There are two fanboys: Ignorant ones and enlightened ones. Both support their idol/item/deity wholeheartedly. They proudly advertise their beloved product to everyone and consistently back it up with subjective evidence about how it has improved their life. The only difference between the ignorant ones and the enlightened ones is that the enlightened one acknowledges the drawbacks of the item in question. The ignorant fanboys merely aggravate the more educated ones and tend to drain morale, progress, and creativity.
Example: Enlightened Nintendo fanboy acknowledges the fact that the majority of their games are mediocre and child-oriented whereas an ignorant one would dodge the question by supporting his or her standpoint with nearly irrelevant facts, simply because he or she does not have the in-depth background information. In other words, the ignorant fanboy has limited knowledge and understanding to even provide an adequate argument or debate against the debater.
Please be aware that the example above may or may not be particularly true to the nature of Nintendo fanboys in real life.
As far as life goes, a very small minority of the human population reside in the educated section of fanboys, especially on the internet. In order to enlighten the less-informed individuals, one must go back into the cave as Socrates has foretold in the story of “Allegory of the Cave” and convince them that what they believe in was simply just a shadow of a puppet show and that there are far better things in life. Unfortunately, this ordeal is highly trifling and time consuming, where one wonders if the ends would justify the means.
For the truly stubborn and unenlightened, leave them behind because they are rigid in their ways. They refuse to change, because they fear of change and possibly lack the mental strength to handle the shock. Also, it is not worth fighting the stubbornly ignorant fanboys who rage against the obvious facts, because they tend to think that they are inherently right. Make one attempt to show them that they are wrong and present concrete objective evidence and let them come to their own conclusions. If they still refuse to change their ways, then so be it.
Therefore, we are left with these options:
- Press forward and keep trying to educate them
- Ignore and leave them behind.
- Fuel the fire by retaliating like a boss (such as ostracizing or making a laughingstock out of the person)
The guy who told the cave story was Plato, actually. Anyway, good read. Thanks.
Thanks for the update. I remembered it was either Socrates or Plato, but I’m glad you found the right source.