Hey, more Monte Cook.
I've been thinking about this article a lot, lately. Partially because of what I wrote about Obama, partially because it's been in the back of my mind as a blog topic for a while now.
For a long time, my natural response to basically everything was "I like it." I liked every movie I saw, every book I read. Then I turned thirteen. I started hanging out with people who talked about how stupid things were. Things like DragonballZ, and Animorphs; things I'd liked for a long time, things I'd been a huge fan of for as long as I could remember.
I got much more conservative about the things I liked. I would check, first, to make sure that it wasn't just me who liked something. I got used to being embarrassed about liking things, things like Hellboy or Jak 2, and I got used to defending them to my friends. Or just not mentioning them at all.
Then, finally, I figured out that liking things was okay. It was allowed. Even if everyone else thinks it's stupid, or if I think everyone else is going to think it's stupid. I figured out that if I think the Animorphs are good books, then that's enough. I don't need anyone's permission to like them.
I feel the same way about most things. For nearly all people, places, and things, I feel a general default approval. But since I'm mostly apathetic toward most things, I basically just co-opt the opinions of my friends, so I can be opinionated about silly things later.
ReplyDeleteNow that I'm in college, I've lost the chance to steal opinions, and I feel a general liking toward everything. This is turning out to be more of a problem than I expected, because I am overstepping my traditional roles and interests, and changing wildly because I have no constraints on my behavior.
Sorry for criticizing things in the past, if I am partly to blame.
It's okay to like stuff that other people either refuse to participate in or say they "hate". Look at me and Andromeda... or World of Darkness... or Nightwish. I get a lot of grief from my friends too (including you), and I know we've sometimes given you a lot of grief. Some of it was that we were 14 years old, and at 14, it's cool to hate stuff (or something like that, I don't know. I don't actually recall Animorphs being that bad. I read them and they were pretty entertaining. A little cookie-cutterish, but most kids' series are. I may have been saying I didn't like them because that's what everyone else was saying (or because they were children's books and I was 14 and in 8th grade and "OBVIOUSLY too old for them"... I was such a dumb kid) Some of it is just difference of opinion. Hellboy's cool, but I will never understand your complete fascination with him.
ReplyDeleteHonestly though, I like having friends with different interests and opinions. Sure, they have to agree with me on some stuff, and share similar interests, but it would be boring to hang out with someone whose beliefs were completely identical. My friends with other interests have opened me up to those other interests. Sometimes I like the stuff they tell me about (in the case of a lot of computer games... thanks David). Sometimes I don't like what they tell me about. But that's fine. It provokes interesting conversations nonetheless.
Also, sorry if I was an idiotic kid when I was 13-15.
hah. I shall never apologize for saying I hate some of your ideas!!!
ReplyDelete...mostly because you never cared and were the main one who I'd share things with and get a cold shoulder.
but whatever. I turned out alright.... thus far.
...
*hangs head in shame*
~Qwerty