"I like ____" "Eww, stop following the crowd"

Left4Dead

Are you mental in the face?
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    Something that has been getting on my nerves for a while now and I thought I would get everyone elses opinion on it.
    Why is it that if something becomes popular THEN you start to like it, people bash you for following the crowd? It's childish and wrong. Please feel free to argue that point.
    If I want to like something then I'll like it. Who cares if millions of other people like it?
    Why is it considered "uncool" to like something that everyone else likes?
    Why do I have to like something that no-ones really heard of to be "cool"?
    For example... I like some bands that probably no one on here has heard of because they're just local bands but if they ever got huge and suddenly were world famous I wouldn't stop liking them. That's so bloody childish! Yet there are people that WOULD stop liking them just because everyone else did.
    Some people I know claim they are "Indie" because they only like bands that no-one has heard of. That's so stupid and doesn't even make sense!
    Well you know what?? I'm so "indie" If this thread gets too many posts I'm going to delete it and claim it sold out!!! (To all the slow people, I'm kidding haha)
    What are your thoughts on people like this? (Remember I'm not JUST talking about bands, it can be about ANYTHING)
     


    Fox♣ No.000042XX

    Well, there's little wrong with conformity in my eyes..


     
    Be a leader not a follower?

    My 8th grade English teacher told me that all the time. >_>

    I don't have any issues with them, actually. But it would be better if they took there own route in life, you know what I mean?
     
    I thought it was the other way around. At my school, if you don't like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and have male genitalia then you are considered clinically insane. On the other hand me liking Pokémon must be kept relatively secret to prevent me being the object of ridicule and falling to the bottom of the social ladder. The only person I know who has admitted to playing Pokémon in the last few years was a girl on the ski trip and that was probably only because there were only about 40 of us and about 60% of us had brought our DSes along (although I made it a point to leave my pokémon games at home).
     


    Gary, the Magic Fairy No.000042XX

    OMG I hate people like that. It's ridiculous to dislike something that's popular just because it's popular. They wouldn't be popular if they weren't doing something right.


     
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    Vendak No.9,000+

    I've never actually witnessed this personally, I usually notice people getting ridiculed for liking obscure things that are considered abnormal. I don't think I've even seen anyone get attacked for liking something that's popular... Just seems like a ridiculously pretentious thing to do, ceasing to like something just because it's suddenly become popular. Oh well, to each their own. Let people like what they want and you like what you want, disregard anything that anyone else says you should or shouldn't like.


     
    Some people see it as somebody trying too hard to be like somebody else or a group of people just so they can fit in. I saw this all the time in middle/high school, especially with the "popular" crowd, where people wanted to fit in so they'd change their likes or dislikes so they were basically copying the people they wanted to hang out with to gain their acceptance.
    From the other side, there are those were purposely avoid everything that's "popular", like things that are/were on MTV, just to oppose what's widely accepted so they can be different from the masses. In turn those same people end up conforming as much as the people they oppose, which sort of...does nothing.

    The whole issue with it is that people essentially turn into chameleons or lemmings, they attach onto people who they want to be like so they can feel accepted even if they're choosing things they don't like. Admitting to not liking a certain band means, from a middle/high school perspective, people would probably ignore or bully them for liking something "stupid."

    The problem I personally see with accepting something that's widely popular is it gets really old really fast. One of my favorite bands was Hellogoodbye, and I'd listened to them before they were even signed with Drive-Thru Records. Then they were on MTV and suddenly everybody was listening to them. Even though I had listened to them before most of the people I hung out with, people still thought I liked them after the fact and thought I was lying about some of their songs I liked, which hadn't been released on CD at that point. They ended up changing their whole sound and I got tired of hearing their song(s) on the radio, so I just grew out of it.

    Once you get older it doesn't really matter as much, at least it doesn't once you grow out of the "I need to sit at the cool kid lunch table" phase.
     
    Haven't experienced this much either, but if I had to infer, it's because a certain group(s) of people, a "clique" if you will, likes said popular thing. When someone who doesn't fit in with the criteria, isn't well liked by them, or something likes said popular thing, then they're just losers who follows the crowd. That's kind of how I feel.
     
    I will say now, I have been looked down upon for liking 'mainstream' music.

