Going against the grain

[vovat]

travspence made a short list of things that most other people seem to like, but he doesn't. I thought I would do something along similar lines. These are things that other people in my peer group, or just people in general, seem to like, but for which I can't really grasp the appeal.

1. Coffee. So many people I know LOVE coffee, and it's more a part of our culture now than ever, what with both commercial and independent coffee shops all over the landscape. I just think the stuff tastes bad. The coffee shop culture is often associated with artistic expression, so maybe there's some kind of genetic link there. I have no artistic ability whatsoever, and hence don't enjoy coffee. {g}

2. Grunge music. Okay, maybe not all of it. Some people consider the Pixies (whom I love) to be grunge, and I try not to ever dismiss a genre of music entirely. But I grew up in a generation that, as a broad stereotype, enjoyed listening to frowning guys with flannel shirts, greasy hair, gruff voices, and (most importantly) no apparent enthusiasm.

3. Popcorn. This was one of travspence's items. I don't hate it, but I much prefer crackers or pretzels.

4. Tanning. There are so many tanning salons around. I just don't really get the appeal. Even if it weren't for the health risks, what's the advantage?

5. Smoking. Why is it still popular? I can't really even understand why people smoked in the distant past, but at least they had the excuse of not knowing how bad it was for you. Now people know, but so many new people start smoking every day.

6. Sports. This one works on a few different levels. I don't enjoy playing or watching sports, but I can see how both of these things appeal to some people. What I don't really understand is the whole concept of team loyalty, and how people will support a team simply because it's associated with a nearby city. It's simply a passive thing for many, and hence no big deal. But other people take it so seriously, and somehow get the idea that having a better sports team makes for a better city. Which leads into my next item:

7. The desire for you, your town, your school, your company, your country, etc. to be "the best." Isn't this a subjective matter? Even more importantly than that, who cares? Are we really so insecure that we can't take pride in anything unless we arbitrarily define it as better than something else?

8. Being totally certain you're right about everything. Okay, these last two are probably cheating somewhat. And I'll admit that I can be VERY stubborn at times. But I don't consider this to be an admirable trait. There seem to be many people who think open-mindedness is a bad thing. If you want to see something from more than one simple position, you're "wishy-washy," a "flip-flopper," or in the "mushy middle." Al Franken wrote a good chapter about this kind of thing in Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot.


Along much the same lines as my last list, here's a list of things I DO like, but not as much as a lot of other people seem to:

1. Chocolate. Hey, it tastes good, but I don't have the craving for it that a lot of people (mostly female) seem to have. Also, I'm not too fond of semi-sweet chocolate. It's candy! If it's not sweet, what's the point?

2. Steak. Again, it's pretty good, but far from the Holy Grail of Meats that some people seem to think it is. I like cheese steaks, but I'll rarely eat just regular steak. And I don't think it's just a matter of steak being expensive. I probably wouldn't eat much steak if I had lots of money, either.

3. J.R.R. Tolkien. I enjoyed The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, and I admire the detail that Tolkien put into his imaginary world. But it took me a long time to make it through the LotR trilogy. Quite a bit of it struck me as somewhat boring when I read it the first time. Maybe I'd see it differently now, but I still tend to doubt I'd consider Tolkien to be the greatest author of the twentieth century, as I've seen some people propose.


I'll probably have more to add to both of these lists at some point in the future. In the meantime, here's a quiz result.

Green Goblin You scored 55 % maniacal, 58 %intelligent, and 35% power!

The Green Goblin is an intelligent man gone nuts. Once he had everything, but then it was all taken away buy big business men. With a bit of gas and a powerful, yet weird looking costume, he gets his revenge. The Green Goblin is a bit on the touched side, but he knows what he's doing at the same time, he just does it in his "unique" way.

