Not Liking Something Because It's Popular

[WALMART]

@bold... heh. Hence the username? Superunknown?

Hmm. I find new reasons I chose this every day

 

[Honor]

Yeah, I know a girl who did this a lot in elementary school, and I think back then, she was just trying to be quirky and unique, but she did end up becoming a raging narcissist as a young adult. Very sad. Not sure if there's a correlation, but now that you mention it, maybe there is.

 

[highlander]

Well, I do sometimes avoid things that are too popular. An example is with cars. It's like when everybody goes out and buys an SUV, because everyone is buying SUVs. It makes me not want one. I'm not like that with movies or music though.

 

[prplchknz]

Well, I do sometimes avoid things that are too popular. An example is with cars. It's like when everybody goes out and buys an SUV, because everyone is buying SUVs. It makes me not want one. I'm not like that with movies or music though.

it makes sense ti not have the same car or bag as others because if you do it can become confusing.

 

[WALMART]

Does it bother you if/when other people start to like your niche interests?

I have a similar thought process to yours re: your second paragraph -- but usually I like it when other people start to appreciate them. Unless they're individual people I don't like, but that's something else entirely.

I loved that people began taking an interest in The Dark Tower series, when they did. Mostly, it's because I have like 1,000 theories I want corroborated beyond my own perception, heh.

I was partially bummed to find out Quantum Mechanics grew kinda mainstream over the past five or so years. Mostly, I like teaching people about it, and when I find out they already know what's up...

 

[highlander]

it makes sense ti not have the same car or bag as others because if you do it can become confusing.

That's true too. I have a green suitcase for this exact reason.

 

[ndovjtjcaqidthi]

Sigh. I admit, it's the worst feeling ever when something I like or hold dear becomes popular/mainstream.

I can't help it.

 

[prplchknz]

That's true too. I have a green suitcase for this exact reason.

my suitcase is also green we can't travrl together

 

[Evo]

Sigh. I admit, it's the worst feeling ever when something I like or hold dear becomes popular/mainstream.

I can't help it.

I do too...even though I know it's not that big of deal sometimes...


Why do you think you get that feeling? (Hopes that maybe your answer will help me answer that question for me.)

 

[ndovjtjcaqidthi]

I do too...even though I know it's not that big of deal sometimes...


Why do you think you get that feeling? (Hopes that maybe your answer will help me answer that question for me.)

I feel like my identity is being copied. Not a good feeling.

 

[Totenkindly]

I actually WILL do stuff I like regardless of who else doesn't like it or does like it.

However, it really pisses me off when something I like becomes a fad. I'm afraid it will get dumbed down by people into something it's not, or liked because it's a fad rather than on its own merits... you know, people wouldn't have liked it at all, except it was the in-thing to do.

I'm concerned about the Maleficent movie coming out, for example; I think she's a great character, and at least AJ looks pretty good playing her so far, but I'm afraid that the character will be mishandled... kind of like in Oz the Great and Powerful, where the Witch was just kind of butchered (although the Wizard and Glinda were treated decently).

I didn't like it when Inception became so faddish. As long as people liked it because they understood it and grasped the depth of it, that's cool; but if they're just hopping on the bandwagon on the next property to be exploited by American consumer culture and NYC advertising, well, fuck that.

I've also watched other things I've loved become raped by western consumerism, like Watchmen and V for Vendetta. It's not a pleasant feeling. You can say it's less me being a snob and more me defending the honorable of something I viewed as special and deserving of real effort to portray and understand it, instead being given a lobotomy so it could be mass-marketed as the next cash cow property.

There's also something to be said for working hard to find something special, earning the right to savor it... and then someone just peddles it to a crowd who won't give a shit about it in a month but right now it's "popular" and they'll just use it, consume it, and then dump it for the next thing. It's kind of a gross process to observe. It used to be a big deal to scale Mount Everest, but not anymore... and now the entire mountainside is also covered by piles of shit and trash that the consumers have left there because they never had a reverence for the mountain anyway. It was just one more experience to purchase on the backs of the people who earned the right to climb it, and then they move on to the next thing to be consumed.

