I am ranting on behalf of things a mass of people like.
I hate it when you find something that not that many people like.
Then suddenly BAM everyone starts liking it... it ruins it. It does.
Don't get me wrong, I love that I'm not alone and that those things are getting such high approval. But, it overkills it.
Take the radio. They take perfectly good songs, if listened to once in a while. Instead they play it 3 or 4 times within an hour. Ruins it.
This is probably why I like indie music or obscure bands that maybe 2 people I know, know it. I know it's unreasonable. It's not like I have a claim on it. But I get slightly annoyed when people ruin things for you by over liking it.
James McAvoy for instance. Love him.
But the more I see of him on boards the less I enjoy him.
Same with any actor. *cough* you're killing robert downey jr. for me people *cough*
Yes, Iron Man was great. Yes, he deserves his acclimations.
Maybe what I'm complaining about is hype.
All the hype is killing my own hype. There's just too much.
I don't like trends. It kills things.
And by kills I mean kills my enjoyment and like for such subjects.
On the flip side... we can talk about RPGs.
Uh people are getting sick of HP rpgs why? cause there are so many.
Twilight is suddenly turning the same.
I'm going to be egotistcal for once in my life.
There's a lot of members on my site... kind of killing it for me.
There are now more and more Twilight-"like" RPGs. killing it.

I can't control what people like. I know this.
And yes, a lot of people like water... but they don't prance around and are like WATER WATER WATER OMG I LOVE WATER.
Okay maybe popularity just kills things. I dunno.
I think I'm just ranting and not really having a point.
But, if anyone has the same sentiments, please make me feel not so awful.

Why would you get too worked up about what other people like? If it's good, like it. If it isn't, don't.

You know, I understand that totally. I feel the same way about James McAvoy (so now you can't even feel hurt anymore, because I bet a lot of people do, mwahahaha).

Anyway.

Here is why I think this happens. Most people are idiots. When most people like something, it means idiots like it, which always dilutes the appeal.

ED: Munch, you make a decent point, but rationality doesn't always have a place in our opinions. Oh, and be assured--if you like something, I'm outta there. :p

I used to be so very into doing what other people didn't like that I'd like something just because other people didn't and (more often) I'd dislike things just because other people did (like HP, at the beginning). I now realise this is a foolish way to determine my own likes and dislikes!

It's still hard, because I don't want to be labelled. However, once I discovered that people label me no matter what I do, it got easier.Why worry, if people are going to think you follow the crowd because you get an awesome houndstooth coat (from an opshop) and then houndstooth is massive (totally happened to me). I don't want to be giving up my enjoyment of said coat just because the entire country is now wearing houndstooth!

I find it much easier to enjoy life and what I do if I shut my eyes to what other people think (unless it's on important issues where I'd be Public Idiot #1 if I didn't pay attention).

And Smath - I know this is a rant but I'm not going to give up my mellowness! It takes me so long to become mellow that I must hold onto it with both hands.

no i'm glad if people like it for like two seconds.
but i'm not afraid of what people think of me.
and i'm glad SmathNa you get what i mean.

I get what you mean too; it's not that other people enjoy it, it's that all these people are making a big fuss about liking it too, so it's everywhere. It's inescapable. And it gets to the point where you're oversaturated with whatever it is that you just can't stand it anymore.

It's why I don't tell my friends when I read a good book or find a new, good band or something; they have obsessive personalities and they just don't shut up about how amazing something is, even if I'm the one who told them in the first place. It's like, c'mon people, talk about something else for a little while.

I know how you feel. Honestly, if some thing's good, give it's due and move on. What kills things for me are the people of fixate on something (a fandom, a person, a song, a color even) and then procede to drive it relentlessly into the ground.

I'm perfectly content to like something, but I'm also content to like MANY things at once. Which means that if I'm pounded by one thing in particular from all sides over all the others, I get bored with it, grow resentful of it, and start to not like it anymore. It's a sad process, but it's just what happens.

I know what you mean also; it happens to me a lot with my friends. When I like something new and unusual two days later my friends love it too and it's all they talk about.

It's like I got a few friends into My Chemical Romance, now it almost all they talk about, sure I love the My Chem Guys but after having to hear about them every day they get kind of boring. Now I've started listening to Archie Star and haven't told anyone who they are, sure I know Archie Star isn't mine, it's just I don't want to hear people listening to them everyday when I was the one who first started listening to them because their song would start getting boring like My Chem's did.

This is how I see the issue:

If it is good, there is bound to be hype about it, and the hype surrounding it should not be given much note, for it can ruin the actual goodness of the subject. If it is bad, there will not be hype about it save negative hype, and there is no need to think further on such a subject unless trying to find a way to make said subject good.

