Thursday, September 17, 2009

Not Better or Worse, Just Different

As promised, Superiority complexes and why you are not a better person than me.

I have way too many people in my life superiority complexes. In fact, most of my friends from high school fall under this category. As does an ex. And my father. And occasionally, the fiancee.

According to these people, liking certain things makes me less of a person. Not as smart, worldly or as individual as they are. Now we've all judged someone by their interests – 'Twilight' has become a banned topic in my MMO clan due to my explosive reaction when someone praises it – but I'm talking about the full blown sneering and disgust that comes with telling someone you like a particular band/music group, tv show and so on.

I like what I like. My likes are varied and most of the time, I don't have to justify them. I can cheerfully admit when something I like isn't the best quality in it's genre. I watch things things because something in the show appeals to me, I listen to music because it's fun to sing along or dance to and I read books because I like the story and something draws me in.

My likes may not be considered classics in their field or even have a life beyond the end of the season or until another studio manufactored boy band takes their place. So what? That doesn't make me less of a person.

Miss Better Than You has very strong opinions about this. She has very strong opinions about everything, but this is a red button subject for her. As far as she's concerned, the only musicians worth listening to are independent artists played on independent stations, who perform shows to an audience no larger than 5000 or bands that have stood the test of time and remain as popular now as they were 20 years ago.

She has great disdain for me listening to commericial radio & going to stadium concerts, considers me uncultured and regularly informed me that I was unable to think for myself and just liked what the record companies told me to like. Apparently I should have been true to myself and listened to what she told me was good.

I didn't listen to her taste in music because I didn't enjoy it. There was nothing about it that I found appealing and nothing in it spoke to me.

Different taste in music does not make you a better person. In this particular case, it made her a pretentious bitch who tried just as hard to fit into her perception of a mold as does a wanna-be goth or emo.


Worse than that, IMHO, is the bandwagon-jumpers. Now I have adverse reaction to almost any statement praising Twilight, but having said that, I have read all four books (plus the Edwards's POV book) and I'm hooked. I hate myself for this by the way. In almost all of the numerous arguments I've had regarding the quality of the books (and I use the term loosely), whoever I've been arguing against has asked “Have you even read the damn books?” and when I've replied with “Yes, all of them actually” it's become a heated debate because they know that I know what I'm talking about.

I will debate anything with anyone. As long as they know what they're talking about. The Fiancee has spent many hours ragging on the Harry Potter series and making fun of me for being so addicted to it. All he's ever seen is movie previews on TV. Unfortunately, I'm the kind of person where picking on something you know nothing about makes your opinion automatically invalid.

Being the average consumer and not a reviewer, when I listen to a song or watch a movie, the intention behind it or the artistic merit behind it or whether it will stand the test of time doesn't matter to me. Whether I enjoy it or not does. Liking something with no artistic merit that will fade out as soon as the next example in that media steps up and takes the stage does not affect my intelligence, my work ethic, my morals. It does not change who I am as a person. If it changes your opinion of me, then to be perfectly blunt, your good opinion is not important to me.

Unfortunately here is where I lower myself to the level of those I'm speaking of. Anyone who judges a person based solely on their tastes in media, whether it be music, TV or books is someone I look down.

I am who I am. I like what I like what I like. If I liked everything you liked and for the same reasons I wouldn't be me. I'd be you.

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