I don't think those kinds of feelings I experience are elitist. It's more that people aren't really valuing something I consider precious and deserving of effort to grasp. But unfortunately that is how consumer cultures operate; they just eat anything that looks like it might taste good and shit it back out as they're looking for something else to eat.

[MENTION=15318]Saudade[/MENTION]: Yeah, I understand what you mean by "being copied." You like it because you like it; they're just copying you because it's cool. It DOES feel like having your identity made irrelevant or trivialized in some ways. (As a minor example, Inception really resonated with me in some deep-seated ways, but I feel like I can't claim it as part of my identity because it's become so watered down as to be worthless as a descriptor even if it should actually be powerful.)

 

[Stansmith]

[MENTION=14015]Inari Love[/MENTION]

I think it's misanthropy in some cases. Other times it's just over-saturation, which leads to boredom.

 

[zago]

You know something might be good if people are criticizing it very harshly. A lot of people I met IRL blasted the science in the movie Gravity if I mentioned it. Never would they do that for any other movie, and almost all other movies basically ignore scientific realism completely, even supposed scifi movies.

 

[Evo]

I feel like my identity is being copied. Not a good feeling.

Oh YES! good stuff. I get this with music...the most. Movies...I don't care about...or actually any other forms of entertainment.

It's just music.

I think it's cause I identify with the music so much. I feel some form of betrayal or something when others love my favorite songs, that I found on my own, as much as I do. This is before the song gets popular.

If the song is popular before hand and someone says I'll like it...I don't get bent out of shape, I willingly look into it.

 

[ndovjtjcaqidthi]

[MENTION=15318]Saudade[/MENTION]: Yeah, I understand what you mean by "being copied." You like it because you like it; they're just copying you because it's cool. It DOES feel like having your identity made irrelevant or trivialized in some ways.

I have always really bothered people by being so outspoken about it, I take that sort of thing very seriously. Lol.

Oh YES! good stuff. I get this with music...the most. Movies...I don't care about...or actually any other forms of entertainment.

It's just music.

I think it's cause I identify with the music so much. I feel some form of betrayal or something when others love my favorite songs, that I found on my own, as much as I do. This is before the song gets popular.

If the song is popular before hand and someone says I'll like it...I don't get bent out of shape, I willingly look into it.

Music, mhmmm. So much ditto.

And when people become interested in the same subjects as me, I take that stuff to heart.

 

[Evo]

I have always really bothered people by being so outspoken about it, I take that sort of thing very seriously. Lol.



Music, mhmmm. So much ditto.

And when people become interested in the same subjects as me, I take that stuff to heart.

Yep. Exactly. It could also be cause I think that I have a relationship or something with that subject. Like I really took the time out to get to know all of the important qualities of it. etc...

Oh it just came to me...I know what it is now.

I invested time and energy and emotion into it, to the point that I now identify with it.

People get bothered by my voicing that stuff too. ha ha. oh wells for them.

 

[ndovjtjcaqidthi]

Oh, I also want to say that if I really like someone, and I let them enter my bubble, I actually enjoy sharing things that I identify with.

Yep. Exactly. It could also be cause I think that I have a relationship or something with that subject. Like I really took the time out to get to know all of the important qualities of it. etc...

Oh it just came to me...I know what it is now.

I invested time and energy and emotion into it, to the point that I now identify with it.

Mhmm. I agree.

People get bothered by my voicing that stuff too. ha ha. oh wells for them.

Toooooootally.

 

[Evo]

Oh, I also want to say that if I really like someone, and I let them enter my bubble, I actually enjoy sharing things that I identify with.

Oh yea, that's different. That means I trust the person in "my bubble." I like sharing like that too.

 

[Galena]

I've stated OP's opinion before.

(This is why I get mad whenever people call me a hipster -- which happens fairly frequently.)

Oh, no; that's what you're supposed to do! I just nod and go "Sure. Like it or not, given where I grew up, I've probably osmotized some of their style." Heads explode.

 

[EJCC]

Oh, no; that's what you're supposed to do! I just nod and go "Sure. Like it or not, given where I grew up, I've probably osmotized some of their style." Heads explode.

But that means seeming okay with being compared with obnoxious people! How do you do it?