True or False?

I've been thinking..
What is fandom? What qualifies fandom?

I read briefly through someones text about being a Jonas fan today. It was probably very touching and well written text about her thoughts on the jonas fandom and why she's such a great fan, probably. Maybe she had another point (which I didn't get since I didn't read it all) but this is however what caught my eye; the statement after statement of what she thought made a real fan, no a TRUE fan, and what didn't.

A true fan, true fan. What does that mean? So if you're not a true fan you're a false fan? So it's not just a fan or not a fan? There are different levels now? And who is she to state what's a true fan or false?

And then it just hit me. I've played this game before. Oh yeah I was like the founding father of this game. I knew well how it all went down, but I got it all clear now. Now I know how it all really went down. (I'm mean hey you have to face reality) You supposedly like something, in this case a musical band, so much that you think that band is all you need and you should be all that band needs. You don't want to share, this is the greatest thing you have you can't let other people "think" they have the same feelings for them as you do. Suddenly you start to categorize people in a scale that starts with you on the top: the BEST fan and ends with the fake fans or something like it.

WHAT is up with that? "This is my band not your band"? "I'm a true fan and you're just a fake?" You know what I think? That it's a pile of BULLSHIT, that's what it is! Do you know why we (formal me anyway) do it? I'm gonna tell you WHY we do it. Because WE want acknowledgement, acknowledgement that I am a true fan, I am someone the bands really deserves. But you know what? The only one who'll acknowledge it, is yourself! Do you think other fans gives a rats ass if you think you should be a true fan or not? They don't, all they want is to establish that THEY are true fans and that OTHERS are not.

And who are you to decide who's a true fan and who's not? I mean really, who the hell are you?! Just beacuse you think you're a true fan you have the power to judge all the other fans?
The girl who wrote the text said: A true fan stands in line, for a concert, a movie, a whatever, for hours on end, dressed like a total idiot, and still not doubt whether or not it’ll be worth it in the end. Why does this qualify someone as a true fan, a better fan? (After all this is what it's all about, being better isn't it?) Why? Because they've got dedication? Who says a 9 year old on the other side of the world who listens to the exact same band as you doesn't have dedication? Just because she hasn't done all of this, does it mean she doesn't have the same dedication? Can you measure dedication?

All I'm saying no one is to say that someone isn't a true fan. It's not a title you give to other people, it's something you decide on your own. If you think you're a "true fan" (and if it matters all that much to you) then you are. Why should you care if other people don't know the lyrics to SOS or know Garbo's birthday, if they love the band? Isn't that what it really should be about? The love for the band? To see them develop? See them make music? See them happy? Why should the rest matter?