Surgism is the unofficial name of a minority group in the mythos that stipulates the Slender Man mythos has strayed from the original intentions of the Slender Man as a monster and from the genre of horror, either deliberately or due to limitations in ARG production and the popularity of Slender-based video games such as Slender: The 8 Pages.
Surgists take their position's name from the creator of the Slender Man Mythos, Victor Surge. The original mythos started by him contained many differences from the current version of Slenderman, who Surgists claim is an extension of The Operator and the video game interpretations of Slender Man created as a result, and not of Slender Man itself. As an example, in classical interpretations, Slender Man neither caused "static" nor interfered with technology. In ARG's, however, the attempt by the crew to hide Slender Man and cause bizarre visuals was done with the explanation that the Slender Man was the cause of the bizarre footage, and this in turn caused people to assume that quality onto Slender Man.
Surgist beliefs include a distaste for many slenderblogs, the belief that MarbleHornets and ARGs based from or off the trends set by it caused or have contributed to the deformation of the mythos, and that the current version of Slenderman is not truly scary. One of the biggest problems, however, came after the introduction of the popular Slender: The 8 Pages. Due to the fact that the game was not only free, but became popular to mainstream indie quality to the point that Toonami aired a short review of the game, the public outside of the mythos began assuming that Slender Man was originally created specifically for Slender: The 8 Pages. Large chunks of the mythos were entirely ignored, and only what appeared in the game was both canon and well-known. This led to assumptions such as Slender Man always causing static when he kills people despite the fact that he only did so in the game because the character had a video camera. Additionally, the assumptions on Pages having mystical powers that could ward him off became prevalent, and issues with various spin-off games along with his supposed connection to creepypasta serial killer Jeff the Killer, along with the portrayal of proxies as being beneficial, led to a huge misunderstanding between people outside of the fandom, and those within.
Proxies as beneficial relationships with Slender Man rather than tortured slaves became prominent, which heavily contrasted with the surgist view that proxies do not exist as Slender Man would never require someone to do his work for him. This became increasingly problematic with the growing interpretations of characters such as Ticci-Toby as tortured individuals despite authors like Ticci Toby creator Kastoway never intending him to appear as such. Furthermore, interpretations of various MarbleHornets characters such as Masky and Hoody as bishōnen individuals rather than actual people became prevalent. It was roughly at this point the mythos seemed to split into yet another two factions: Surgists who refused to believe in proxies, Argists who believed in everything unrelated to the games, Contemporaries who accept all of the mythos but also accept Slender Man is not a traditional creepypasta character (or not a creepypasta character at all), and popularists who seemed to interpret Slender Man and all characters as intriguing creepypasta characters who often were further interpreted as tortured souls who were depicted far more attractively than they canonically were in their own works.
Slendercreators and supporters of the mainstream Slender Man counter that it is not a deformation of the mythos, but rather evolution of them. Many believe that because MarbleHornets became the primary vehicle for the mythos early on and opened the mythos to a wider audience that the trends it set in the mythos are equally legitimate, if not more than, the original mythos. Further, the game opened the mythos up to an even larger community, an action that has been highly polarized within the mythos itself. While large amounts of creative content do exist, surgists argue against it's legitimacy in the mythos, while nearly all other members of the mythos argue that the content is the crowning achievement and ultimate point of the Slender Man legend, and that without it, the legend would ultimately die out and vanish.
In addition to these problems, the controversy of Waukesha Wisconsin drew considerable attention to the way the mythos is interpreted.
NAMES WILL NOT BE USED. Link to wikipedia article with more information: Slender Man Stabbing.
According to police reports, two young women found the mythos after browsing the Creepypasta Wiki . Coming to the conclusion that becoming Slender Man's proxies would spare their families, the two girls concluded the entity would only do so after they succesfully committing a murder in his name as a sacrifice. After obtaining a mutual friend of the two, the two attackers led their victim to a remote area in a local forest where they proceeded to repeatedly stab the victim, then left their victim to die with the promise of obtaining medical help. The victim survived and managed to crawl to safety, resulting in a bicyclist finding her and calling emergency responders. The girl was taken to a hospital in critical condition, but luckily survived. After naming her perpetrators, the two attackers were arrested and the attempted murder weapon was confiscated. While debates over mental health raged and the Creepypasta community fell under attack for inciting the attack, the incident ultimately altered the way the mythos presented itself, with surgist views against the sensationalism of Slender Man being brought back into question over whether it was a good idea for Slender Man to ever be a popular horror icon. Furthermore, since Surgist's do not believe in proxies, the attack by the girls to be proxies effectively placed a black mark on every aspect of the mythos except the traditional surgists who refused proxies from the beginning.
Surgists are a general minority of Slendercreators and fans, and represent a somewhat vocal but ultimately miniscule amount of individuals interested in the mythos. As the mythos continues to grow, surgist ideals tend to die out, as newer fans typically enter into the mythos due to the games or the ARG's, and often find out about the classical depictions much later. It is not known if Victor Surge supports their views.