One of my biggest pet peeves are people who do something simply for the sake of being different. I've met so many people who don't read Harry Potter, watch The O.C., listen to certain bands or watch action flicks simply because these things are "mainstream" or "popular."

Normally, people not liking something would not bother me. My best friend doesn't read Harry Potter. Her taste in novels, to me, is atrocious (I find nothing satisfying in the Gossip Girls series, thank you.) But it doesn't bother me, because I know that she likes what she reads, and that she tried to read the Potter series and was just not interested. But she is a rarity-- most people don't actually try.

Most of the people I know refused to watch The O.C. when it was on because they had already made up their minds about it. They saw pretty actors, soap-opera plotlines, and that was it. Now, I agree that The O.C. is not lacking in the drama/soap department. But what bothers me is that even so, The O.C. was one of the few shows that had decent writing. The characters were funny and even though they were filthy rich (most of them, anyway) and incredibly priveledged, you still felt for them, and were able to relate to them. It was not a show simply about "rich, snotty Californian teenagers," as my friend D told me-- what really irked me was that he had never actually sat down to watch an episode.

That, my friends, is what irks me the most. People who make flash judgements on something that they have never seen, read or listened to at length. The people who make casual dismissals of something that I love (like many peoples' constant trash-talk on Gwen Stefani), without ever learning about what they are so eager to loathe.

I may not be a huge indie fan, or all that into extreme experimental film, but I don't trash-talk it. I watch it and listen to it. I've even read the first A List novel. I may not like it particularly, but I don't sneer at those that find it beautiful or inspirational. I may not be the largest fan of The Decemberists, but I'm not about to walk up to someone I know who is an obvious fan and tell them that what they love is absolute rubbish and that they have shitty taste in music.

So, people. Suck it up, and stop being elitest bastards.
Thank you. :D