The NME have announced the nominations for their not-so-prestigious awards and One Direction are up for "Worst Band" (again). Not only that, but Harry Styles is also up for "Villain of the Year," having presumably murdered someone or for his alleged relationship with the lesser known Kardashian, Kylie Jenner. I, quite frankly, don't understand the NME Awards (they have a category for "Best Re-Issue") but fans of the popular quintet are nevertheless greatly angered.
Spin 1038, earlier today, listed a few of the tweets shared in the wake of the revealed nominations:
"Are they stupid or are they stupid?" asked one disgruntled fan, rhetorically giving no real alternative to the question.
"What even is NME?" said another, oblivious to the fact that Google could answer this most easily.
More radical 1D fans even went so far as to say: ''SERIOUSLY SHUT THE F**K UP ARE YOU KIDDING ME I WILL BURN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE DOWN" or ''HOW DARE YOU NOMINATE ONE DIRECTION FOR THE WORST BAND DONT MAKE ME COME THERE AND SLAP YOU WITH A BRICK I JUST HATE THIS SOCIETY." In fact, there were actually a few specific threats like these, which begs the question as to how serious they were being.
With anger not too dissimilar to that of political nationalists, I ask the question of what makes a One Direction fan tick, whilst proposing a few examples:
Insulting them: This is the obvious case, as we have seen with the NME Awards. When they were nominated last year, there was also great hysteria but usually their threats lack conviction. Usually.
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One of the members getting a girlfriend/ partner: The fans don't like Zayn's fiancee, Perrie Edwards (from Little Mix) because he is now unattainable. She has admitted that she can relate to this jealousy, having adored members of bands like McFly, but she nevertheless can't ignore the nasty messages she gets via Twitter.
Picking one: Recently, Stephen Colbert chose Liam as his favourite member. There's nothing wrong there, right? There is! Fans swarmed onto Twitter, declaring their disagreements or bizarrely their outlook on the whole concept of favouring; according to a few, for example, one simply cannot choose because they are all cute. It's simply unethical to make such an announcement for the more die-hard followers.
Calling them out on their ridiculous devotion: Last August, Channel 4 ran a documentary on the obsessive nature of these, for want of a better word, "people." Discussing the death threats sent by fans and the measures they will take to meet members of the band, may have made for an interesting watch for most people but 1D fans felt they were not being portrayed accurately. They adopted the hash-tag #ThisIsNOTUs, with regards to the This Is Us film released and called Channel 4 out, in return for being "judged." Like with a paranoid drug addict, sometimes the first intervention isn't enough.
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Taylor Swift: In fairness though, she ticks off a lot of people, so we'll just leave it at that...
What do you think ticks off a 1D fan? Have you ever dared to question their purpose in life? What can we, as individuals, do to protect ourselves from the ever-tempermental nature of these creatures? Please comment below.
