Spoiler Alerts and How They Ruin Lives
I read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on the 31st, the day it came out. It doesn't matter what I think about the book, really, or whether or not it's good. I mean, those things matter, but not to this discussion. My general opinion is that there is nothing greater than reading a brand new Harry Potter book when you haven't read one in what seems like forever.
I purposefully avoided finding out anything about the book or the plot because I wanted it to be like it was when I read the other books. The internet wasn't used in the same way and I couldn't just look up the hashtag. However, what drives me crazy is that people continually shout on social media, "NO SPOILERS" and then bully those who spoil it for them.
There was a time when all TV was on live, and there was no chance to record it. Since I've been around, there was always the possibility of recording onto a VHS tape, but largely, people didn't do that. To watch an episode of Friends or, really, The Sopranos, you watched it live or waited for the entire season to come out on VHS. There weren't spoilers, because nobody was watching it later - it was a shared experience. Imagine how cool and fun Twitter would be if everyone was watching live.
But if I'm watching, say, Sharknado, and I comment on how crazy it was that there was a David Hasselhoff cameo, that's a spoiler. But that's the shared experience. If you're not watching, you forfeit the rights to be pissed that someone else knows what happens before you do and had the nerve to post something about it online.
Rightfully so, if I want to tell the world that Harry's son was sorted into Slytherin, I shouldn't feel bad about it. I respect my fellow fans, so I didn't. But shame on me. If I want to talk about it, that's the entire point of social media in modern society. If the whole season of House of Cards posts on a Friday, I give people until Monday to watch it before I start talking about it. That's just polite. But I still want to discuss it with people while I'm watching it - just like if you were all watching together in the same room. But society says I'm supposed to watch the new episode of The Walking Dead and say "Wow I can't believe who died" on Twitter, instead of saying, "Holy shit I can't believe they killed Glenn." Both should be acceptable. I can say whatever I want.
The worst is people who come to a show or book late in the game and then continue to complain about spoilers. I'm currently in season four of Game of Thrones, and I can't believe it took this long to find out Jon Snow dies. It sort of sucks that I know that ahead of time, but shame on me for not watching when it was on. It's my fault, not yours for trying to have a discussion about a show you like.
So I guess basically my point is, stop being so sensitive and enjoy what you like and say what you want. And sorry, 140 characters isn't enough to include the phrase "spoiler alert."
I purposefully avoided finding out anything about the book or the plot because I wanted it to be like it was when I read the other books. The internet wasn't used in the same way and I couldn't just look up the hashtag. However, what drives me crazy is that people continually shout on social media, "NO SPOILERS" and then bully those who spoil it for them.
There was a time when all TV was on live, and there was no chance to record it. Since I've been around, there was always the possibility of recording onto a VHS tape, but largely, people didn't do that. To watch an episode of Friends or, really, The Sopranos, you watched it live or waited for the entire season to come out on VHS. There weren't spoilers, because nobody was watching it later - it was a shared experience. Imagine how cool and fun Twitter would be if everyone was watching live.
But if I'm watching, say, Sharknado, and I comment on how crazy it was that there was a David Hasselhoff cameo, that's a spoiler. But that's the shared experience. If you're not watching, you forfeit the rights to be pissed that someone else knows what happens before you do and had the nerve to post something about it online.
Rightfully so, if I want to tell the world that Harry's son was sorted into Slytherin, I shouldn't feel bad about it. I respect my fellow fans, so I didn't. But shame on me. If I want to talk about it, that's the entire point of social media in modern society. If the whole season of House of Cards posts on a Friday, I give people until Monday to watch it before I start talking about it. That's just polite. But I still want to discuss it with people while I'm watching it - just like if you were all watching together in the same room. But society says I'm supposed to watch the new episode of The Walking Dead and say "Wow I can't believe who died" on Twitter, instead of saying, "Holy shit I can't believe they killed Glenn." Both should be acceptable. I can say whatever I want.
The worst is people who come to a show or book late in the game and then continue to complain about spoilers. I'm currently in season four of Game of Thrones, and I can't believe it took this long to find out Jon Snow dies. It sort of sucks that I know that ahead of time, but shame on me for not watching when it was on. It's my fault, not yours for trying to have a discussion about a show you like.
So I guess basically my point is, stop being so sensitive and enjoy what you like and say what you want. And sorry, 140 characters isn't enough to include the phrase "spoiler alert."
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