You know the old saying, "Too much of a good thing," right?

Right. There ya go.

Personally, I find it easier to just ignore the scatterbrained fantards and like what I like. For instance, I love boybands even though people right and left moan about it. I HATE Harry Potter even though I've never read a single book of it just cause everyone practically rants about it every frickin' moment. I could like it, but with the way everybody makes it a big deal and stuff, I find I abhor it too much to give it a chance.

Also...don't have money for it. Who the hell does J.K Rowling thing she is? Overcharging those damn things, blah,blah,blah...

I used to be like that as a young teen.

Now I'm not, because I find it silly. Why should other peoples' opinions determine what I like and don't like? If that were the case, I'd hardly like anything.

Omg! A lot of people like Mexican food! I'm gonna hate that now. =O

Because it's not original if I like what someone else likes. Gotta go for the obscure stuff to be unique. xP

>_> Not that I'm saying anyone HERE has that mentality, but I have seen it.

Nowadays, if some obscure artist, author, what-have-you that I like suddenly becomes popular and attracts fanpeoples? I'm happy. Because that just means more support and money for them, and I think it's well deserved! They've certainly earned it. And if they get more popular, it'll be easier for me to find their stuff. *grin* Plus it means that many more people I can rave to about the people I like without them staring at me blankly, bwahaha.

I don't care if I learned about them first or someone else told me about them. Really, that's silly. I don't see any point in keeping something I love to myself. If I find something awesome, I'm gonna promote the hell out of it and spread the love. I don't get much pleasure just keeping it to myself. It's more fun when I can gush to people about my loves. :B

But then I guess it helps that I don't listen to the radio or watch TV. I had no idea Panic! At the Disco was even popular for the longest time until I squeed to a friend's sister when she played one of their songs and she looked at me like I was nuts. xD Still, I sometimes listen to the radio at least, and if people are raving about something, I'll give it a shot and make up my own mind about it.

The only time it ever annoys me is when it's something I end up abhoring. Like everyone was raving about Eragon, so I checked it out to see what the fuss was, and I loathed it. So then of course every time someone raves about it, I just sorta sit there biting my cheek and silently hating the book. xP

But yeah. I find it silly. I can understand it since I used to be like that, but now I can't be bothered. I have my own mind, so I'm gonna use it, and to heck with everyone else!

That's called being an elitist. At least in my opinion. But that's okay, because I am definitely an elitist as well. There's an actor that I totally adore... He's British, and has parts in a few well-known movies but is still relatively obscure. And now I'm starting to see him, maybe because I used him for a character on my Harry Potter site, which got pretty popular. IDK. Either way, I've seen him a lot more than I should considering he's not well known at all, even in his home country. It's pretty sad. :[

Same happened with Gaspard Ulliel. I knew of him when he was still an up-and-coming French actor, dammit. =/

I agree with Rhi-Rhi, though. It used to bother me a lot; I get over it quickly, though. Yeah, it'd be great if actors and stuff remained my little secret, but I'm happy that things become popular because it means they've become successful. And I have plenty of other things to obsess over and feel superior about. :p

I can get like that sometimes. Because I don't want people "messing up my good thing". But I get over it pretty quick because it's just a waste of energy on my part, and if people like it too, I'll have someone to share it with. It does drive me nuts when my littler sister decides she likes something I like, because usually she likes it only because I do, and I want her to think for herself.

What really puts me over the edge, however is people who will refuse to try something because it's popular or well liked. That drives me freaking INSANE. I mean, come ooooon. You could be missing out on something amazing! Like a great author or a super yummy dish. :angry:

I used to care. I used to care SO much when people would trample all over my fandoms with their girlish screams and their overall grossness. XD

But the thing I've realized over the years is that there will always be hype around something brilliant, the popularity will skyrocket, and all the creepy teenagers that like to ruin things for everything else will swarm all over it. The good thing?

Trends ALWAYS change.

So even if they all obsess over it for a year or three, eventually, it'll fall off the radar again, and it will still be mine. <3

It's happened with damn near all of my favorite bands, and of course The Lord of the Rings. For a while, I pushed myself OUT of that fandom, because I was so sick of people making up the most ridiculous relationships for whatever reason and hammering it into the ground (the very notion of Sam/Frodo still makes me want to punch a child... They're such amazing friends!! They don't need anything else! D:< ). And now, only the ol' Ringers are still up on all that. Unfortunately, I fear The Hobbit will pull everyone back in again... but I hate Del Toro, so I don't even care. XD ANYWAY. [/rant]

So the best you can do is wait it out. If it's something you truly love or whatever, then you and the people like you will still be around when the glossy finish has rubbed off and the trend followers have moved on to something shinier. =D

I don't like stuff that popular. But the problem with me now is that I sort of separate myself from the main stream so when I'm actually submerged into it for a few days it's like "ooooooooooo that's cool" which is followed along by bouncing to a song or staring at some shiney outfit. The real problem? It's usually at the end of it's run and everyone thinks I'm crazy for being so intrigued by things that they have known about for months.

