The Rise of the Stans

When did people go from fans to stalker/fans or stans and why are they proud to be called stans? When I was younger, 12/13, I was the biggest Backstreet Boys fans. Millennium was the first CD I bought and I had BSB posters on the ceiling and wall. I loved them. This was during the pop boom of the last 90's/early 2000's. There was Nsync, 98°, Britney Spears, Christina Augilera, and a few that I can't recall. Everyone had their favorite but I can't recall anyone threatening to beat anyone down, defriending people (in real life not on Facebook or Twitter), and being angry because anyone liked Nsync or Korn. I remember it being like "eww" you like them but it was never that serious. If you think stans go hard, remember these people actually had to spend money and time to show they were a fan. There was no YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc. If you wanted to see your favorite artist, you paid money to see them in concert or you cut school to see them at TRL. It was that serious. I don't recall anyone's life being threatened.

I know the internet is behind why fans have turned into stans. Because TRL, and the teen mags, was the only place that we could really see our favorite artists, we weren't inaudated with constant images and pointless news about them. You saw them for that hour or two and went on with your life. You may have talked about them at lunch but it wasn't an obsession. You could get away. Now its all Beyonce, all Lady Gaga, all Rihanna, all Chris Brown. And now that the fourth wall is broken with the rise of social media, we know more about them than ever and certain people feel like they're family who need to be defended.

I wonder about the stans. How can you accomplish anything in your life when you take all your energy and put it into this person who does not know you? It's great to like an artist but it would be even better if you take that energy and put it into something worthwhile. Stanning is insanity. Stans are crazy. I appreciate being a fan. I was a fan but to threaten someone and harm their person because they don't like your fave is insanity. To spend all day on blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube giving e-beat downs because someone has a differing opinion is crazy. If someone doesn't like Beyonce, Katy Perry, or Lady Gaga, so? If they insult them, so what? I also find it crazy that people stan for stars not knowing these people. They are stanning for an image, not an actual person. Everything that the "hater" is saying may be true. And for grown people, over 21, who stan, get a life. Do something to put that energy into yourself and better your life. Your fave has theirs, what about you? You're online giving e-beat downs for someone you don't know.