#But his fans instead fixate on a fictional version of him they've constructed in their heads instead

[raytorosaurus]

not to get into the philosophy of real person fandom over a random tweet but ngl the brian schechter thing is quite unsurprising to me considering how he has spoken about the music industry in the past and running bands as businesses - remember that 40 year old guys with money do not run in the same online circles as left-leaning teenagers/youth no matter how cool they are skdjfjd. it's probably a pretty logical jump for someone in that generation and wealth bracket to go from profiting off one kind of art to another in a new context, even if we know it's ethically unsound on multiple levels.

the part i don't get is the perhaps overblown emotional response to this news tbh. it's interesting how fandom will fixate so heavily on certain specific non-public figures in the mcr sphere to the point of including them in the band's "narrative" while entirely ignoring others who are presumably equally or more significant. it's based entirely on fandom characterisations i think - i don't just mean in fic but also in the general fandom consciousness, though these two things definitely influence each other. when most people talk or write about brian they're basing like 90% of their information on him off about 15 minutes of screentime in lotms and a vague knowledge of his career trajectory, or off what other fans have said and written about him first.

this isn't me saying "we should stop talking about brian until we know more about him" or "we should learn more about the other people close to the band, not just brian" - more the opposite. i honestly think this is a timely reminder that, although i'd say we can all pretty safely bet that the four guys in mcr are solid dudes worthy of our respect and support, we really truly do not know anything about their personal lives outside the band besides the very little they show us. even within the context of the band we see very little. as a quick and obvious example, can you name four people on mcr's current crew off the top of your head? no? cool, that's totally normal and you absolutely don't have to. just keep it in mind that you can't. no matter how many interviews they do, we see so little of their lives - and they very clearly want it that way. real people aren't fictional characters - like honestly imo if you really want fictional characters, go and read fanfiction about them and consciously create a solid boundary in your mind between those fictional constructs and the real people you don't know and aren't entitled to know. don't let it influence the way you think of the real people, but instead use it as a way to get the narrativising and over-familiarity out of your system if you must. just don't fall into the trap of thinking you really know or understand these guys - it's doing you and them a disservice and can only lead to disappointment. save the sense of connection with the real guys to the music and the live shows in the context of their art and the community they've inspired with it.

i guess my point is i totally understand that we're all emotionally invested in these guys and care about them and feel like we can trust them - i absolutely do too - but i think it's healthier all round to actively remind ourselves how little we know about them every now and then. things like Brian Schechter NFT Boss Reveal are good opportunities to do so. try to avoid that nasty pang of cognitive dissonance when these 40+yo people do something that doesn't match up with the simplified and idealised version of them in your head <3