    Someone asked me what kind of music I listened to. I named a few popular bands that I liked and she looked at me pityingly.

    I mean, yeah, a lot of people like them, but that doesn't make them bad?

    I did get back at her a little, though. I like Robots in Disguise and hardly anyone I know has actually heard of them, so WIN for me. :D
     
    Ok, I'm not sure if some people understand me. I'm not saying you should follow things that are popular just because they're popular. I'm not saying you should "follow" anything. ( Unless you use Twitter haha ;) ) I'm saying that some people round my area like to think of themselves as "cool" because they don't "follow the crowd" and by following the crowd they mean "liking something that is popular". Why can't I like something that everyone else likes without being considered as someone who just follows the crowd? I like what I WANT TO LIKE. I don't like anything just because other people like it.
     
    This can be because of people wanting to be unique and not the "follower" and if you get it they think that you are a sheep just following the rest. Sometimes is can be based on the fact they want whatever it is (a.k.a shoes, clothes) and they just can't get it so they are jealous of everyone else who has it. For people dropping their like as well, mostly seen in schools it's to be in the "popular" crowd. People could also have the fear of standing alone therefore following the crowd could be their only option that they can run too making them feel all safe and warm. After all, you've probably seen those who are alone are usually shut out and shunned.

    Following the crowd you have to do no work either, basically for most it's an automatic instinct for a way to not have to have any responsibilities. All of it comes down to try to fit into the popular place in the social ladder really.

    For yours it is because it's different and doesn't fit their jigsaw so people throw that piece away and find a new one. Best thing for you to do is just keep liking it if you want to. They're thinking you're trying to fit in because they "don't" when everyone has something that fits in somehow, like a certain taste of music. Don't let it get to you, bud.

    As for me I don't really care if people are trying to fit in or not. These things get old all the time and just fly off into the wind as if it never happened as quickly as it came in. What's the point in trying to keep up? Might as well be someone else. Anyway they'll all probably grow out of the whole "I must fit in" phase eventually any ways.
     
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    Some stuff I like is popular, some isn't, I don't let popularity affect my opinion on things.

    What does annoy me though is when, upon hearing the news I like something that is popular people assuming that I only like it "because it's popular", to which no, I'm not a sheep, I like it because it's good.

    The opposite applies too, when I liked something that's not popular I get accused of being intentionally non-conformist or an elitist.
     
    I'm known to sometimes just rabidly hate whatever the most people obsess on, but that's because I can't stand idiotic fans who don't react well to criticism of their favorite ___

    People like the OP are especially annoying.
     
    People around here criticize you for not following the crowd.

    As far as music goes, I've found that although I listen to some mainstream artists (for example, Gaga), I'm more of an underground kind of guy. Most of my library consists of bands only a few have ever heard of, or ones that I've found before they became popular. Such as Paramore and Muse. I often find it really obnoxious when people go saying that they're big time fans of something, though, and have been there since the beginning, when the "beginning" is when they became popular. I can't tell you how many people I know think Paramore is a new band.

    People like the poster above are especially obnoxious.
     
    Pachy said:
    I'm known to sometimes just rabidly hate whatever the most people obsess on, but that's because I can't stand idiotic fans who don't react well to criticism of their favorite ___

    People like the OP are especially annoying.
    Click to expand...

    And why am I annoying? Because I hate when people say the only reason I like something is because other people like it?
    I don't give a crap when people criticize my favourite ____ because everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
    You obviously don't understand what I'm trying to say. I'm asking why I'm not allowed to like something popular without people saying I ONLY like it because other people do.
    I only like things that I genuinely like, I NEVER like things JUST because other people like them. I don't know how that makes me annoying so please, explain.
     
    Left4Dead said:
    And why am I annoying? Because I hate when people say the only reason I like something is because other people like it?
    I don't give a crap when people criticize my favourite ____ because everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
    You obviously don't understand what I'm trying to say. I'm asking why I'm not allowed to like something popular without people saying I ONLY like it because other people do.
    I only like things that I genuinely like, I NEVER like things JUST because other people like them. I don't know how that makes me annoying so please, explain.
    Click to expand...

    I'd ignore Pachy, he's just trying to get noticed by saying something 'shocking'
     
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