Popular things that you just don't get the appeal of.

[happyninja42]

Pretty straight forward subject. People like things, some do, some don't. And some of them baffle others as to why others like them. Now this thread isn't about arguing about why something is great/terrible, I don't want to see any poo flinging on that regard. In fact, restrain from any excrement projectiles of any form.

For me, I just don't get the fascination we have as a culture with regular people who can sing. Now, don't get me wrong, I love music, it's in fact, the most powerful emotional trigger for me there is. I totally understand why people love music and the people who sing it, but what I don't get is our American Idol, X Factor, pop culture worship of people who can sing. Sorry but it's not actually that rare and unique of a trait. Every human culture has a musical history, it's something humans have always done, we've had many many years to develop the skill, just like walking and scratching out butts. It's not anything to be shocked and awed at. "OMG! There is a homeless guy that can sing?!?! I never thought that homeless people might have skills and talents other than begging for change!! I'm totally shocked!" Yeah, sorry, it's not surprising, they are people who have lives, lives that could've involved any number of things, including musical talent/training. So every time I see some article about how the world is stunned by a homeless guy who can play the piano, or a frumpy middle age cat lady who can sing, I just roll my eyes. And this isn't coming from a place of pessimism, actually the opposite. I think humanity is pretty freaking awesome, and capable of some amazing feats, but I just get puzzled when I see people shocked at us doing things that we figured out how to do millenia ago.

 

[Scarim Coral]

To me it probably the whole selfie culture that people have generated.

You feel that badly that you need to show your face in the photo and you couldn't find/ trust somebody to take the photo for you?

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Jerry Springer/Judge ____ style shows, which someone in the US has kindly informed me that Jerry didn't invent, merely popularized. Schadenfreude is the only reason I can think of, you get to see these horribly crazy/abusive people and feel glad that you're not as screwed up as them.

 

[Pyrian]

Heavy alcohol drinking. I have this one friend, whenever there's a big party, he wants to drink a lot, and he wants everyone else to, too. So he'll go around demanding that everyone have a drink with him. Then, he'll fall asleep and miss most of the party. What a waste. And that's not even mentioning his liver.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Social networking sites.

I will never understand the point of starting a profile and collecting as many friends as possible to share my inane opinions and boring life with.

90% of people's friends lists are people they either barely know or actively dislike, and most of people's time is spent looking at pictures of bring things that people really want them to think are interesting.

"Look at me, I went to a restaurant, look at this burger I ate, it was good" followed by 17 pictures. What the fuck is the point?

If I have something interesting happen in my life I meet up with my real friends, as in people I like to hang out and spend actual time with, and talk about that interesting thing in person, usually over drinks. You know, like a person!

What do people even talk about in real life if they post everything about what they're doing on facebook?

 

[Ironman126]

Anime. Don't get me wrong, I've tried anime. I've even really liked some that my friends, who watch anime, say is weird (Kill la Kill, mostly). But there is something about anime that I just can't get passed. Maybe it's a culture shock thing. Maybe it's the fact that suddenly lollies for no goddamn reason. Or maybe it's that I just don't like how comfortable they all seem to be with pandering to pervy old men.

A series of statements I am sure ring hollow as I claim to have enjoyed Kill la Kill.

 

[Zontar]

A series of statements I am sure ring hollow as I claim to have enjoyed Kill la Kill.

We all go through that, there are some anime out there for everyone. It's a medium, not a genre, after all.

I just recently watched Shiki, and I loved it. If you're into horror and don't like fanservice, it's worth a watch.

OT: Game of the Walking Dead. Neither of those shows are ones I can really get into or the source material of, though I do like the Walking Dead games from Telltale.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

Selfie culture, instigram food picture taking culture, YOLO culture, SWAG culture, basically anything that I think makes you look like the biggest toss pot on the planet. Do that stuff a few decades back and I'm sure you'd look insane to some. I just don't get the point of taking a picture of your god damned food and posting it online. Instead of posting it, tell people to MAKE that shit. Oh yes, let's gawk all over some food you only wish you could have. I really, really don't get it...

 

[FalloutJack]

Angry Birds. Yeah, it's a game, but it's gotten out of hand and none of thise was deserved.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Selfie culture, instigram food picture taking culture, YOLO culture, SWAG culture, basically anything that I think makes you look like the biggest toss pot on the planet. Do that stuff a few decades back and I'm sure you'd look insane to some. I just don't get the point of taking a picture of your god damned food and posting it online. Instead of posting it, tell people to MAKE that shit. Oh yes, let's gawk all over some food you only wish you could have. I really, really don't get it...

If you were a rich tosser in England a hundred or two years ago, it'd be perfectly normal. Excepting you had to pay someone to paint you rather than use your phone.

Now, not a fan of it myself, but it's nothing new.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

I live in California and there's a fast food chain called "In 'N Out" which is I guess renown as this amazing burger place. Every tourist that comes here is like "I HAVE TO EAT AT IN N OUT BEFORE I LEAVE." Below is a picture of an In N Out burger. Take note of the size of the burger patty. To my taste they aren't too far off from a mcdonalds/burger king patty, but even if they were the best tasting burger patty in the world, how the fuck would you even get the flavor of it over the lettuce/tomato/onions?

It baffles me that In N Out is so popular that it legitimately creates traffic in a 2 block radius around it.

But something more relatable to people on this site maybe: Let's Plays. The whole point of videogames as a medium is that they're interactive, so you would think watching them as opposed to playing them would be like a "Plan B" choice you would only do under certain conditions or circumstances. The fact that let's plays are mainstream and people watch them regularly is weird to me.

