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Jan. 9th, 2004 05:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gmonkey42I was reading the recent wankitude over at ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
deleterius that ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tviokh mentioned in her journal and it got me thinking: a lot of people seem to have the misconception that if people like something then it must be good. I thought about it too when I was in the car with my brother last week. I started ragging on Britney Spears, which I like to do from time to time, because it's pretty funny how she makes millions of dollars for being a singer when she cannot, in fact, sing. That'd be like a construction worker who can't build houses. Like, the houses look OK, but the walls are actually made of cardboard and stuck together with paste. Only in real life, the analogy would be funnier. I'm a little tired right now. So there's my excuse. But I digress.
I was making fun of Britney Spears and my brother got upset about it. First of all, I don't take it personally when people make fun of something that I like. I mean, I'll often be like "what?! How could anyone not like that? It's so cool!" But I don't get all offended. I think the difference is that I generally like stuff that doesn't suck. People who like something that sucks may go around saying it doesn't suck but deep down, maybe subconsciously, they know it does. And they feel guilty for liking something stupid. So when I say I can tell just by the commercials that The Fast and the Furious is easily the most idiotic, pointless movie ever made, my brother acts like I'm insulting him.
But back to fanfiction. It's the same thing. The motivation for the author to make eighty or so anonymous posts in deleterius or pottersues makes sense(making it no less immature and annoying) but the motivation for other people to do that is less obvious. I think it's the same as people who like Britney Spears or stupid movies about cars. These people are already insecure because they know that what they like is stupid and they fear that that could mean they too are stupid. So they react in an irrationally defensive manner when anyone says anything bad about crappy fanfiction. They all seem to say remarkably the same things. It basically boils down to "You have no right to say anything criticizing people; haven't you heard of free speech?! You're rude and immature, you fucking fuckhead!" only with more spelling errors. I don't get why they think this will be effective. I guess, much like road rage, they don't care what the effect will be, they just think it'll make them feel better. I wonder if it does.
The thing is, though, that we don't have to be ashamed of liking crap. We just have to stop trying to pretend it's anything other than what it is (that being crap). I can't think of any such movies, books etc. off the top of my head that I like but here's something: I like Taco Bell. I know it's crap and there are places where you can get actual Mexican food but I just like it. But I never try to defend it. That's the difference. Just today, I had a bean burrito for lunch and my co-worker said "You walked all the way to Taco Bell?! That's not worth walking for." She's absolutely right. But I just said "yeah, but I like it." If there were an anti-Taco Bell forum somewhere, I wouldn't go around spamming them like a lot of these Mary Sue fans do. I'd probably look at it and get just as much amusement out of it as the people posting there who absolutely despise Taco Bell. Because, much as I like it, I recognize it for what it is. Probably everybody has some guilty pleasure so there's no need to be ashamed of it, or to try to compensate for that shame by whining on the internet.
OK, that's all for now. I'm going home. Maybe I'll have some Tostitos nacho cheese. I like that stuff too.
Addendum, upon reading some more of the 200+ comments in that thread: don't you love it when someone says something ridiculous then when people call them on it, backpedals by claiming it was sarcasm-and-don't-you-all-feel-foolish-for-having-it-go-over-your-heads? Yeah. That's great.
Also, if it upsets these approximately three "Anonymous" people so then WHY do they keep looking at deleterius? I could understand it if they, like the sane people on deleterius, were reading something they don't like in order to be entertained and entertain others by cleverly making fun of it but they don't. They just whine and name-call. I just don't get it. If there were some we-hate-slash community out there (and I'm sure there is) I'd just stay the hell away from it. I dislike conflict and try to avoid unnecessarily inciting it; it seems weird to me that most people aren't like that.
deleterius that tviokh mentioned in her journal and it got me thinking: a lot of people seem to have the misconception that if people like something then it must be good. I thought about it too when I was in the car with my brother last week. I started ragging on Britney Spears, which I like to do from time to time, because it's pretty funny how she makes millions of dollars for being a singer when she cannot, in fact, sing. That'd be like a construction worker who can't build houses. Like, the houses look OK, but the walls are actually made of cardboard and stuck together with paste. Only in real life, the analogy would be funnier. I'm a little tired right now. So there's my excuse. But I digress. I was making fun of Britney Spears and my brother got upset about it. First of all, I don't take it personally when people make fun of something that I like. I mean, I'll often be like "what?! How could anyone not like that? It's so cool!" But I don't get all offended. I think the difference is that I generally like stuff that doesn't suck. People who like something that sucks may go around saying it doesn't suck but deep down, maybe subconsciously, they know it does. And they feel guilty for liking something stupid. So when I say I can tell just by the commercials that The Fast and the Furious is easily the most idiotic, pointless movie ever made, my brother acts like I'm insulting him.
But back to fanfiction. It's the same thing. The motivation for the author to make eighty or so anonymous posts in deleterius or pottersues makes sense(making it no less immature and annoying) but the motivation for other people to do that is less obvious. I think it's the same as people who like Britney Spears or stupid movies about cars. These people are already insecure because they know that what they like is stupid and they fear that that could mean they too are stupid. So they react in an irrationally defensive manner when anyone says anything bad about crappy fanfiction. They all seem to say remarkably the same things. It basically boils down to "You have no right to say anything criticizing people; haven't you heard of free speech?! You're rude and immature, you fucking fuckhead!" only with more spelling errors. I don't get why they think this will be effective. I guess, much like road rage, they don't care what the effect will be, they just think it'll make them feel better. I wonder if it does.
The thing is, though, that we don't have to be ashamed of liking crap. We just have to stop trying to pretend it's anything other than what it is (that being crap). I can't think of any such movies, books etc. off the top of my head that I like but here's something: I like Taco Bell. I know it's crap and there are places where you can get actual Mexican food but I just like it. But I never try to defend it. That's the difference. Just today, I had a bean burrito for lunch and my co-worker said "You walked all the way to Taco Bell?! That's not worth walking for." She's absolutely right. But I just said "yeah, but I like it." If there were an anti-Taco Bell forum somewhere, I wouldn't go around spamming them like a lot of these Mary Sue fans do. I'd probably look at it and get just as much amusement out of it as the people posting there who absolutely despise Taco Bell. Because, much as I like it, I recognize it for what it is. Probably everybody has some guilty pleasure so there's no need to be ashamed of it, or to try to compensate for that shame by whining on the internet.
OK, that's all for now. I'm going home. Maybe I'll have some Tostitos nacho cheese. I like that stuff too.
Addendum, upon reading some more of the 200+ comments in that thread: don't you love it when someone says something ridiculous then when people call them on it, backpedals by claiming it was sarcasm-and-don't-you-all-feel-foolish-for-having-it-go-over-your-heads? Yeah. That's great.
Also, if it upsets these approximately three "Anonymous" people so then WHY do they keep looking at deleterius? I could understand it if they, like the sane people on deleterius, were reading something they don't like in order to be entertained and entertain others by cleverly making fun of it but they don't. They just whine and name-call. I just don't get it. If there were some we-hate-slash community out there (and I'm sure there is) I'd just stay the hell away from it. I dislike conflict and try to avoid unnecessarily inciting it; it seems weird to me that most people aren't like that.
