Alternately titled: Stuff I don't understand, installment one.
I used to have this friend. She liked the band Owl City. (I do too.) She started liking Owl City right before it really took off and everyone liked Owl City and the songs Fireflies and Vanilla Twilight were everywhere. Now, once it got popular, this friend made a point to *really* obnoxiously point out that she liked Owl City 'before he (yes, I said band, but it's really one guy, Adam Young) was cool/popular/everywhere', every single time she heard one of the songs, saw the poster/t-shirts/cd anywhere, saw that anyone liked it or someone told her that they liked it.
I have no issue with saying this (and not all the time) just to prove that you are not one of those people that only started to like it because it was popular (not to be confused with actually liking it but not hearing about it until it got popular) and you don't plan on discontinuing your admiration once it gets unpopular. I also do not have a problem with saying this (and not all the time) to state that you're a loyal fan, which is pretty much the same exclusion as above.
The problem was, I knew this friend too well. (She's a former friend. This situation is not why, fyi. And I stress the former, in case anyone of my current friends get some kind of idea that I'm talking about them.) I knew that she was not saying that she liked Owl City 'before it was cool' in a way that fit either of the above exclusions. I knew why she was saying it.
Saying that she liked the band before it was cool gave her two reasons to be satisfied: 1) It made her feel superior to true fans that just didn't come across the band until it was popular. The type of superiority and pride that would probably come with discovering a unicorn fossil; except it's just a band and anyone could have stumbled upon it. 2) Because she felt this made her more 'individual'. Now, maybe that would be the case if it weren't for this factor: after Owl City started to get so popular she pretty much abandoned her liking of the band. Not because she just naturally started to dislike it, not because it got stale, not because she looked back and just realized it wasn't as good as she thought it was, but because it made her feel like she had some kind of superior individuality.
This is where the whole title Individuality vs. The Pursuit of Individuality comes into the equation. Her pursuit of individuality, which was saying she liked the band before it was cool and basically leaving it behind once everyone started to like it wasn't truly a show of being an individual. True individuality is more likely sticking with the band and not caring about the fact that everyone likes it BECAUSE you like it; not caring what anyone else thinks about you liking it. I don't understand why people like to judge other people for liking things that are popular for whatever reason; as much as I don't understand why people have to judge each other for liking things that no one else seems to like.
Whatever it is makes them THEMSELVES. Liking whatever the heck they want to like; that being Harry Potter or Twilight, contemporary music or indie stuff, skinny jeans or flair, cardigans or hoodies, iPods or Zunes, nintendo or sony, reality tv or soap operas, Justin Bieber or Flyleaf, OR ALL OF THE AFOREMENTIONED THINGS; that is what makes someone individual.
Anyway. If you made it to the end of this post, hopefully you understand what I'm talking about. If not, I'm basically saying that being a true individual is not looking for it, and just being yourself. You'd think that would be obvious; but it isn't always so. Also, if you like to condemn people for liking skinny jeans when they're so last year, or for liking Justin Bieber, you're no better than anyone else. I also realize that I'm not totally right about this. No one is. No one is totally right about anything, and that's another ideology I don't understand... If you disagree with me and think that former friend was completely right to think the things she did, or that 'liking a band before it was cool' it all-important, then so be it. That's you. That's my point. Just be yourself, OKAY? Haha.
And that concludes one of Cat's specialty, long, ramble-y, slightly rant-ish posts. Thanks for reading.
3 comments:
Nice post. I understand where you're coming from here, I know some people who act similar to your former friend in the way that they feel like they need to be set apart from others. I know people who call themselves "loners" because nobody else is "good enough" to hang out with them. I think that opinion should be opinion; think what you want even if it isn't true. You might be right, you might be wrong, but hey, that's what makes it opinion. That's what makes it your opinion. Who cares what other people think? This is something I live by and have lived by ever since I learned that being "cool" in the world's opinion really isn't being cool. Peer pressure, and anything of such, is something that this world would be better off without. I say, live a good life. Be yourself, be a good person, whether that means flowing with the crowd or walking in the dead opposite direction. Whichever path you take, you won't be alone. Just trust in the fact that God has a plan. Thanks for your thoughts, Cat, I enjoyed reading it!
Thanks! Yep, totally agree. And the matter of opinion thing as well, I was basically trying to say that. Anyway, glad you enjoyed.
@Austin: nah, don't you know?! We really *are* too cool to hang with thou commoners! *shocked* I'm surprised this isn't common knowledge! *gasp*
jk.
Or am I? :P
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