 

[Ironman126]

We all go through that, there are some anime out there for everyone. It's a medium, not a genre, after all.

I just recently watched Shiki, and I loved it. If you're into horror and don't like fanservice, it's worth a watch.

That sounds right up my alley. I'll have to give it a look.

OT: Game of the Walking Dead. Neither of those shows are ones I can really get into or the source material of, though I do like the Walking Dead games from Telltale.

And I feel your pain. I couldn't get into GoT. The Walking Dead was okay, for a time. Not so much the case since the plot went from the "up, down, up, down" formula to "everything is awful all the time." It's just really tedious now and it was fairly tedious before season 5.

Walking Dead does have some excellent music and practical effects, however.

 

[Kyrian007]

I agree with the whole "american idol" take from the OP, but I'd go so far as to say the entire "reality tv" genre as well as singing and/or talent contests. If a show can actually throw some information out there as well as entertain (say for example "Top Gear") then it rises above. But if it's just some cameras following around some "celebrity" or pregnant teen, or child forced into pagents, or racist hillbillies, or whatever freak show level of entertainment keeps some people glued to their tvs... well I can't say I'm a fan.

 

[davidmc1158_v1legacy]

Justin Bieber
Will Ferrel
reality television, especially contest-style shows
Adam Sandler
selfies
Kanye West
social networking and the need to be on it constantly (I have never logged onto Facebook and have no intention of ever doing so)
the mythical ability to 'multitask' which just ends up ignoring people while checking one's phone
Game of Thrones
The Walking Dead
Breaking Bad
Donald Trump
dubstep
cheese

The list can get quite extensive, but I think that's a good enough start.

 

[fenrizz]

A lot of thing, most likely.
But people are different, and jsut because I don't see the appeal of something doe snot mean that it is inferior to what I like.

One thing I really don't get at all though is the attitude that what others do is meaningless and asinine, but what you do is sophisticated and clever.

To me it probably the whole selfie culture that people have generated.

You feel that badly that you need to show your face in the photo and you couldn't find/ trust somebody to take the photo for you?

There is no need to find another person to take the picture when you can just do it yourself.

 

[Scarim Coral]

A lot of thing, most likely.
But people are different, and jsut because I don't see the appeal of something doe snot mean that it is inferior to what I like.

One thing I really don't get at all though is the attitude that what others do is meaningless and asinine, but what you do is sophisticated and clever.

To me it probably the whole selfie culture that people have generated.

You feel that badly that you need to show your face in the photo and you couldn't find/ trust somebody to take the photo for you?

There is no need to find another person to take the picture when you can just do it yourself.

I mean if you want to put yourself in the photo but you're by yourself, otherwise it will be a selfie sort of photo (stretching your arm out to get some distance) or you mean putting the camera on a timer or something like that?

 

[Tiamattt]

Celebrities' personal lives. Granted my head turns if I happen to see one walk by but I have no idea why people care so much about what a famous person does during their free time, much less enough to make a huge deal about everything they do. The fact that people care enough to make following them around with cameras a actual industry just boggles my mind.

Horror Movies - I know there's the adrenaline rush or something but growing up I didn't like being scared, scared always meant danger and/or something bad's going to happen and I don't see why people would want to use their time and money on that. On a side note whatever the hell Saw was, it's one thing to want to be scared but to want that and to be horribly grossed out at the same time? Seriously nty.

 

[Dizchu]

Mainstream metal bands of the 2000s/2010s and metalcore. I'm a big fan of the really popular metal bands of the 80s and 90s like Slayer, Metallica, Pantera, Maiden, Tool and so on. But I see absolutely nothing special about the likes of Avenged Sevenfold, Bullet for my Valentine, countless "Verb the Noun" bands, Disturbed, Whitechapel, etc. There are a few exceptions like Killswitch Engage and Machine Head, but most of these bands just make me scratch my head. I don't mean to sound elitist, if you like these bands, that's cool. But personally I just can't get into them. Oh and before someone accuses me of being stuck in the past, most of the metal I listen to has been released since the turn of the millennium, they just happen to be more underground.

The Walking Dead (the TV series, I love the Telltale series). I watched season 1 and it was great. Season 2 onwards though? Echh.

Djent. I'm a big fan of bands like Textures and Sikth (and Meshuggah obviously) that inspired this "subgenre within a subgenre". I even dig Periphery at times. But this whole excessively-triggered, polished to a mirror shine, overly synthetic sound and overuse of the lowest string on your 8-string guitar tuned to drop E sound just bores me to tears. Oh and what's the deal with the "single pluralised noun" band names and triangles on the album art?

Deathcore. Apart from Whitechapel who I regard as talented (especially the vocalist), I don't see the appeal of deathcore apart from a few bands here and there that mix the infamous breakdowns with other genres. I mean, I love slam, which is a similar subgenre. I'm not entirely sure what makes me love a good slam but sigh at open-chord chug breakdowns. Also the whole "tough guy" façade.

Beatdown hardcore. I just don't get it. It's just endless deathcore breakdowns played at doom metal speed. I love doom, but I love it because it has an atmosphere, an overwhelming sense of melancholy. It's not something that works very well with anger.

Dubstep (the really loud, mid-range heavy kind). I love musicians like Burial, who embody what's more "classically" referred to as "dubstep". The wobbly bass and skittering beats, that stuff's awesome. But this excessively noisy, plastic version of dubstep (brostep, I believe it's called?) just frustrates me. I love noisy electronic music (Aphex Twin and Autechre come to mind), but those musicians pushed the boundaries into the fringes of noise music. They didn't load up their Massive presets and abuse the bass wubs.

 

[Simonism451]

Airplane food. What's the deal with that?