Things you like but "shouldn't"

MillerCross

Yes, I'm aware. But I find the subject fascinating and I'd like to hear why these moral values, social pressures and cultural expectations affect th way you think you should think of this things. In your own words. And not based on the usual psycho babble of "Lolol we're social animals"

RedEyedAbyss

The only thing I feel guilty about liking is The Irate Gamer, and only because there's no such thing as bad publicity where YouTube views are concerned. Maybe stuff like Civilization for being too good (that once I start, I can't tear myself away from it).

Otherwise, I can perceive whether something aligns with my preference fine on my own. Though there are a few cases where bad word-of-mouth will lead me to re-examine something I otherwise like. The most prominent example I can think of is doing an entire liveblog of the Cardcaptors dub partially motivated by the cognitive dissonance of the TvTropes page claiming it to be utter shit and my personal fond memories of it.

Counterclock

@Juan, you toss around phrases like "I like it, It's irrational that I like it"

And you're the one expecting intelligence?

That's completely the opposite.

Gelzo

MillerCross

Notice that none of my posts have mentioned the word "irrational"

Gelzo

Gelzo

Okay, I'm done.

Malkavian

Well, for example, as a lefty socialist hippie pinko, for example, it often becomes rather uncomfortable to see misogyny or racism in a work. Also there are social expectations and judgments that will impose themselves on you from years of implication and association. Even if you're never told 'guys don't like the english patient' it's still something that's been drilled in subtly over the years, which can end up with those feelings after liking The English Patient.

Gah. Ninjaing and personal attacks. Oi.

MillerCross

And now I wanna read Problem Sleuth even though it's unfunny crap. 

^ Ah, OK.

How do you feel about Birth of a Nation?

RedEyedAbyss

"Well, for example, as a lefty socialist hippie pinko, for example, it often becomes rather uncomfortable to see misogyny or racism in a work."

In that case, I evaluate whether the rest of the story is good enough to outweigh the magnitude of the prejudice. Besides, there's a hell of a lot of stuff getting ruled out if misogyny is a breaking factor (though admittedly my criteria in this case is anything where the woman is treated as an object for the male hero more than a character).

Malkavian

Honestly, I'm more frustrated at my Smallville addiction since I didn't even enjoy the show and just kept watching out of habit and compulsion.

^Oh, I do that. I can usually work past it but it is initially uncomfortable.

Magus

Even though the later seasons are supposed to be terrible and it has 2.5 stars on Netflix, I love King of the Hill.

Anonus

I like it, even though I don't watch it that often.

Nova

I just mainly like shows that aren't all that good, like Harry Potter, Nanoha and Soul Eater, so I can't figure out why I like them over shows people say are better like Monster, Evangelion and books like Lolita and Tom Sawyer.

MillerCross

I feel that I should mention that Monster, Evangelion, Lolita and Tom Sawyer do have some flaws. Welp, I can't talk about Lolita and Tom Sawyer. 

also, to be fair, it's not like you'd be interested in grimdark stories (Or stories with so much cynicism as Evangelion and Monster possess)

Malkavian

I'd actually argue that in spite of how dark it is, Monster is pretty optimistic about human nature.

MillerCross

Same goes to Evangelion, but they are still pretty dark shows. --shrug--

I probably shouldn't have used the word cynicism.

Gelzo

"And now I wanna read Problem Sleuth even though it's unfunny crap."

Nigga what.

Nova

I feel that I should mention that Monster, Evangelion, Lolita and Tom Sawyer do have some flaws. Welp, I can't talk about Lolita and Tom Sawyer. 

also, to be fair, it's not like you'd be interested in grimdark stories (Or stories with so much cynicism as Evangelion and Monster possess)

I just don't like the darkness of the first two, and the writing style of the second two put me off.

Malkavian

I remember liking Lolita when I was a teen because of english-russian wordplay in the book.

Nova

I don't care much for wordplay. And thus my dislike for punnery.

MillerCross

@Cygan: Pretty much what I meant. There's nothing wrong with not liking critically appraised works if their style and characteristics don't appeal to you.

Nigga what.

Oh, I went there, bitch. I went there and set a flag. 

Malkavian

^^ Yeah, but as a teen who spoke Russian it felt awesome to have these puns I understood that so many others didn't.

It made me feel special. ^_^

Nova

Pretty much what I meant. There's nothing wrong with not liking critically appraised works if their style and characteristics don't appeal to you.

Yeah. But then I do watch shows that people say are OK but not deep or anything, so it feels like I'm just kind of dumb for not getting the more intelligent shows.

Which is fair enough, I guess. I mean, when the shows I watch are kind of dumb and the intellectual shows don't appeal to me, I guess I can see how that would make me dumb.

MillerCross

That'd be logical if you didn't like said shows because they have an intellectual slant/appeal.

Nova

I do not think I could ever dislike a show because of how smart it is. I could just not get it, though, which does make me dumb, doesn't it? Fairly sure not getting smart stuff makes you dumb.

Gelzo

"Oh, I went there, bitch. I went there and set a flag."

I'll cut you up, son.

MillerCross

--shrug--

Way I see it, if you understand the point of the story and it doesn't appeal to you, then you're entitled to not like it. 

^COME AT ME, BRO

Nova

I guess so.

Lai

I say my dilemma is that I like X, but doing so promotes practice of Y, therefore encouraging Z to continue doing Y and therefore I should logically hate Z.

Feel free to interpret this as you wish.