A question of over-opinionation for you, Escapists.

[Darius Brogan]

So I've noticed in the time I've been internet-capable (since I was roughly eight) that many people have opinions that are... not offensive, per se... but more... STRONG!!!!!! in a way that comes off as offensive.

Whether it be a discussion about politics, religion, video-games, relationships, or just about any other topic imaginable, someone has an opinion that illogically excludes all in favor of one, and many are not willing to hear arguments in contrast.

I just passed a thread about whether or not you like Anime, and there were an unreasonable amount of "99% shit but the 1% is 'this' which I like."-style comments and it makes no sense to me.

When you watch 'x' amount of Anime, or read 'x' amount of Fantasy novels, it's not possible to form an opinion of the entire genre, because you don't know anything about the episodes/books you've never seen or read, yet many people do so anyways.
I could understand a similar opinion if you'd never watched an anime you liked, but if you've got one you like, it means that your mind isn't completely closed to the genre, which means there's bound to be another anime you'll like, so why form such a close-minded opinion, and exclude all other anime?

I'd like to know if anyone can tell me how this happens, because most of those I've seen with this kind of opinion seem to think of themselves as fairly intelligent, yet deliberately closing ones mind to possibilities actually decreases intellectual potential... Not to mention you could be missing out on loads of awesome anime.

 

[Warpainter]

It's not that hard to understand really. People continually try to see patterns and form ad-hoc rules of judgement based on certain traits they see as being common in a category, to save themselves time.

When I say, "I hate crime novels", it doesn't mean that all crime novels are objectively bad. Nor does it even mean I think all crime novels are subjectively bad. It just means that I find many common themes, tropes and structures of crime novels to be boring, predictable and uninspiring. To save myself time I make a blanket statement/judgement like that. Surely there are crime novels that I would like. But I can't read those 90 crime novels I'll probably dislike to find those 3 I might like, despite the genre.

Same goes for Anime or any other category of entertainment.

 

[Smooth Operator]

When you watch 'x' amount of Anime, or read 'x' amount of Fantasy novels, it's not possible to form an opinion of the entire genre, because you don't know anything about the episodes/books you've never seen or read, yet many people do so anyways.

No it is entirely possible, in fact it is impossible not to form an opinion on a matter from the moment they hear about it.
The question that remains is how accurate / valid that opinion is.

 

[Darius Brogan]

When you watch 'x' amount of Anime, or read 'x' amount of Fantasy novels, it's not possible to form an opinion of the entire genre, because you don't know anything about the episodes/books you've never seen or read, yet many people do so anyways.

No it is entirely possible, in fact it is impossible not to form an opinion on a matter from the moment they hear about it.
The question that remains is how accurate / valid that opinion is.

Well, I never said it was impossible to form an opinion, just impossible to form one of an entire genre.

I've read hundreds of books over the years, of various genres, and the ones I didn't like were obvious from the first couple pages or, at most, a couple chapters, so I stopped reading them, but that didn't stop me from picking up a book from the same genre, written by a different author.

 

[Darius Brogan]

It's not that hard to understand really. People continually try to see patterns and form ad-hoc rules of judgement based on certain traits they see as being common in a category, to save themselves time.

When I say, "I hate crime novels", it doesn't mean that all crime novels are objectively bad. Nor does it even mean I think all crime novels are subjectively bad. It just means that I find many common themes, tropes and structures of crime novels to be boring, predictable and uninspiring. To save myself time I make a blanket statement/judgement like that. Surely there are crime novels that I would like. But I can't read those 90 crime novels I'll probably dislike to find those 3 I might like, despite the genre.

Same goes for Anime or any other category of entertainment.

That's perfectly understandable, but when it comes to things like books or shows, it's usually painfully obvious whether or not you'll like it early on.
If you don't like it, you stop reading/watching, and if you do, you continue.

I'm just confused as to how people disregard, say, ALL anime except the ONE that they like, because the rest are shit, despite probably having seen very few by comparison.

 

[DEAD34345]

I never actually posted on that thread, but if I did I probably would have said something similar to the people who claimed 99% are bad. I've watched the first few episodes of, I don't know, between 10 and 15 different anime series. I've only enjoyed 2 of those series enough to continue watching them to the end.

