ElPatron said:
DoPo said:
Oh look another one of those threads. "Some people do not like what I like, why don't they like it?"
The OP's post.
Your head.
Way over it.
Same thing with my post and your head. I said confirmation bias. That's what it seems to me and OP hasn't really disproved it. He wants to believe people who don't like metal hate it and so he only remembers the bad things people say. There are a lot of people who neither hate nor like it. In fact there are those who just don't voice their opinions regardless.
I've been a victim of the exact same bias before. There were a couple of friends who were talking about KoRn, I believe and their new album. Then their conversation switched to Slipknot. I didn't take part in the conversation because 1) I don't listen to neither of the two 2) I didn't have nothing to add to that topic really. Then one of them pointed out I didn't say anything, hence I must be
appalled by what they were speaking about. So yes, they quickly came to the conclusion that I must absolutely hate metal so they jokingly apologised for their "bad taste". While I stayed there stunned. By the way, my music library consists of 90% rock and metal (rock to metal ratio is probably around 30:70). I had to ask them "Are you guys serious?" to confirm they really weren't joking. They weren't.
Other example: Another friend heard me briefly talk about Metallica (the only time music had been brought up at all) and so he immediately came to the conclusion that I must hate rap[footnote]He listens to rap. So obviously, because I listen to metal, I listen to only metal and nothing else. Hence, I hate all other music. Simple really.[/footnote]. It was a week or two after that he decided to play some rap to wind me up. He was shocked,
shocked to learn that I liked rap, too. Well, this time at least I wasn't the one taken by surprise.
That's just the more prominent examples that happened to me specifically. It happens all the time everywhere, heck, I used to do it - I thought that listening to Limp Bizkit and Eminem made me unique when I was around 13. I thought that nobody else could understand the music, hence, if they didn't already listen to LB, they hated it. I must repeat, I was around 13 at that time.
So, why is it that the trend continues? Why do people still choose to listen to only those who support their view and the others who don't for stupid reasons? No, I haven't seen much hate for rock/metal - there are those who like it (actually a significant amount), those who dislike it for legitimate reasons (personal opinion and they don't go out of their way to voice it), others who can't really be bothered (still don't voice their opinion) and a small portion of people with wrong to idiotic views (e.g., it makes Satan possess you). The last group aren't a lot. They just like to be heard. And actually some of the bad impressions can be the fault of the fans of the genre - here's another thing I've seen countless times:
Fan: So do you like the genre of music I like?
Non-fan: Not really.
F: But why?
NF: I don't know, I just don't.
F: You must have a reason tell me.
NF: I told you, I don't know. [makes up something hoping to finish the discussion] I suppose I don't like the sound.
F: OK, here listen to this and tell me you don't like it.
NF: Nope, sorry.
And so on and so forth. By pushing what you like, you'll rarely convert somebody. You're more likely to hear a lame excuse because you're being an idiot yourself.
So, confirmation bias? Yes, I think so. There isn't a huge amount of people that think guitars summon demons and listening to metal requires you to eat babies and make sacrifices every full moon. Because someone doesn't listen to metal doesn't mean they believe those things, either.
And sacrifices are on new moon, duh, I hope your goat is ready for Wednesday.
EDIT:
Smokej said:
the target audience are mostly 14-24 old smart-arses (who are always very vocal about how much better their music genre is than everything else), older listeners are either more open to other genres or are eternal juveniles themselves...
Now that, I think is correct. Or mostly correct. Sounds plausible enough and I'd support it.
