounded. I should imagine most of us would....
Now add to this the fact that the young man's skills in English are very limited. He cannot adequately defend himself. In fact, the only way in which he can adequately express his emotions and admiration for Susan Boyle is in his videos and posters, which he posts every day ....
Remind you of anyone? Susan Boyle herself has stated that the only way in which she can express herself adequately is through singing.
He does not always use photographs of Susan Boyle that have been
airbrushed or show her at what most of us consider to be her most
attractive. But to our young, male fan, all photographs of Susan are
beautiful, and in that sense he is entirely without prejudice.
It is not only on Facebook that the young man has been attacked. It has happened privately as well. It has also happened on the largest fan forum within the community. It has become so bad that on several occasions he has tried to resign from the forum on which some of his antagonists are members; only to return out of his loyalty to Susan. But that is seen as 'manipulation' of fellow fans. The young man is discouraged and frustrated, and tries to make that known, but that in turn is seen as further manipulation....and cries for attention!
At The Susan Boyle Fans Forum recently a group of members took it upon themselves to take this young man to task over his tributes to Susan Boyle. His attackers seem to be of the opinion that he is 'holding the forums to ransom' by continuing to post. They complain that he 'monopolizes the forum' by posting consistently. They, on the other hand, whilst complaining amongst themselves do little to add to the content themselves. They insist that they cannot bear to look at his contributions (yes, this member does have his own threads in which he posts his tributes) yet when they log in to the forum they sit and watch his threads, waiting...waiting...! It would be so easy just to ignore them....
Recently, like any good member should, our young man purportedly committed what seemed to be a mortal sin; he posted a couple of tweets on the twitter thread!
"He's taking over the twitter thread too now!" the cry went up. It would be amusing if it were not so indicative of what is happening within the Susan Boyle community as a whole. It seems to me that the natural balance of members has been lost on many forums, due to previous 'partings of the ways' of Susan Boyle fans.
At The Susan Boyle Fan Forum we believe that
one person's freedom to post should not be up for a vote by other
members, particularly when a member is posting positively and
respectfully and supporting Susan Boyle.
We will not be held to ransom in that way by small packs baying for blood.
*"'after all we aren't savages really...'"
- William Golding, Lord of the Flies, Ch. 11