For example : James McAvoy... I did NOT get why he was so popular... but he grew on me... plus i figured out where i saw him before... But I get where the obsession with him would get annoying. There's probably at least one James graphic in every gallery I see. *shruggs*

OOOrrrrr... With Bands, I find them when they're still super small and local and even though I dont listent o radio anymore... I'm still annoyed by them when they get big. The best example would probably be Paramore. I LOVED them when they first put out All We Know is Falling... I had heard 'Let this Go' and found out the Hayley (sp?) was only liek 16 at the time and was reall impressed... I'm a choir geek... i couldn't resist. But when Misery Business came out it's was liek *headdesk* make it stop!!

So that's how I feel.... which is how you feel.... kinda.

Oh... and if you leave the game... i will keel you.

Some popular things I do like, but the bulk of it I don't. A lot of it just doesn't suit my fancy.

Hating things just because it's popular is childish to me, and makes you just as much of a tool as people who jump on something JUST because it's popular, IMO.

I used to do that, dislike stuff which are mainstream, but I'd never dislike something which I previously liked simply because others started liking it. Now, I just like stuff that are good and dislike stuff that are bad. Except for things that are bad in a good way, I like those.

It does bother me thought when I like something, and I find out others liked it, too, and I get excited because I can talk to them about it, but they clearly misunderstood it. E.g I love the movie Fight Club, my friend told me he really liked it, too, so we're talking about it, and other people join in the convo, since they all watched it and liked it, too. Then suddenly one of them says 'Wouldn't it be cool if we started an actual Fight Club?!' And everyone agreed! -facepalm-

Or, incidentally, the exact opposite also annoys me. E.g We're arguing aobut which animated show is the best, someone says Simpsons, others say Family Guy, I say South Park. Person A's reply: "You clearly have no idea what makes a good show, the animations look like they were drawn on MSPaint." My reply: "They kinda were." "Exactly" -facepalm- "What about the actual content? The humor?" "I dunno, I never actually watched it, I just can't stand the animations." -doublefacepalm-

ANOTHER thing is when people hate something just because others hate it. E.g Political discussion going on in class, I, alone, argue vs. half the class because I'm the most right-inclined against the horde of socialists. Anyway, one person says "Bush is the 2nd Hitler." (which had nothing to do with the discussion, btw) And I ask him "Why?" (not that I support Bush, I just wanted to know why he disliked Bush). Reply: "Er... the war in Iraq." What about it?" "He's not doing anything good there." "Why not?" "He just isn't" "What are you basing this on?" "-pause- He looks like a monkey." And general laughter ensued.

:( [/rant]

EDIT: Just noticed this was the rant section.... so that was fine, woo!

I can definitely relate to this. The only time I stop liking something because it gets popular is music. Like that Bubbly song by Colbie Caillat. I found it while perusing my obscure mp3 blogs, and thought it was cute, and liked it. And then the mainstream latched onto it and played it OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN. (It doesn't help that my boss listens to this station at work which absolutely adores that tune.) So now whenever I hear the words 'will you count me in?' I cover my ears. Whereas with other things, like books or movies, I don't really care because I can avoid them a little bit more.

For me it's not about being an elitist or childish, it's about getting all the joy sucked out of something because of overexposure.

I totally agree on that. I used to love the song 'Hey There Delilah' way back when. You know what happened about a month after I first heard it. I hated it right away. I really did. I cursed everyone who played that song.

Same with BROADWAY. JESUS. I liked Wicked before it hit the Tony's and everyone thinks they're some Broadway afficianado for knowing Popular. Same with Rent. Same with Spring Awakening. Same with Sweeney Todd. People ruin amazing things for me. ;-;

*misquotes Michael Scott*
Rhi-Rhi, I love so much about the things you choose to be.


When I saw the title of this thread I thought it was sarcasm. I depresses me a little that it's serious and that many people actually feel this way. It is silly to hate things just because they become popular, or to love things simply because they are obscure. Some musicians I like are considerably obscure compared to mainstream artist, like Robert Pollard. I am not cooler than you because I like him. I also like Oasis, who are HUGE. I'm not a sheep because I like them- they are good. Please, youth of the world, form your opinions based on your own personal preference- not the trends of the masses.