Showrunner, Russell T Davies, has warned that negative opinions on social media don’t properly represent Doctor Who fans.
During a talk at Series Mania in France, Davies suggested that we “fall into the trap of talking about fans and assuming that means the online voice”, but that he considers X (formerly known as Twitter) to be a “hate site.”
Trying to make a division between opinions expressed online and those in ‘real life,’ as it were, Davies explained:
“I think they are different things. I know they’re different things, I absolutely know that. And that online voice, which is hostile, exists on X, which is a hate site. We shouldn’t be surprised to find hatred on it, because it’s a hate site… It’s very dangerously assumed that that is the fan voice.”
I’m sure no one will have any issues with those comments whatsoever.
Similarly, I have no problems at all that he blames negativity on the rise of social media and “the collapse of journalism”.
He continues:
“That’s where the danger point happens of the minority voices slipping more into the mainstream, because suddenly they’re in newspaper articles, suddenly you find critics quoting those voices… Fandom is creative and brilliant and fun, but it’s all getting soured. Turn those phones off for anyone under 16, chuck them in the bin. I literally am evangelical about it.”
These are, frankly, baffling comments, and I’m not really sure where to start. Does he mean minority voices shouldn’t be heard, as then their opinions are quoted by others? Why is that a bad thing? Why are phones so damaging to anyone under 16? Why is he trotting out the current UK government’s stance on what amounts to freedom? Is he really so evangelical when it comes to social media, given his use of, say, Instagram of late? I’ve been a great admirer of Davies’ writing, but something is very wrong here. I’ve always thought writers need to be proponents of freedom of expression, and I find it deeply unsettling that more and more big-name writers seem to be turning against it.
As for X being a “hate site”, it’s certainly true that you have freedom of speech there, so you will find opinions that might be different to your own, and as we all know, that’s deeply damaging to all and should be banned. It’s much safer to have people all around you who agree with every word you say.
It’s certainly true that you can find nonsense on social media — terrible, inaccurate AI reconstructions, for instance — but the people who share such garbage likely think that it’s very much, kind of internet age storytelling and you just hope it’ll generate content…
Where should you get your “fan voice” opinions from, dear DWC readers? Don’t ask this journalist; Davies’ opinions have made me want to collapse.
