If they do end up staying, and they end up playing nicely with a group of people who are their fans, or maybe even make new friends by *making the same effort the rest of us do* to reach out and engage in conversation, then great! A celebrity remembered today that they don't get to just coast on their name in social spaces forever and have to actually be a human.

If they decide this place is "dead and boring" or "a ghost town", also great! We don't have anyone sucking up all the oxygen in the room!

Block them instantly. Every time. It's the only way to ensure that this place doesn't devolve into a total clout farm (which, sadly, is already happening and has been happening since the influx that would become the bofam).

I understand that it totally sucks when a person with a lot of leverage has done something shitty to you or a marginalized group of which you are a part, and the desire to yell at them is strong.

If you absolutely cannot live with yourself if you don't @ them, send them a DM. Don't do it publicly. Criticizing them in public is advertising.

But perhaps the better move is to DM all your close friends and suggest they block the celebrity, too. Strip them of their unearned power.

Take away their platform. Plain and simple.

@SuzanEraslan

"Aw, give them a chance. Don't block them. Come on."

No!

"lol, no, get this: harass them relentlessly!"

Also no!

The former is *way* too nice, and upholds their power and clout farming.

The latter normalizes dogpiling and harassment, which because people are acculturated to corporate social media, spreads rapidly and starts taking over *all* relationships, not just corporate (non-)"relationships".

It's also sheer hell if you have sensory/social challenges

@shoutcacophony Exactly! Like, yesterday, a bunch of people were piling on some (turned out to be false) celebrity I didn't know, and I was like, "Hey, buddy, I don't know what's going on, but if you need help navigating here, I am happy to be a friend," because I didn't know they were "famous" and thought I'd just be pleasant and welcoming... and that was not knowing who they were! Fans won't just offer friendship to the celebrity, they'll attack anyone who criticizes them.

@SuzanEraslan See, I think that points to a larger issue when people start dogpiling, not just celebrities, but in general.

It is virtually *impossible* to have an ingroup "set" that's large enough to "get the joke".

People don't get jokes, for a variety of reasons. Assuming that they do is stinky cheese level ableist.

Watching this start to happen is like "ok, y'all are weaponizing shitposting and just *sprays gunfire into a crowd*.

Um, please don't

@SuzanEraslan This is all a Very Good Take™️. 💚