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

[Kevlar Eater]

Game of Thrones.... okay, I get the appeal of the show, but when new episodes showed up, there wasn't a hole deep enough or a corner dark enough, in the internet or IRL, to get away from the people talking about the show. It's like getting hit in the face with a pie at nearly every opportunity. The first one can be funny for the giver and receiver, and maybe the second time is funny. But after the seventh consecutive pie that very day, that clown deserves an elbow to the throat and then his mouth duct taped shut. Imagine those pies hitting you in the face every day for as long as GoT is relevant, no matter where you go, what website you visit, who you talk to, or what game you play. Someone, somewhere, will mention GoT and *bam!* another pie in the face.

"Cersei got raped?! triggered"
"Stannis burnt his daughter at the stake?! misogyny
"Danny escapes on a dragon as her men get slaughtered?! whatever"
"Jon Snow's gonna shake shit up next season?!"

And these are the more recent things I can remember. I don't wanna go any farther back, I've already got secondhand lore from many mentions of the books and what people talk about when it comes to this show.

What I really don't the appeal of:

Donald Trump - He's everything the world hates about us Americans, distilled into a single human form. Let's not forget how obsessed he is with the Chinese:


And this man is being taken seriously by anyone that isn't capable of critical thought, which is a whole lot of people. Maybe they'll get tired of his constant dick-waving, blatant racism and toxic blathering and make sure he doesn't get to sit in the Oval Office for as much as a second.

 

[happyninja42]

snip

I think at least some of it is that everyone (except Tories) loves the underdog. We, quite reasonably, want people to succeed and be happy. And there is something great about a 'no name' having the ability to sing something that really touches you. I wouldn't know - unless someone has a record contract I'm an emotionless stone.

Nah I get the underdog bit, let me clarify. You see a link "Random person asked homeless guy to sing with him...WHAT HAPPENED NEXT WILL SHOCK YOU!!" And it's just a clip of the person singing really well. That's the bit that I don't understand, our amazement that somebody can sing, or play an instrument. People somehow seemed baffled by this talent, when it's a talent we've been encouraging in every culture since the dawn of humanity.

we've had many many years to develop the skill, just like walking and scratching out butts

You should fix that, sounds unpleasant

Anyway, for me it's Eastenders. And Hollyoaks. Soaps generally.

Nah, don't need to see a doctor, dragging my butt across the carpet's been working just fine for years. xD

 

[Evonisia]

I don't see the appeal of applying to talent shows like The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent, The Voice, American Idol etc. Judging by the fact that there seems to be no shortage of volunteers, it's quite a popular thing to do.

Watching them? Yeah totally, we like laughing at people who are shit at what they're trying to do[footnote]At least until all of them became a pantomime of positivity following the success of Britain's Got Talent but whatevs[/footnote], but I'm not sure why people want to sign up for them. The singing ones will pretty much force you in to pop or country music, which is fine, but off the top of my head only Carrie Underwood and arguably Leona Lewis sustained a career beyond a few years and none of them are anywhere near close to denting Kelly Clarkson's[footnote]Clarkson being the first winner of American Idol 14 or 15 damn years ago.[/footnote] lead over them showing a lack of interest with the public. Your career will die near-instantly, and you aren't likely to earn a boatload of money off the one song you got to chart.

X's Got Talent can produce success, but much like their singing companions, they haven't produced a particularly high percentage rate for a successful career in their victors. Hell, Susan Boyle's probably the most famous and well-off of the lot and she didn't even win.

 

[happyninja42]

FF7 I never got the appeal of this RPG by the masses of the gaming community, I did try it out to see what was so great about it, turns out it was just a mediocre experience for me, I wasn't a fan of the dated gameplay, the translations were comical, and yes the graphics didn't age well.

The only thing I remember fondly from that game, was the chocobo breeding program. I found that to be quite satisfying, raising and racing my birds, then breeding them to make stronger birds, until I had birds so badass they could autopilot win the races without me having to do anything. It was a lot of fun, more than I expected it to be. The rest of the game, meh. xD

 

[MetalDooley]

The Kardashians- They have no discernible talent as far as I can tell and yet they're fucking everywhere.I really don't get it

Breaking Bad - To clarify I haven't watched the show so I have no idea what it's actually like but I don't get how people got so worked up over the show.Seriously I had people act like I just pissed my pants in front of them when I told them I had no interest in watching it

Harry Potter fandom among adults - I read the first book and watched a few of the movies and you know what I would have absolutely loved this when I was 10 but I don't know how so many adults lost their shit over it

 

[Leon Royce]

Sports, any sports, especially team sports involving balls.

Facebook, social media, selfies.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Final Fantasy. JRPG's in general, actually. Where's the fun? In turn based action? In terrible writing? In terrible character design? Where?

Also, Paul Rudd.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

Parties. Standing round drinking stuff that tastes like petroleum, talking about inane events of the week and listening to typically awful music for hours. Not my idea of fun.

