Why do people rage about stuff that has no effect on them?

[ImBigBob]

I see a lot of complaining online about how Justin Bieber sucks, or that Jersey Shore is a terrible show, or how Twilight is poorly written. And I certainly agree with those opinions. But what I don't comprehend is how much effort people go into hating these things that aren't trying to appeal to them in the first place. Instead of ranting about why I hate reality TV so much, I'd rather just watch Breaking Bad and discuss that with fellow fans. I don't like Call of Duty, so I'll go play some indie games on Steam. Rather than read Twilight, I'll read My Little Pony fanfiction. Point is, I don't bother wasting energy on something I hate that doesn't matter anyway. But I want to know, what exactly motivates people online to spend time and energy bashing fiction? (news is a different matter...)

 

[applesandoranges]

edit

 

[Vault101]

somtimes is because said work can have an effect on its industry

just look at COD
which is "in a way" understandable

however somtimes I dont get it....oh you dont like jersy shore or justin beiber? how original...(psst, youre being trolled)

 

[Dags90]

EDIT: Also I'd like to point out that since Twilight has made a money palace, Barnes and Noble has had to add a "Teen Paranormal Romance" section to the book store. That's right, a whole section devoted to Twilight knock offs.

Teen Paranormal Romance existed before Twilight. The Roswell High book series became so popular it got made into a TV show in the early 00's/'99.

 

[shrekfan246]

Cathartic release. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharsis]

Hey, I'm mostly the same way as you, OP, I think it's weird that people feel the urge to rant and rave about things that don't have a huge impact on their lives. But at the same time I'll start complaining about some first-world problem myself.

I begrudge people the ability to complain on the internet. After all, I can (usually) just ignore it, so who am I to complain about their complaining?

 

[Atmos Duality]

Well, to follow up on one of the examples:

I would say that I hate Justin Bieber's music rather than Justin Bieber. He hasn't committed any great crime specifically towards me. I simply don't like his music, and have been forced to listen to it every day at University and Work.

But I guess that actually has an effect on me, so it doesn't count.

Going deeper, I really don't like the direction music has taken because of the success of performers like Justin Bieber, so I guess there's that, petty as it is.

I don't get to make those decisions, but I have to deal with the consequences of that regularly. It's disheartening and eventually becomes completely aggravating.
Though I'm sure that if I had control over the direction of music, there would be plenty of people who'd be just as pissed for the same reasons.

 

[uneek]

They just want an easy target. See some people have no originality so they pick on whatever is popular to pick on. And they ignore the fact that talking about it just makes more people aware of it and thus, make it spread more.

I hate on Twilight because it is terrible and horrible and is teaching young women bad lessons, like that it's totally normal for a boyfriend to forcibly stop you from seeing your friends, and break into your room to watch you sleep. Or that you can't become a full person (or rather, vampire) until you've gotten married and had a baby. I hate on it because I want to stop teen girls from reading it. I know it won't work but I still hold out hope.

All the teenage girls that are worth saving don't read Twilight.

 

[DarkRyter]

I hate on Twilight because it is terrible and horrible and is teaching young women bad lessons, like that it's totally normal for a boyfriend to forcibly stop you from seeing your friends, and break into your room to watch you sleep. Or that you can't become a full person (or rather, vampire) until you've gotten married and had a baby. I hate on it because I want to stop teen girls from reading it. I know it won't work but I still hold out hope.

I imagine other people feel similarly about the other things you've mentioned.

EDIT: Also I'd like to point out that since Twilight has made a money palace, Barnes and Noble has had to add a "Teen Paranormal Romance" section to the book store. That's right, a whole section devoted to Twilight knock offs.

What we have here is a classic example of someone giving a fuck about bullshit.

Giving a fuck about bullshit is becoming an increasingly common phenomenon in recent years. Once reasonable, rational individuals decide to devote effort and emotion into complaining about things that honestly aren't worth acknowledging.

Accepted treatments for giving a fuck about bullshit includes, stop giving a fuck about bullshit, finding some other bullshit to give a fuck about, "dropping it like it's hot while the pimp's in the crib", recreational use of marijuana, ridin dirty, and science.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

Some people just like to vent out their frustrations on current popular people, trends, or media that has a clear mainstream appeal that others don't agree with.

All I can say is that you may not like them, but you cannot deny their existence because they are somehow making dough and continue to be appealing to enough people to get them noticed.

I choose to simply ignore all this because giving any mention or negativity to these people, trends, or media proves that they interest me on some level, despite expressing the complete opposite.

 

[uneek]

I hate on Twilight because it is terrible and horrible and is teaching young women bad lessons, like that it's totally normal for a boyfriend to forcibly stop you from seeing your friends, and break into your room to watch you sleep. Or that you can't become a full person (or rather, vampire) until you've gotten married and had a baby. I hate on it because I want to stop teen girls from reading it. I know it won't work but I still hold out hope.

I imagine other people feel similarly about the other things you've mentioned.

EDIT: Also I'd like to point out that since Twilight has made a money palace, Barnes and Noble has had to add a "Teen Paranormal Romance" section to the book store. That's right, a whole section devoted to Twilight knock offs.

What we have here is a classic example of someone giving a fuck about bullshit.

Giving a fuck about bullshit is becoming an increasingly common phenomenon in recent years. Once reasonable, rational individuals decide to devote effort and emotion into complaining about things that honestly aren't worth acknowledging.

Accepted treatments for giving a fuck about bullshit includes, stop giving a fuck about bullshit, finding some other bullshit to give a fuck about, "dropping it like it's hot while the pimp's in the crib", recreational use of marijuana, ridin dirty, and science.

Jon Lajoie, what are you doing on this forum?

 

[burningdragoon]

Well the thing is, nothing has "no effect" on people, since nothing is made in a vacuum. No direct effect, sure, but still some effect. There are plenty of good shows/games/books out there, but there are tons of crappy ones too and having a low bar for quality is not a good thing for entertainment as a whole.

Now as an example, pretty much anyone could find a game that caters to them perfectly, so yeah, there's no harm in letting the (stereotypical) CoD folk have their CoD. But the massive success of CoD does have some negative effects on the industry as a whole. Forced shooterization of franchises (Dead Space, Mass Effect), sacrificing what made those games what they are (to some extent) for broader appeal. Pushing for more and more realistic graphics (not just CoD doing this) making games cost more to make for less content and forcing attempts to reach broader audiences, leading into the shooterization.

Some people will obviously take their grievances too far, and of course those are the people that will stand out, but that doesn't mean there aren't valid reasons to complain.

 

[Risingblade]

I'd agree with you but you're forgetting about those things indirectly affecting us.

 

[thereverend7]

There's honestly 100 different things I could say to something like this but for the sake of not spending the next hour on this post, I'll just say:

Because people are people. They will always do things that other people don't like, and then those people will complain about it. doesn't matter if its justin beiber, batman, or World War 2. Ask enough people and you'll have a million different opinions on it.

Hell, im sure if enough people saw this post, explaining this, someone eventually would be like YOUR DOING IT WRONG. THATS NOT HOW YOU EXPLAIN THINGS.

I can hear their typing from here...

 

[Signa]

I hate on those things because they set a new standard. A lower standard: one which if held to will destroy the things I love. I'm not a vampire fan, but if I was, it would be hard to accept the new way people look at them because of Twilight.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Beats me. Seems like an incredible waste of time and energy to me.