The Eye of the Beholder

[andrewducker]

[Poll #1018961]

Comments

[robhu.livejournal.com]

I was thinking of clubbing.

[cx650.livejournal.com]

I was thinking specifically of certain TV programmes.

[laserboy.livejournal.com]

c) Not give a shit.

[andrewducker]

That would be ideal. And I manage that most of the time.

But sometimes I see people really enjoying something that leaves me cold, and I wish I could enjoy it too.

[laserboy.livejournal.com]

If you're not interested in something though, why would it bother you?

I'm totally disinterested in football, but I've no desperate need to want to like it and I don't think any less of people who enjoy it either. It's just life: people are into different things.

[andrewducker]

Because they have something that makes them happy, and I want to be happy.

[laserboy.livejournal.com]

You're never going to be happy copying someone else. Be yourself.

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

You're aware that you're different to other people, right?

Some people get off drunking Buckfast. Some people get their kicks cutting the eyes out of photos of young girls and posting on white supremacist forums.

I have different things that make -me- happy.

Or do you -not- have things that make you happy and live in a cold world where you wonder what our human emotions are like?

[andrewducker]

I do have things that make me happy.

But, for instance, take Opera. Opera does fuck all for me. But clearly it has positive things about it, because it makes some people very happy indeed. It'd be nice if I could appreciate it more.

[drainboy.livejournal.com]

No.

You can get through life appreciating many things that will leave you a lot less cold than opera no matter how much time you spend trying to "get" opera.

And you can do this whilst fully engaging with those things as hard as you like for twice as long as you'll ever live without getting bored.

Do that.

[spaj.livejournal.com]

If it leaves me cold, it does exactly that.

Eg CSI - I just can't even begin to care. Don't care what other people get out of it, happy for them, but don't "wish I got that for myself".

Sometimes, I see something, like Firefly, and think "I gotta get me some of that, but no time right now".
(I'm in the process of making time, and am on episode 12.)

[autopope.livejournal.com]

You missed:

* I don't care one way or the other -- it might be technically brilliant (or not) but I'm simply not interested in that kind of thing

* Why are people such sheep, anyway?

[andrewducker]

I'm not actually convinced that people _are_ sheep about most things. They just mostly like things I don't.

If they were really sheep then things like New Coke would have taken off. The occasional complete misstep where a massive advertising budget and huge marketing campaigns fail to work indicate to me that you really can't _make_ people like something, you can only bring it to their attention in a positive way.

Of course, this might be a way of deliberately throwing me off the scent :->

[johnbobshaun.livejournal.com]

I clicked the first one, probably because I am really fed up of lolcats.

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

Mandy talks like a lolcat now.

[cybik.livejournal.com]

*looks shifty* I certainly would never do that.. *continues to look shifty*

[robhu.livejournal.com]

PLZ BE LIKING TEH LOLCATS NOW

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

WANT PIC HAZ NOW PLZ? KTX!

[johnbobshaun.livejournal.com]

In my day we had giant enemy crabs and were happy with just that, dammit.

[andrewducker]

Did all your base belong to them?

And were they headcrabs?

[laserboy.livejournal.com]

Glad someone else is at that point. I could maybe take another if it was the cat from Pet Semetary, but....

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

A little of both

[missedith01.livejournal.com]

Me too.

[blackmanxy.livejournal.com]

The first option if there's something about it I don't like or if it inspires fanboy behavior (and don't like it for other reasons). Sitcoms and most comedy movies are examples of the former. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is an example of the latter.

The second if it's something of a participatory nature. I wish I liked certain RPGs better because then I would get to play with my friends.

Sometimes it's a complex mix of both, like my hostility toward social activities like parties and clubbing stemming from my own frustration over the fact that I wish I could enjoy them.

Most of the time, however, it's neither. Most people like things that don't interest me that I don't care a whit about one way or the other.

popular with whom?

[mirukux.livejournal.com]

depends if it's big brother or gardening

Re: popular with whom?

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

Actually, yes!!

Otherwise I agree with Andy though: if someone I like and respect really gets off on something, whether it's opera, NIN or hill-walking, I do tend to think "wow, i wish *I* was that enthusiastic about that..."

I don't think that's sheepishness; I think that's wanting as much crystallised enthusiasm as you can pound into your skull.

[johanna-alice.livejournal.com]

Neither really. Eg: I find The Office staid and without humour, yet thousands of people liked it enough for it to become a hit TV show. I'm certain of my dislike and equally certain of its popularity, resulting in the phenomenon of, 'A difference in opinions', arising...

It'd be a boring world if we all liked the same things!

[soon_lee]

Option three: meh (Disinterest)

There's a lot of stuff out there that is popular that doesn't interest me. It's not because it's bad per se, I'm just not interested.

[thadrin.livejournal.com]

Definitely option 1. My specific current concerns : "Torchwood", the films of Stanley Kubrick and the vast majority of popular music (specifically the stuff that most of the radio stations over here play.)

[lizzie-and-ari.livejournal.com]

I think if you want to understand why people like something then that is indicative of your desire to want to understand yourself better and to want to be able to change your mind. Which is very admirable because it shows your dedication to clarity and quality of thought.

[ashfae.livejournal.com]

Option C: "Eh."