 

[Artina89]

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.

In continuation of the theme of overrated fast food places I am going to say I don't understand the appeal of Five guys. A couple have recently opened near to where I live and a lot of people that I know nearly turned themselves inside out with excitement. Now I have had Five guys when I lived in the US, and while I thought it was OK, I didn't think it was anything remotely special. It could be that Five guys is relatively new in the UK, but it still baffles me.

I also don't understand why people always harp on about Hershey's chocolate here in the UK either. I am not a huge fan of chocolate to begin with, but I have to say I find Hershey's to be inferior to Cadbury's chocolate, but that could be bias shining through.

 

[SquallTheBlade]

Final Fantasy. JRPG's in general, actually. Where's the fun? In turn based action? In terrible writing? In terrible character design? Where?

Also, Paul Rudd.

In all of the above. There are as many different kinds of combat as there are JRPGs. If you are not into turn based, try real time, for example Tales of series.

Writing can be terrible but if the combat is fun then I can overlook it. Example of this would be Tales of Graces. Awesome combat, terrible plot. Some games even have good writing, at least for my standards, but what do I know about literature?

Bad character designs? I don't know. I like most of them. Mostly because they are so varied and different. At least more different than in your typical WRPG.

 

[Twintix]

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.

Well, I can only speak for myself, but it's for the same reason that I like watching my brother or somebody else play video games, even though I can play it myself. I like to watch people play games. I like to take part and see what the experience is like for them. Two people can play the same game and have two different experiences with it.

Also, a lot of people use video games to relax, and listening to a soothing voice talk about nothing in particular as they do something they enjoy...it's a bit like sitting next to them, except I can skip past the whole pesky "continue the conversation" part.
Pewdiepie (Like him or not, I don't care. I don't watch him, but he makes people happy with what he does and that's all that matters) actually talked about this on a radio show called "Summer in P1" in Sweden a few years ago. (Various people, mostly celebrities, talk about things that are dear to them, or funny memories or what motivates them etc. Some are good, some are bad, you get the picture) He said that his fans felt like he was their friend, even though he didn't know them and they didn't know him. They found comfort in his videos, in short.

(I know what you might be thinking; It sounds sad, lonely and perhaps just a bit pathetic. But I understand the feeling they're talking about)

You may still not agree, but perhaps you've gotten a slight idea as for why people like Let's Plays.

OT: Popular things, you say? Various "must-see" TV shows and movies. Or TV shows and movies overall.

Exceptions include animal shows (Too Cute! is my guilty pleasure), Mythbusters and anything that has to do with cooking. Oh, and Big Hero 6. That was a good movie.
But other shows, like Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead or what have you? Movies like Wreck-It Ralph, The Hunger Games and others? Null. None. My interest is 0.
I tried to read and enjoy the first GoT book. I really tried. It bored me to tears. I could at least read half of the first LotR book before I gave up out of boredom (Not saying Tolkien is a bad writer, but he describes too many details, making the pace feel sluggish), but I couldn't get past the first Bran chapter in GoT.

I mean, I can see why other people like them, so it's not like I can't see the appeal. But I have no interest in them. And while I can see the appeal, I, paradoxically enough, don't really understand the popularity. Like, GoT is kinda like other fantasy series, but with lots of ugly-bumping and anyone can die, right?

I also don't understand why people always harp on about Hershey's chocolate here in the UK either. I am not a huge fan of chocolate to begin with, but I have to say I find Hershey's to be inferior to Cadbury's chocolate, but that could be bias shining through.

Ugh, yeah. I tried one of those when I went to New York. Honest-to-goodness, it tasted like vomit. Apparently, Hershey's use soured milk for their products. Which would explain the taste. Even cheap-brand chocolate over here tasted better than that Hershey's bar. Or maybe I got a bad chocolate bar, I guess that's a possibility.

They do make good chocolate syrup, though.

 

[Mikeybb]

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.

b-but...
I made little wings for mine.
I coulda worked in a little catchphrase.
Oh well.

My sources of bafflement?
Numerous and prolifically breeding.

Selfies are one of the later trends to leave me a little befuddled.
I think it was born to the fruitful union of 'Social Media' and 'SmartPhones' which seem to have spawned a gaggle of progeny all living under the auspices of "modern things I just don't get" and seemingly determined to remain as inscrutable as possible to me.

I'd say most of this is a result of contracting a terminal case of 'old' in my late thirties, though I think the signs were there for a long time before that.
Therefore I've come to a sort of detente with such things.
I know I can't reach a point that could be considered close to liking them, but at least no one is trying to make me.

So, despite not understanding things, I'm mostly at peace with them.

I could do with some help figuring out this though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8-vje-bq9c
because god help me, I think I really really like it.

