How is Aladdin stealing a loaf of french bread in Agrabah? 

Fandom

• Have their own lingo
• Aggressively opposed to outsiders
• Self-congratulatory
• Snobs

Hipsters

• Have their own lingo
• Aggressively opposed to outsiders
• Self-congratulatory
• Snobs

Can anyone please explain how someone patting himself on the back for loving fixie bikes and vegan cuisine is any different from a person with a superiority complex about knowing what Weeping Angels are? Seriously. I’d like to know where this “ROLF OMGZ WE RUINED ANOTHER HIPSTER BLOG” mentality came from. 

It seems like some people find hating a piece of work as a shortcut to some sort of critical relevance, as if shooting something down is equivalent to being intelligent and interesting.

It also seems like other people find defending a piece of work and dismissing any and all criticisms as some sort of social justice, protecting art from unfair attacks and insisting that those who don’t enjoy simply turn away.

There is a difference between subjective and objective criticism. In other words, it’s one thing to just say you hate something and another to try to explain and understand why you dislike something.

Critical analysis is like the scientific method – let’s open it up, poke around inside and try to figure this thing out. Whereas simple subjective criticism amounts to nothing more than “I didn’t like this, therefore it is terrible.”

If someone doesn’t love what you love, that doesn’t mean it’s an attack. Everyone has different tastes and we all like things for different reasons. If the foundation of your love of a work of art is so vulnerable that one hundred percent agreement is necessary for you to feel validated, you need to take a step back and reevaluate yourself. Why does it bother you so much that someone has a different opinion?

Your personal opinion, whether it’s backed up by critics or the legions of your fandom is nothing more than that: an opinion. There is no objective truth as to the quality of a work. Man of Steel is not objectively bad any more than The Dark Knight Rises is objectively good.

The religiosity of these opinions is harmful. It clouds the waters and removes all chances for actual debate as disagreements devolve into shouting matches. Let’s say you actually do beat someone into submission and they admit your opinion is correct, does that make watching your favorite show more enjoyable?

I hated season four of Community. Dan Harmon did as well. Does that mean my opinion is somehow more valid? No. It just means that we both agree. It has nothing to do with the actual quality of the actual work because there is no objective scale. The scale is made up of opinions and the consensus is reached by whoever screams the loudest.

How about we stop screaming and learn how to talk again? Don’t dismiss someone with a differing opinion as an idiot. Talk to them; find out why they feel differently than you. See where you agree and where you disagree. That way you might end up making a friend instead of an enemy. 

Spoiler free!

sarpedom:

Put this in my ask:

• Name:
• Age:
• Meaning behind tumblr url:
• Hobbies/Interests:
• Why you follow me:
• Random fact about yourself:
• Question for me:

I’ll keep it private unless you send it anon or ask me to publish it.

(via specterofsexlessappeal)

“Superman is too powerful. I prefer down-to-earth characters like Batman”

A man who defeated Superman.

People complain about Superman being too powerful, but Batman is WAY more powerful than Superman. 

In Dark Knight Rises, Bruce Wayne’s back is broken, repaired by someone with (presumably) no medical training, and rehabilitated to perfection in a prison cell just in time to save the day. People accept it because “he’s Batman!”

It’s accepted that “Batman with prep time” can defeat literally anyone. Here someone posits that, with prep time, Batman has a chance of defeating God. As in the Almighty. 

So THAT’S why I’m so lonely. 

Remember those old Apple Jacks commercials where the adults were all confounded by children’s appreciation of the cereal? (Maybe they still do this; I haven’t seen an Apple Jacks commercial since the 90s) The grown-ups would go crazy and the kids would all pat themselves on the back for eating fucking cereal. 

That’s what fandoms are like.

Don’t get me wrong: I love the shit out of many things. Many, many things. I’m anxious for Sherlock series 3. I own a sonic screwdriver toy. My interest in Spider-Man could be described as “obsessive.” 

BUT, I’ve never felt like I was awesome because of my passions. Perhaps it’s because I grew up in a different time. When I was in 8th grade, me and a bunch of my pals would come to school every morning and discuss what happened in the previous day’s episode of Dragonball Z. We’d get it all out before class started and then we were silent on the subject for the rest of the day. Why? BECAUSE WE WERE WEIRDOS. We didn’t shove our fandom in other people’s faces. We were ashamed. If we’d spent hours making .gifs and bombing threads with references to Gundam Wing, we would’ve been losers. We existed in the dark and huddled together for warmth with the few people we could find who shared our dark appetites. 

I understand that culture changes and when the world stops resembling something you relate to, there’s a certain… discomfort. I’m not saying fandoms are inherently wrong for their behavior. I’m not a rich white guy bitching about the end of segregation. 

All I’m saying is that maybe this obsessive love is best kept within the family. Wouldn’t it be more fun to share with like-minded individuals instead of scouring the internet for anything that can be twisted into a reference to your fandom? Maybe?

Some people have different tastes than you do.

There is no right way to enjoy a work of fiction.

Unless you were around for the creation of a fictional work, at some point you were a “n00b” as well.

Making jokes relating to fandom that people don’t understand doesn’t make you superior; it only means you have knowledge that others don’t, which is true of literally every single person on the planet.