Now, I'm not saying that those 2 anime series are the only good ones out there, and I'm also not saying that those 2 are the only ones I would ever like. What I am saying is that if I decide to watch a new series of anime, chances are I won't like it (judging by my past experiences). This means I tend to go to other genres instead, where the chances of finding something I enjoy are much higher.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

It's not that hard to understand really. People continually try to see patterns and form ad-hoc rules of judgement based on certain traits they see as being common in a category, to save themselves time.

Example, based on my own biases:

Magical girls in anime tend to get their powers by a stroke of luck, get them upgraded with more strokes of luck rather than actually working to get stronger, are infallible either alone or with friends, and if they ever do lose to a villain, they'll redeem the failure by the end of the season and it won't stick with them as a major personality trait, and as a result I can't see myself ever relating to one. That's why, despite my passing contact and subsequent slight interest in Madoka Magica, Lyrical Nanoha, Black-Rock Shooter, Haruhi Suzumiya or Claymore, I've never actually bothered trying to watch any of them for fear of wasted time, money and/or bandwidth.

And everything else doesn't have enough flashy lights and explosions to hold my attention span for even the eight episodes Evangelion did. (Asuka turned me off watching anything past her debut episode. I just can't put up with her personality, and her voice doesn't help.)

 

[Shymer]

...deliberately closing ones mind to possibilities actually decreases intellectual potential...

An interesting assertion. On what do you base that opinion?

As a counter-example; science is based on the principle of excluding any possible explanation for an observation other than the simplest one (Occam's Razor) and I'm fairly sure that isn't because it decreases intellectual potential. Spending time and energy on things that have less merit is wasteful. Given a finite amount of resource (time, energy, money), it is highly effective to make snap judgements about things that apparently waste those resources. Perhaps focus increases intellectual potential, as you put it?

Taking the example of anime, why is it not OK for someone to decide that it isn't for them based on one exposure? They cut out wasting time and effort and focus on an artistic form that they enjoy more.

Once someone has made a judgement about something like anime, it is then only natural to denegrate people who have an opposite opinion. That's tribalism and is normal human behaviour. Not everyone feels the need to post about it, but most people think it; classifying themselves into camps such as "I agree with..." "I don't agree with..." and "I don't much care - there are more important things."

 

[Darius Brogan]

...deliberately closing ones mind to possibilities actually decreases intellectual potential...

An interesting assertion. On what do you base that opinion?

As a counter-example; science is based on the principle of excluding any possible explanation for an observation other than the simplest one (Occam's Razor) and I'm fairly sure that isn't because it decreases intellectual potential. Spending time and energy on things that have less merit is wasteful. Given a finite amount of resource (time, energy, money), it is highly effective to make snap judgements about things that apparently waste those resources. Perhaps focus increases intellectual potential, as you put it?

Taking the example of anime, why is it not OK for someone to decide that it isn't for them based on one exposure? They cut out wasting time and effort and focus on an artistic form that they enjoy more.

Once someone has made a judgement about something like anime, it is then only natural to denegrate people who have an opposite opinion. That's tribalism and is normal human behaviour. Not everyone feels the need to post about it, but most people think it; classifying themselves into camps such as "I agree with..." "I don't agree with..." and "I don't much care - there are more important things."

You may have misinterpreted my post slightly. I don't care if anime isn't for you because, really, it is entirely a matter of opinion. It is confusing to me, however, that people can love just one anime (Or book series, or band/genre, or art style), and completely exclude ALL the rest of it, simple because they've only found that one that they like. This is where the '99% shit, but the 1% is 'this' which I like' came from.

As for decreasing intellectual potential, that's simple: Scientists may forgo options outside the simplest one for the sake of ease, but they're not completely closing their mind to the possibility that they may be wrong.

In fact, I've never met or read about a scientist that hadn't been wrong at some point in their career.

When you come to a point that you state 'There is no option but this one, and it doesn't matter who says what, my mind is made up' you've closed your mind to any form of intellectual stimulation from any source but the one you've chosen, and that often eliminates the ability to think critically, which is how humans develop their intelligence further: by thinking, and testing, and questioning.

 

[Richardplex]

To be fair, I love anime, but 90% of it IS rubbish. But that's the same with games, films and books too. All mediums require one to wade through shovelwear to get to the gems, the only difference is the most famous anime are those really terrible shoneny anime. But I see what you mean about the 99% thing, and I agree, it's narrowminded really. I mean, by large I dislike films, there are a small number of them I actually like, but I don't think every other film is terrible. I just assume I won't like them until proven otherwise [note: does not mean "they are terrible until proven otherwise"]