Being Different for the Sake of Being Different

[Andara Bledin]

I currently have a friend, who is a boyfriend of another friend, who annoys the crap out of me by acting like your typical herd-following little sheep, only under the guise of being a hipster, which makes it ok, 'cause they're all counterculture sheeple, instead of pop culture sheeple.

... pardon me while I put my eyes back into their sockets after they fell out from rolling them so hard...

I'm sorry, but all you people who never got over the idea of living your life based on current trends aren't different just because you're anti-pop culture. That just makes you contrary. You're still basing all of your decisions on what the herd has decided is in or out of fashion.

If you like something, then own it. If you don't like something, then own that, too.

But if you're being different for no other reason that to "be different," then you're not any different than any other pop culture sheep. And if that's who you are, then own that.

^-.-^

[ExRetailDrone]

It seems like another way in which people refuse to take responsibility for themselves, their actions, or even their own beliefs. They don't have to explain why they like something, other than the fact that it's not what "everyone else likes", or some other such bull. Hell, there's a good chance that they don't really like it, they just think they're expected to so they delude themselves.

I am reminded of this Cracked article, which I found myself agreeing with quite a bit.

[Andara Bledin]

Thanks for the link. I hadn't come across that article before.

^-.-^

[HYHYBT]

On the other side, I really hate when people assume that someone only likes something *because* others do. Even if they wouldn't ever have thought to try it without seeing it done elsewhere first, that doesn't make their own enjoyment any less genuine.

I'm thinking, in this case, of a comment that might have been on Fratching or might have been elsewhere about someone who ordered Earl Grey tea because Captain Picard kept drinking it on Star Trek. If, out of curiosity of hearing of such a thing, they try it, and then find they like the taste, that's one thing; if they don't like the taste but keep drinking it anyway because they saw it on TV, that's quite another... and not always as easy as it might seem to know the difference from the outside. (There was a similar thread, I think, about naming kids "after" TV characters, and a similar difference between choosing an otherwise awful name because you like a character, and choosing a name you genuinely like which you would never have thought of if you hadn't seen it used.)

[Ladeeda]

Oi, tell me about it! Almost slugged some guy a while back who sneered when I told him what my favorite Queen song is. "Everyone like that one." Even said he liked to out-obscure-reference people in conversation.

That convo did not last long.

Sometimes things are popular because they are GOOD. Not always, but often enough.

@HYHYBT - That's how I found out I like my tea the "British" way, cream and sugar. Yummy!

[Boozy]

I totally posted a thread about this, like, two years ago. No one serious about Fratching is still into this. It used to be cool, but now the subject like, totally sucks.

[Andara Bledin]

Even said he liked to out-obscure-reference people in conversation.

Ack. The person who helped spawn this thread does that, too. Though not at conventions, which he doesn't actually attend because rather than checking one out to see if he'll like it, he just makes assumptions about what they're like based on internet forums and then treats that like it's actually true.

Sometimes things are popular because they are GOOD. Not always, but often enough.

And, on the other side of that coin, sometimes things are obscure because they're crap.

^-.-^

[telecom_goddess]

I totally posted a thread about this, like, two years ago. No one serious about Fratching is still into this. It used to be cool, but now the subject like, totally sucks.

That's a good one

@HYHYBT I hear ya....I always have marched to my own drummer so to speak...I could give a crap less what's popular or not popular, if I like it then I like it, if I don't then I don't. And as much as I love Star Trek I HATE earl grey tea it's disgusting and I will never drink it

[Hyena Dandy]

I feel like I should defend him by pointing out that he's ALSO said he doesn't like that about him. He's not the most rational guy. Love him, but he is irrational.

[HYHYBT]

Well, after all, most people have things they don't like about themselves. And those who don't should

Oi, tell me about it! Almost slugged some guy a while back who sneered when I told him what my favorite Queen song is. "Everyone like that one." Even said he liked to out-obscure-reference people in conversation.

Popular does not mean bad. Most people like breathing air, too; that's no reason to try breathing canola oil instead.

One thing I do know: never inflict the contents of my iPod on anybody else! Guaranteed, there will be *something* in there you like... but a lot of it is downright embarrassing to share.

[Cazzi]

@HYHYBT - That's how I found out I like my tea the "British" way, cream and sugar. Yummy!

I'm sorry but cream in tea? *shudder* Unheard of!

We Brits (well all the ones I know) have it with milk, not cream

[Ladeeda]

Sorry, that's what I call half and half. ^^;;

Not an American thing. Just a My Family thing.

[MrsEclipse]

I think the happiest day of my life was the day I realized I wasn't actually as different as I thought. I'd been a real freak for most of the time before that. Still am, but fortunately I'm messed up and defective in a socially acceptable way.

I know it's hokey, but it's true: If you want to be different, just be yourself because there's only one of you!

[blas87]

Ugh, sounds like the annoying hipster I worked with up until recently.

No one could ever convince him that he was being PURPOSELY CONTRARY, and not being original or different at all.

[Andara Bledin]

Precisely.

If you're different only because it's not cool to be trendy, then you're alterna-trendy, which is just another trend. And semantically speaking, it's the same exact thing, so these people should stop acting like hypocritical douchebags.

^-.-^