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 81% on maniacal You scored higher than 35% on intelligent You scored higher than 14% on power

Link: The Evil Villain Test written by Reiryu on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Comments

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

1. Agreed! I like when people tell you "It's an aquired taste." But WHY aquire a taste for something that isn't particularly good for you and typically becomes addictive?
2. I've heard grunge music spoken of in geeky music sources as being divided into two types: early obscure "good" grunge, and post-Nirvana whiney copy-cat grunge, and of course it's the latter that most people think of when they think of grunge. The Pixies fall into the former (which makes sense, as they're credited as one of Nirvana's biggest influences). And now, after I've gone and spouted all this stuff that makes me sound like I know what I'm talking about, I have to confess that I've never actually heard anything by the Pixies! But I honestly mean to someday!
3. Gotta admit I love popcorn-- but I'm not big on the movie theater variety.
4. I can see that NOT being deathly pale is preferable, but how does being ORANGE look healthy?
5. EXACTLY. My best friend started smoking toward the end of college and I was like WHY? You are SO MUCH SMARTER than that! She claimed she only did occasionally and could stop whenever she wanted... heh heh.
6. Have you read rockonliz's multiple postings on this subject over the past couple days?
7,8-- no real opinion either way, though it's true.

The 2nd 1-- it's true, it's all hormonal. I know because I totally did not like chocolate at all until I hit puberty. I still don't like chocolate milk or ice cream though.
2. Agreed
3. As a WRITER, actually, he wasn't particularly that great. It's just all the RICHNESS of it, the world, and just the sheer insanity-- or brilliance, what was it?-- of COMPLETELY CREATING this entire universe, languages and all. Yeah, that is genius. Or madness. Whatever.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

1. I know some people have said they learned to like coffee in order to get through college, but I managed to get through with no coffee whatsoever, and hardly any caffeine from any other sources. That's just me, though.
5. It surprises me how some people don't seem to grasp how addiction works. With the number of people who say they want to stop smoking but just can't, you'd think new smokers would realize that it's not something you can just stop doing.
6. I saw the first one, which is part of why I remembered to include that point in my own post, but I hadn't gotten the chance to read it all the way through when I made my post.

The second 1. I don't like chocolate ice cream either. It's really weird, because I like chocolate and ice cream individually, and so many people LOVE chocolate ice cream. Even as a kid, though, I never liked the taste. I'm not a huge fan of vanilla, either, although it's pretty good. I prefer fruit flavors when I can get them, and I also like butter pecan. As for chocolate milk, I don't like milk, and the chocolate doesn't make me like it any better. On the other hand, I do like milkshakes. At least, I did as a kid. I haven't had one in a long time, but I generally like most of the same things I did when I was a kid, plus other things. I do find I can't eat as much overly sweet candy as I used to be able to, though. I used to be able to eat lots of candy corn, for instance, but not so much anymore. But I digress.
3. Yeah, I think I can agree with that.

[bartkolounger.livejournal.com]

I like coffee but only sometimes it makes me a bit nervous
grunge has blue eyes there for is evil
popcorn is ok but nothing to get excited about
tanning is retarded I don't need cancer
same goes for smoking
sports annoy me I used to downhill race semipro and I had enough of the jocks with that short lived career
7 and 8 are just annoying traits people have I could careless about how my city, school country does. Its all about me baby!

chocolate rocks
steak is has blue eyes and is evil
and I dont know about J.R.R. I haven't really read anything by him to be honest.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

steak is has blue eyes and is evil

Well, of course a vegan would say that! {g} Unlike some people, if I were to stop eating meat, it wouldn't be steak I would miss so much as ham sandwiches and Chick-fil-A.

and I dont know about J.R.R. I haven't really read anything by him to be honest.

If you have any stomach for fantasy at all (I know some people don't), you should probably at least try The Hobbit.

[bartkolounger.livejournal.com]

the hobbit has been added to my reading list
my new years resolution was to read at least 3 books a month so far im doing well with it. I was neve much into reading until recently.

[loz]

Heh - I agree with a great many of them. I do not like coffee, don't understand most grunge music, feel that thinking you know everything defeats the purpose of knowing anything at all and sport is sport - something for other people.

But chocolate? Man I feel like some right now.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Well, I AM secretly in league with the chocolate manufacturers...

Crap, I shouldn't have told you that. :P

[loz]

The truth is revealed! And the vat in your name has nothing to do with physics - it's designed to conjure up giant vats of melted chocolate!

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Then if you're so smart, what's the "Vo" for?

[loz]

"voluminous official"

Voluminous official vat (of chocolate).

[revme.livejournal.com]

I more-or-less agree w/r/t grunge. I have often said that the world picked the wrong Kurt from Seattle to be obsessed with. Anyway, I wouldn't say the Pixies were grunge, they just ended up, y'know, sourcing a lot of it.

Actually, I think I agree with your whole list, other than "Popcorn". Though I'd swap in Tolkien for Popcorn. Blegh.