My school life in a book

English Oral Presentation CAT

Hey Qirat what do you like? Oh that's disgusting you freak. Calvin what's a song you like? Really? What poor taste. Ms Ghazale what's one of your favourite movies of all time? If you like that movie you should really change yourself because that movie belongs in the trash. What I just did was wrong yes? Yes it was but people to this to others every day. Discrimination against stereotypes and fandoms is a huge problem in today's society since it happens so often. Firstly the definition of a stereotype for those who don't know is a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. Next is the definition of fandom which is the fans of a particular person, team, fictional series, ect. Regarded collectively as a community or subculture. I request you have these two words in your head as I talk about how they are discriminated. Moving on, firstly I'll be talking about how people are being accused of being something they aren't and how one is labelled because of what they like and secondly the results of being discriminated and how it effects us. I will also be talking about experiences as this is close topic to myself. With that I ask for your undivided attention.

People of our world have a distinct view of others, half the time that opinion is wrong. People judge others by looks, personality and most importantly their interests. What I found to be the most common example on the internet that is discriminated was the fandom "My Little Pony". You might be surprised when I tell you the age range for those who watch the show. You ready, 12-41. Yeah, 41. That large portion of the older age is actually males. You know what they get accused of? Being gay. "Oh that's gay" Some people have literally said the same thing in this very class about other fandoms and interests. That stereotype is the most common accusation being held against not just 40 year old men, but high schooler's such as ourselves as well. Its not just on what shows people watch, there's others such as what music people listen to. Music seems to be categorised into different stereotypes such as if you listen to rock music your an emo or if you listen to 80's music your a nerd. Yes some people like that classification label but some people despise it. So what if they like something that's apparently 'out of character for them' why should they get judged for it? If your nerd, jock, emo, random person, geek, hippy and so on you shouldn't be put down for it.

Imagine if you liked something and when you told your friends about it they turned their backs on you. How alone would you feel? Many people are in the same situation. If their friends won't except them, what about the rest of the world? Some people are even so scared to tell their parents about what they like because they fear of being disowned. Your parents are meant to be the people you can be yourself around are meant to support what ever you do. For people to hide themselves even at home is just sad. This can lead to anxiety and losing the ability to socialise. During high school is where you shape how you act in the future. If anxiety exists in our mental state at this age and no help is provided this will effect us when we are adults trying to find work as we are scared to be near people. Anxiety can lead to further mental issues, an extreme case being depression. Has anyone heard of the app amino? Amino has authentic mobile communities for almost anything and everything. They pretty much are platforms for fans to express their love for the fandom and community that they are apart of. One of the curators (and yes that's their official title, I can spell) on a blog in 2017 stated "Me and the other curators of amino wanted to achieve a goal of having people accept each other, no more feeling alone anymore in our fandoms" So after reading the whole entire blog this one thing kept echoing in my mind. Literally the app was made so people who felt alone in real life felt like they had a place. A whole data base was created so people could express them selves on something they are so passionate about because they can't do it in real life. Apparently to them talking to strangers is more comfortable then talking to their own friends about what they like. Isn't that bizarre? Offline though, their are conventions within Australia where people can gather and be comfortable in a community of what they like. Conventions like Supanova, Madman, NekoNation and Comic Con, one that happened on the long weekend, are also created for people who can't be around others who discriminate them for what they love. Literal meet ups were made so people could be comfortable around strangers. Isn't that also bizarre?

In 2017 and 2018, I had the pleasure of going to Oz Comic Con, Madman and Supernova.  Oz Comic Con being my first convention, I was nervous as hell. I was completely terrified with one of my close friends as we had never done anything like this, we never really talked about what we like and always kept it between ourselves thanks to bullying. One of the popular things to do at conventions is to cosplay and holy Marco good on my fellow cosplayers because they were amazing. Enough of me fan-girling but to see how friendly everyone was to each other was amazing and I wish this was also a behaviour that happened in general life. Later on in that year at Madman Anime Fest Melbourne, I had a chance to meet Bryce Papenbrook, a voice actor, and during the Q&A someone asked a very important question. "How do you feel about anxiety in the anime community and how anime has helped people grow" My first reaction was 'what the hell you talking about, this is asking him about his job, this is irrelevant, how would he know' but the aura of the room felt kind of dark after that. Everyone in the room went quiet and Bryce took a while to answer. Finally he answered saying something I will probably never forget. "I think anxiety in this community is a problem yes but people within it help each other out even if we live on the other side of the country, as someone who works in anime and video games....its nice to see people with such differences come together because of one simple passion" The next thing I knew, the whole audience stood up and clapped. After that the people I met didn't seem like strangers. Shout out to my buddies Hayden and Shelby. This is going to sound super cliché but for once in my life I felt at home, unafraid of being judged for what I love.

This being said, discrimination against stereotypes and fandoms is not only a big deal but its an unaddressed problem. Its a discussion of people's hobbies so of course its not a priority. People don't understand the consequences but when they do then it becomes a big deal. The times its discussed is only within the fandoms. As a person who loves something that gets hated on so much, makes me more determined then ever to raise awareness on those who suffer. Monsters who attack the defenceless not only corrupt the physical aspect of them but their mental stability. Let's not drive them insane. Can we just accept people for who they are? It's not fair anymore for those who are teased, abused and ignored like they mean absolutely nothing. Let's stop, take a step and succeed in making this society better by accepting those with interests that may seem strange to you, but are their lives to them.

Wooooow I did well on this assessment and guess what I DIDNT BREAK DOWN IN THE MIDDLE THIS TIME YAY (Instead I had one at the end when I finished yayyy ㅠㅠ)