So here\u2019s the deal. Everyone wants to be perceived as cool. We can all pretend we\u2019re above it but at some level we don\u2019t want some people to know some things. If people somehow found out you were into that thing, ya THAT one, what would happen? Your whole facade of normalcy or even badassery might disappear. Maybe they would stop talking to you. Maybe they would hate you.<\/p>\n
No. That\u2019s dumb. Stop being dumb. Nobody cares. And if they do care, they can fuck off. Their opinions don\u2019t matter. I know this. You know this. So why does it still feel weird to discuss certain hobbies, shows, and even music?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The majority of people that hear \u201cI play Magic the Gathering,\u201d either already know I\u2019m beyond hope or already don\u2019t like me or my shitty tastes in things. Like Dan, Shamus\u2019s brother, who swears at me when I bring it up. But why is it more taboo to talk with randoms and less familiar folks about nerdier stuff? I\u2019d talk to my Luddite uncle who doesn\u2019t care about anything that isn\u2019t directly involving the woods and a gun about my favorite video games and why I love them. So why is it that bringing up the card game I spend most of my disposable income on feel so weird?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s easy to talk sports because it\u2019s a societal expectation to have watched the latest sports. I\u2019m a guy in rural PA after all. It\u2019s a lot harder to slip your taste in metal music or anime. Sure, that depends on audience as well, but I don\u2019t see why I should feel shame talking about my interests when I listen to older men talking to me about cars and hunting all the time. I don\u2019t respond with a sneer or a laugh or a condescending reply because who does that? \u201cSure bud, I\u2019m sure your rebuilt Trans Am is super cool,\u201d I say with an eye roll. Nope. There\u2019s no need to be a dick like that.<\/p>\n
So I guess what I’m saying is that life is a lot better when you accept that you can enjoy things and genuinely tune out miserable losers that try to make you feel shame for enjoying something. I like Rick and Morty. That doesn’t make me a drooling stereotype of a Redditor who can’t properly communicate. I love horror movies and metal music. That doesn’t mean I can’t watch other genres of movies and listen to other genres of music. I like a few Vtubers. That doesn’t mean I’m a gooner. I’ve even known the loving embrace of a woman, believe it or not. I like Magic the Gathering. That doesn’t mean I stink. I do stink, but that’s not why.<\/p>\n
Which is why I urge all of you to stop being condescending when your kids, nieces, nephews, or whoever shows you something you perceive as super dumb, give it a try. Hear them out. If you don\u2019t like it or care, appreciate that they care about it. I promise you that it\u2019ll make a big difference to them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So here\u2019s the deal. Everyone wants to be perceived as cool. We can all pretend we\u2019re above it but at some level we don\u2019t want some people to know some things. If people somehow found out you were into that thing, ya THAT one, what would happen? Your whole facade of normalcy or even badassery […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[640],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ethanirl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59870"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59876,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59870\/revisions\/59876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}