Here, here on the 'stupid or immature' part. I have never understood what makes one hobby more valid than another, especially since the point of all hobbies is fun for the participant. If you're out there, maximizing your utility, I should...tell you to do something else instead that you enjoy less because it's more "acceptable" to me?
Uhh. Sure.
On the other hand, tho, as you've pointed out: Your extreme interest does not mean you have the right to babble at me about it for FIVE HOURS and expect me to be as psyched as you are about it.
I agree with almost all of what you say pretty much entirely.
The only point where I'd like to offer a possibly dissenting view, depending on how you look at it, is;
That doesn't mean you can't say 'I disliked this', but more that I fail to see the point in wasting time and energy and emotion on tearing down things that other people care about.
People who cannot connect to or derive enjoyment from something if the logic is shoddy, or get bounced hard out of the experience when the world doesn't make sense, are people too. If something bothers me at that level, and I'm asked for an opinion on it, I'd really prefer if talking about how it failed for me, and how it could have been made to work for me, were something I could say without it being read as "tearing things down" by people who find whatever it is enjoyable without being bothered by the logic or world-building issues. I think there's room for things to be good in more than one way, I think it's to their benefit to be so, and... people don't become better writers if they
( ... )
I don't think this is so much a disagreement as a failure, on my part, to word myself clearly. So:
If you are asked for an opinion, you should absolutely be free to give it. If you are stating an opinion, especially in 'your' space -- a journal or blog, amongst a circle of friends, your own home, anywhere you feel safe -- you should absolutely be free to give it. Reviews and critiques are essential parts of existence.
My issue is with the people who are not asked for their opinion, yet who must continue heaping negativity long past the point where it's sharing a stance, and is, instead, preaching to a very unwilling choir. You get this a lot online -- I post 'I like monkeys', and promptly get someone, uninvited, that I don't even know, telling me how stupid and infantile I am for that opinion, and how monkeys suck.
This is what I'm objecting to, not you disliking something I enjoy, or vice-versa, or having an opinion I don't share.
Sure. *hug* Thanks for clarifying; and I'm sorry if I'm overly twitchy on this point, I'm a bit fed up recently of having "I'm afraid X doesn't work for me because it fails to make sense" get the reaction "why do you have to hate and want to destroy X, which means so much to me because everyone's feelings are so real and true".
I think there's a difference between reasoned critique and "omg u suck becuz Harry and Hermione are so gonna do it becuase they love each other and u suk because you say different and J.K. Rowling suks because she said this wasn't in the book but it totally is and you can tell Hermione likes Harry becuz..."
...Wow, that actually physically hurt my brain doing that.
Very well said. Especially the part about liking things that are not popular or cool. There is way too much "if something is not to my taste it has no value" in our world today. And closing yourself off to something just because it is not "in" is just dumb.
I've never understood that. And you get it from both sides of the fence -- the people who are 'mainstream' look down at me for being in my late twenties and reading comic books, while I've had fans tell me I was intellectually retarding myself by loving Stephen King.
People love what they love. We should be glad they can.
Exactly. There are things some people like which I wouldn't touch with a 3 metre Russian (or a 10 foot Pole), and I expect that there are things I like about which they feel the same. I can't criticise your love of My Little Pony when I like Pokemon *g*. In your recent seasonal stories there are many which I can't appreciate properly because I don't know the fandom, and some of those fandoms I'm not interested in acquiring (on the other hand, some of them make me want to watch the series), but I feel that the world is richer because you /do/ love those fandoms and are inspired by them.
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Uhh. Sure.
On the other hand, tho, as you've pointed out: Your extreme interest does not mean you have the right to babble at me about it for FIVE HOURS and expect me to be as psyched as you are about it.
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The only point where I'd like to offer a possibly dissenting view, depending on how you look at it, is;
That doesn't mean you can't say 'I disliked this', but more that I fail to see the point in wasting time and energy and emotion on tearing down things that other people care about.
People who cannot connect to or derive enjoyment from something if the logic is shoddy, or get bounced hard out of the experience when the world doesn't make sense, are people too. If something bothers me at that level, and I'm asked for an opinion on it, I'd really prefer if talking about how it failed for me, and how it could have been made to work for me, were something I could say without it being read as "tearing things down" by people who find whatever it is enjoyable without being bothered by the logic or world-building issues. I think there's room for things to be good in more than one way, I think it's to their benefit to be so, and... people don't become better writers if they ( ... )
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If you are asked for an opinion, you should absolutely be free to give it. If you are stating an opinion, especially in 'your' space -- a journal or blog, amongst a circle of friends, your own home, anywhere you feel safe -- you should absolutely be free to give it. Reviews and critiques are essential parts of existence.
My issue is with the people who are not asked for their opinion, yet who must continue heaping negativity long past the point where it's sharing a stance, and is, instead, preaching to a very unwilling choir. You get this a lot online -- I post 'I like monkeys', and promptly get someone, uninvited, that I don't even know, telling me how stupid and infantile I am for that opinion, and how monkeys suck.
This is what I'm objecting to, not you disliking something I enjoy, or vice-versa, or having an opinion I don't share.
Make more sense?
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...Wow, that actually physically hurt my brain doing that.
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GHR
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People love what they love. We should be glad they can.
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*hugs*
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