Celebrities. Imperfect human beings just like you and me, except they are glorified and worshiped to godly statuses by their hoards of overly-dedicated supporters. Celebrity influence has reached every corner of our lives from our entertainment, diets, advertisements and more. In the past, celebrities were just seen as regular people with successful acting, modeling or singing careers. But now, being famous for being famous and or untalented is prevalent and has launched many people to stardom. These people are now revered as gods for their talents, or for some lack thereof. 

Their supporters are called “stans,” a combination of the words “stalker” and “fan” first coined by award winning rapper Eminem. Stans like to congregate in the slimiest parts of the internet to compare every feature of their chosen idol to other idols and themselves, obsessing over minute details, like the heart-shaped nostrils of K-pop singer Jennie Kim, or the eyebrow hair that Minecraft YouTuber Dream accidentally flashed on livestream. 

Online bullying from these fandoms is similar to the crazed entertainment from the Coliseum of Ancient Rome. Forget civil discussions and the notion that people have different opinions; the obvious solution to eliminate the “other side” is by relentless flaming until they have a mental breakdown. These fights are not contained between individual fans; the fan bases also turn against other celebrities. For example, Olivia Rodrigo’s “fans’’ have sent death threats to Joshua Basset for breaking up with the singing star, as if moving on from a relationship you had while you were a kid is a crime, not to mention that he later came out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. 

Other times fans will dig for old tweets from celebrities to cast them in a bad light when they don’t know the whole story. Stans are always quick to “cancel” or “dox” other celebrities to “bring justice” to their favorite star. Doxxing can be considered as illegal behavior, and is where one leaks someone’s personal information to the public without their consent, typically addresses and pictures of celebrities who want to retain their privacy in the exposed digital age. 

On the other hand, they live under the delusion that their favorite idol is perfect and will defend them to the death, even against serious legal accusations. 

Problematic stan behavior should be condemned by all morally sound and logical people. You do not own a celebrity. The celebrity is not in love with you and you should not interfere with their personal relationships. You are only seeing a carefully filtered version of the celebrity. Celebrities should be entitled to their own privacy; after all, they are humans just like you and me, and can be damaged by the limelight. In many ways, the people who you worship are the ones you end up destroying. You can admire them, but just keep it civil. And, as we all learned in elementary school, keep your hands to yourself.