It's not a new realization, but one I've been thinking about a lot lately - I'm very different from most people. I don't like the same things that most people like. I don't laugh at the same things most people laugh at. I'm just different.
I'm not TRYING to be a contrarian. True, hearing something being totally hyped automatically makes me raise my eyebrows and approach it with skepticism, but I do ultimately make my own decisions about what I like (please refer to "The Twilight Saga," which is extremely popular, and I enjoy it anyway, despite the knowledge that I will be looked at as a weirdo or a teenybopper). I'm not one of those angsty goth chicks who automatically hates everything that is mainstream and popular just for the sake of being alternative. I just follow where my eyes, ears, and heart tell me to go, and they usually go somewhere... else.
There is no ultimate wrong or right in this situation, but it does get really frustrating when I don't like some of the things that everyone else I know seems to like. And before you ask me, "Well, why do you care what everyone thinks?", I will say that that includes some of the people I like most or care about most, so their opinions DO matter. I honestly couldn't care what the (faceless, nameless) popular media thinks I should like, but it does kind of rub me the wrong way when people who I generally like start getting on my case.
I guess the question that should be asked is not why do _I_ care what they think, but why do THEY care what _I_ think? If I don't like something, what's it to you? Does it offend your sensibilities? Does it make you think less of me? I try to be very careful to judge only the thing in question, and not the people who like them, so why are you trying to judge me?
I will never understand why people will not allow for difference of opinion when it comes to things that are basically harmless (tastes in music, tv, movies, etc, as opposed to political or social issues or something). I guess it's validating to know that other people feel the way you do, and I guess it's particularly validating when LOTS of people feel the way you do, and when someone disagrees with you, it can feel like a personal attack.
But still... I'm not judging you because you like PCs and I like Macs, or because you like Tumblr and I'm sticking with Blogspot. It's no skin off your back, so please get off mine.
I'm not TRYING to be a contrarian. True, hearing something being totally hyped automatically makes me raise my eyebrows and approach it with skepticism, but I do ultimately make my own decisions about what I like (please refer to "The Twilight Saga," which is extremely popular, and I enjoy it anyway, despite the knowledge that I will be looked at as a weirdo or a teenybopper). I'm not one of those angsty goth chicks who automatically hates everything that is mainstream and popular just for the sake of being alternative. I just follow where my eyes, ears, and heart tell me to go, and they usually go somewhere... else.
There is no ultimate wrong or right in this situation, but it does get really frustrating when I don't like some of the things that everyone else I know seems to like. And before you ask me, "Well, why do you care what everyone thinks?", I will say that that includes some of the people I like most or care about most, so their opinions DO matter. I honestly couldn't care what the (faceless, nameless) popular media thinks I should like, but it does kind of rub me the wrong way when people who I generally like start getting on my case.
I guess the question that should be asked is not why do _I_ care what they think, but why do THEY care what _I_ think? If I don't like something, what's it to you? Does it offend your sensibilities? Does it make you think less of me? I try to be very careful to judge only the thing in question, and not the people who like them, so why are you trying to judge me?
I will never understand why people will not allow for difference of opinion when it comes to things that are basically harmless (tastes in music, tv, movies, etc, as opposed to political or social issues or something). I guess it's validating to know that other people feel the way you do, and I guess it's particularly validating when LOTS of people feel the way you do, and when someone disagrees with you, it can feel like a personal attack.
But still... I'm not judging you because you like PCs and I like Macs, or because you like Tumblr and I'm sticking with Blogspot. It's no skin off your back, so please get off mine.