Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26006155-20190403163405/@comment-38339538-20190418150339

BlackfootFerret wrote: This is why I hate GroupThink.

Assumptions made by a community that people hold as powerfully as religious beliefs, that people repeat, and consider it a crime to question.

If I had a dollar for each time I heard a Steven Universe theorist say 'Onion Gang and Rocknaldo are random worthless episodes that do nothing to add to the world of Steven Universe", I could buy a freaking motorcycle.

Nobody was able to figure them out.. so Everybody felt safe and secure in bashing these episodes, and feeling better about themselves because they hadn't screwed up... there was simply nothing to find!

And Akeem Lawanson, the SU version of MatPat, did everything in his leadership position to feed into this.

He once asked Rebecca directly at a con if SU was about 'people these days'. SU was about how warped modern religion is.. so when Akeem asked her about this different angle she said she hasn't considered that.. and Akeem jumped on what she said to conclude that SU *HAD NO POINT*, since the Crewniverse simply hadn't thought it out.

A lot of how MatPat trashed FNAF's story in "Why FNAF Will Never End". He couldn't figure it out.. so it must not HAVE a story!

And so he felt better about himself knowing that he hasn't screwed up. That, rather, SCOTT was the one who screwed up when he, just like Rebecca in Akeem's eyes, tried to sell the public a bullshit story.

A really dangerous trend in both the FNAF theorist circles, and the Steven Universe theorist circles (and who knows how many other fandoms) is: Don't Disagree With The Big Guy.

Few people were willing to disagree with MatPat during the Megastreams, because all the attendees were professionals who depended on Youtube for their livelihoods. Careers that could easily get destroyed by starting a fight with The Most Famous Theorist On Youtube.

In exactly the same way, Cartoon Universe hosted a forum after A Single Pale Rose hit, discussing the fallout ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtEA23BgMeY ) And during this, Akeem Lawanson went on an acidic tyrade about how the show was UNSAVEABLY DEAD after the terrible creative decision of making Rose Quartz Pink Diamond.

Akeem declared the show dead, in an absolutely self-assured voice that radiated righteous indignation, tearing apart the very franchise that he had personally benefited from more than anyone else there.

And the really scary thing was.. few of the others did anything to correct him.

You don't argue with the big guy. It's dangerous to do that. There will be consquences. People will say you're a fool to your face.

It doesn't matter how wrong the Big Guy is. Or if he's trying to kill something beautiful, unintentionally, or *perhaps* intentionally. YOU DON'T ARGUE WITH THE BIG GUY.

And you don't argue with GroupThink either. Because if you do, the Group will hate you.

The especially galling thing for me was this: Akeem Lawanson had personally reviewed my video "Rose Quartz Ate Pink Diamond" during one of his streams, after I'd donated to one of his livestreams asking if he would do this.

And his assessment wasn't just negative.. it was DAMNING. He flat out called me "A Menace To The Steven Universe Fandom" ( https://youtu.be/nEGX-ygXdpc )

He had personal knowledge about my theories.. when he went on this tyrade. Some of which had just been confirmed with "A Single Pale Rose", the very episode they were all talking about.

In fact, I think his knowledge of my theories is WHY he cut into the show with such acid.

A situation that seemed to be mirrored in FNAF.

If nobody proposes new ideas, nobody explores new ideas.

I made a point about praising "Onion Gang" and "Rocknaldo" in my responses to the release of "A Single Pale Rose" and the leak that happened the week before:

(SU leak happens in South America, shows Steven befriending Blue and Yellow Diamond)

DON'T GIVE UP! - https://youtu.be/Hyypv91ru8Y (May 3, 2018)

("A Single Pale Rose" airs on May 7th, 2018)

(Reaction stream with Akeem happens same day https://youtu.be/OtEA23BgMeY )

IT'S NOT OVER! -- https://youtu.be/UqFtHzfoqUU (May 14, 2018)

Because the episodes "Onion Gang" and "Rocknaldo" point directly to The Secret Of Beach City, and are *INTEGRAL* to the story.

And if I just submitted to GroupThink, or what Akeem considered Approved Avenues For Theorists To Explore, I never would have gotten anywhere.

GroupThink fucking scares me.

And as someone who was forced to question the Christian faith he grew up with by the circumstances of his life, especially after trying to read the book, making the argument that "Everyone Believes It, So You're Crazy If You Don't" is the fastest way to get me to question something.

What exactly is the Secret of Beach City