 

[Luminous_Umbra]

What I really don't the appeal of:

Donald Trump - He's everything the world hates about us Americans, distilled into a single human form. Let's not forget how obsessed he is with the Chinese:


And this man is being taken seriously by anyone that isn't capable of critical thought, which is a whole lot of people. Maybe they'll get tired of his constant dick-waving, blatant racism and toxic blathering and make sure he doesn't get to sit in the Oval Office for as much as a second.

My working theory is that he's so many -ists/phobics that he appeals to people who are also varying degrees of -ists/phobics. Although, as I saw someone put it, he'd be best described as a narcissist.

As for me, I'm not sure I'd call it"popular" per say, but it's pretty common, so I'll roll with it.

Having ridiculous standards for entertainment.

What I mean is that it seems that a lot of people have not only lost the ability to not be black and white about quality of entertainment, but to enjoy bad or even average things. The way I've seen and heard people describe some media is a bit disturbing, but the lengths that are gone to say that it's bad. I understand that some of it hyperbole, but it get's just a smidgen ridiculous. It's ok to enjoy something that isn't "the best." Not every piece of entertainment has to be top quality to be enjoyed. Heck, this even goes beyond entertainment sometimes.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

Foo Fighters. Not that they're bad, I actually like them a fair bit (Everlong is fucking awesome), but how on earth are they this big? They've never really done anything particularly noteworthy. Even their best albums have quite a bit of filler and it's been a long while since then. They have no properly classic albums. Is their popularity purely sustained on Dave being a nice guy that was in a better band once?

 

[Lunar Templar]

oh god where to even start.

Social Media

Celebrity worship

'Talent Shows' like OP mentioned

'success is only measured in how much money you have not how happy you are.'

Donal Trump -.- I swear to god, he will be worst thing to happen to my country since 9/11 if he gets elected.

Final Fantasy. JRPG's in general, actually. Where's the fun? In turn based action? In terrible writing? In terrible character design? Where?

Also, Paul Rudd.

Different tastes really, You don't get JRPGs and I don't really get WRPGs, I mean Skyrim is cool an all but I can't for the life of me tell you what I did last night, but I can tell you things about JRPGs I've not played in years.

Not just Skyrim ether, I played the HELL out of Divinity II: Dragon Knight Saga, loved it, can't really remember much about it ether, past that I was calling it 'The real Breath of Fire V' and I was annoyed I couldn't burn villages in dragon form, and don't even get me started on those hacks at Bioware.

 

[TheVampwizimp_v1legacy]

Breaking Bad - To clarify I haven't watched the show so I have no idea what it's actually like but I don't get how people got so worked up over the show.Seriously I had people act like I just pissed my pants in front of them when I told them I had no interest in watching it.

That's all right, at first I had no interest either. It looked like just another one of those grim and gritty so-called 'true crime' shows that we have had far too many of already. Even if it was really well done, that genre had no appeal to me.

But for whatever reason, I did begin watching it at some point, and once I finished season one (only 6 episodes), and saw that it was more than what it seemed, I was impressed enough to continue. By the end of the series, it was evident that it was the single most well-made television show I had ever seen, and deserved every last accolade that it had received.

 

[Akytalusia]

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.

i can shed light on that for you. at least as it makes sense from my perspective. for me it's all about the vicarious experience angle. i'll play a game, and if that experience is pleasant enough for me, i'll want more of it. but playing through it again just doesn't give me the same 'fresh xp', so i like to go watch a popular form of lp called the 'blind lp' in order to get that fresh experience again, if that makes sense. i'll know what's coming up, but they won't, and i'll understand their emotions when they come across the events in the game and be able to effectively employ that delicious empathy module in my brain. plus, you can always find more people doing more blind lps for more fresh xp. it's great. like an experience feast.

i'm with you with the other types of lp, where you watch someone go through a game they're already pro at. i don't get that at all, since i can just do that myself and get the same experience. but you can only get the 'first impressions' experience yourself, once. if you want more of that, you have to watch someone else.

 

[Jerast]

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.

As an australian, you're spoiled as fuck. I visited my girlfriend last year, and in-and-out is literally the nicest burgers I have ever tasted. Mcdonalds is dogshit compared to them. OPINIONS. WORDS.

OT: Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill. I've always thought they were really really bad. Like, REALLY bad.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Social Media profiles, of any kind, specifically Twitter. As far as I can tell, unless you're like...Miley Cyrus, Obama and PewDiePie no one cares what you're Twitter says. Ever. For any reason. I once read Twitter likened to being in a large room, simply talking to yourself. And celebrities have megaphones.

Also selfies. How self-centered do you need to be to spend all your time taking pictures of yourself?! And its never you doing something notable, like fucking Asian twins, or wrestling a bear or fighting a Kaiju. No, its you eating at Chipotle or sitting at home with a cat, or in line to get a selfie stick.

Oh...how riveting your life must be! Every time my friends show me their selfies I always respond the same way, "That's SO life affirming!"
And they slink off to take pictures of pie.