This probably won't be a very pretty blog, I haven't really considered what I want to say very much but it's something that I don't understand that a lot of other people do.
There is a saying that goes "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all". At face value one can take from this not to insult people, however I take this quote to mean something deeper.
To me, what that is saying is that if nothingness or void is superior to just negativity. I like to think I am a very positive person, and that I come from a very positive society.
There is a mentality I see others have something though that I very literally do not understand. I don't mean that I disagree with it on an abstract level, I mean that I literally do not understand how the psychology of it works.
You probably know what my favorite series is. I talk about it a lot. That is because I think about it a lot. Conversely you probably don't know my most hated series in fiction. That's because I don't like it so I don't try to think about it or talk about it. Thinking about something I hate, makes me sad. To me that seems very intuitive.
Conversely however other people seem to find an enjoyment in talking about things they DON'T like. With some of my friends I know more series they don't like then they do like which seems very strange to me.
Maybe this is caused by my tendency to just avoid things I don't like in general but when I have found the best way of enjoying entertainment is to do your best to avoid consuming or thinking about things you know you don't like. It's also probably the easiest way to avoid getting into angry arguments with other people, which seems to be a massive problem on the internet.
If I am honest there are series I really don't like that some of my friends really like. Some of them probably know I don't like those series. But you know what I don't do. If they are excited about one of the series or trying to talk about them, I don't feel any urge to criticize that series in front of them. I don't feel any urge to criticize a series in general but when it's around someone I know likes the series you couldn't pay me to make any large critique of the series.
This is partially due to my desire to avoid conflict but even more so it comes from the desire to just leave everything to be. My most despised series is you want to know is Mahou Shoujo Isuka. I don't talk about Isuka generally, because no matter how much I don't want to watch I don't feel any desire to make someone feel bad for liking it or even to hate on it in general.
From what I understand in the West, not expressing negative opinions is viewed as repressing yourself and explaining your negative opinions or "venting" is viewed as emotionally cathartic. With all due respect, I don't understand this feeling at all.
I on occasion vent but I feel only marginally better afterwards if that. When I "vent" it's primarily because I am trying to help others who may read it, get them to see a different perspective, etc. I would never try and convince someone that something they liked is bad. I am very open to the inverse, someone to try and convince me something I don't like is good and would hope others would feel the same because to me I want things to be good. I don't get any enjoyment from viewing bad things like I know some people do with The Room or Birdemic. I want things to be good and I would be very happy if someone could convince something I didn't like was good.
That doesn't seem like a very common experience. If you think about a series you hate, are you open to someone convincing you it's actually good? If so, then I want to congratulate you, since to me that seems open-minded and willing to change your mind in light of evidence.
I am not saying this primarily because I don't want to argue about things I like being good or because I want other people to be more like me, I am saying this mostly as a suggestion. A lot of my friends, especially my western friends, seem very often saddened by the state of media, as are a lot of western art critics or reviewers. The negative seems to always be more pressing then the positive. I understand that they view expressing their negative opinions as helpful and maybe they are. Maybe I am just projecting my feelings and cultural values onto them. But the fact that the state of media makes them sad so often suggests to me that I might be able to help them by suggesting they spend less time focusing on things they don't like and arguing that things are not good to people who like them and more on just talking and thinking about things they do like.
Feel free to ignore this suggestion if you want. I hope I haven't caused you any annoyance with this, it was merely spitballing on a difference I saw and hoped that maybe it might brighten up the lives of some people who read it. In all the things I personally really love is is an idealistic optimistic view of humanity as amazing beings, so maybe I am just a bit of a naive romantic optimist. I just thought I could make the suggestion.
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