From the Beyhive to the Navy to the Barbz, these days stans represent their fandoms like gangs.
While standom in general is based on borderline irrational enthusiasm for popular media figures, the disturbing trend of stan wars is starting to permeate media culture and it needs to stop.
To be a stan is to be someone who is so dedicated to a celebrity, public figure or pop culture entity that they become a maniacal fanatic, praising who they stan at every turn, purchasing $500 concert tickets, going to see the movie starring the subject of their stanning at minimum seven times and attacking anyone who disagrees with the notion that who they stan is the second coming of Jesus.
It’s that last part that is concerning. In general, there’s nothing wrong with really liking something, which is essentially all that being a stan is. However, Twitter has become a breeding ground of people simply attacking those who disagree with them or really like someone else.
If, for whatever unthinkable reason, you say you enjoy Iggy Azalea, Nicki Minaj’s army of Barbz are ready to rip you to pieces. Granted, if someone said that in my presence I’d definitely give them the side eye, but still, people have every right to have bad taste.
If you simply tweet that you enjoy Beyonce, certain members of the Rihanna Navy are ready to attack, bombarding your mentions with emojis and saying “Rihanna is better” and “buy ‘Anti’ on iTunes!” Then the Beyhive has to clap back at the Navy, and suddenly, you’ve got yourself an all out stan war.
This kind of mob mentality is detrimental not only to the celebrity but also to the fans. It creates this awful “there can only be one” culture, leading people to believe that there can’t be multiple successful stars in a specific medium at any one time, which is nonsense.
While these stan wars are typically about women, because apparently it’s totally unfathomable to not pit women against each other, male stars are certainly not out of the line of stan fire. Take a look through some of the Twitter feeds of Beliebers and Directioners and it’s like the Sharks and the Jets.
When Kendrick Lamar drops an album, or even just a track, some stans use that as opportunity to put his rap contemporaries down. When Drake drops “Views From the 6,” the same is sure to happen, and it’s just plain annoying. You can’t really enjoy the music while typing a Twitter essay about how another artist is trash compared to who you like. Didn’t Champagne Papi warn you about having Twitter fingers?
Here’s some controversial news: you can like both Beyonce and Rihanna. These two beautiful, successful and proud black women make great music and exist at the same time. For that we should be grateful, not trying to tear one of them down to promote the other.
While stanning can be fun, it can also be toxic. Many of the stans who engage in social media attacking are young. Hopefully they’ll grow out of it, but in the meantime, I’m going to need the moms of the world to start disconnecting the Wi-Fi when stan wars get out of control.
Kayla Randall is 22-year-old a mass communication senior from New Orleans, Louisiana.