Maybe it's Not Your Flavour

There's been a lot of ruckus over "good media" and "bad media" over the interwebs, lately. People attacking people over likes, dislikes, and how character X is portrayed in Depiction Y and why Z alternate take is the superior moral high ground. I watch that sort of thing in utter confusion, especially when people decide to attack other people based on the media they like. Or dislike.

I was baffled by 'kinning', as I am baffled by 'homestucks' or 'Snapewives'. I don't think they're terrible people, because I don't know them. If you like Harry Potter in spite of the terrible things its author is doing, and funding, that's your yum. I'm not about to yuck that. If you're going to keep funding her and the horrible things she's doing, knowing that she's doing them, I'm going to do my best to avoid your company.

You might not be a terrible person, but it definitely shows that you don't care about other people outside of your personal joy. I just can't vibe with that.

To be fair to the Homestuck crowd, I tried to understand it. I just didn't vibe with it, or to use an archaeism, dig it. It was not, as the title of this entry suggests, my flavour.

And that's okay.

It's okay to not like things.

It's not okay to attack someone because they don't like a thing you like.

I don't seek out people who still give money to Harry Potter. I don't wish to make their lives miserable - even though they're giving money to someone who's making my life, and the lives of people I love, miserable.

There's so much time and energy in my world and I have better things to do than to waste them on hate.

The world's already a pretty hateful place. People find all kinds of reasons to get angry at strangers. Including, but not limited to: skin colour, religion, nationality, sports teams, music choices, sex lives, hobbies, and fandoms. There's people leaping down other people's throats because Part A didn't have the proper language to express an opinion and Party B decided to get angry about that.

Hell, there's people going on violent rampages because a computer program told them to do it. Or they think a computer program told them to do it.

So maybe, the next time someone says they like something you dislike... say something like "That's not my flavour and that's okay" rather than getting mad about it. If the thing in question is problematic, whatever the reason, ask the other person if they know about the problems.

Sometimes people like a thing in spite of the problems. And that's okay. Sometimes they recognise the issues and acknowledge them, but still took something good from the wreckage. THAT'S okay too.

And if they ignore the issues or worse - endorse them - that's when you can't be friends any more and walk away. You might want to explain why, you might want to leave.

Either way, life is too short to waste it on hatred and anger.