When I was home in Washington a couple weeks ago, I discovered that some members of my family are strangely critical of both blogs and twitter. I say strangely, because they don’t really know anything about either. They’ve just made snap judgments based on almost no information. It’s that old crap about blogs being self-important and why would anyone want to join twitter just so they could share what they had for lunch? My thing is that everything we do is at least partly self-important and twitter is much bigger than sharing mundane facts about your life, but the fact that it facilitates building a community of people who might actually be interested to know that I had a bagel for lunch makes it all the better.
I hate to use such catch words as community, because I’m in a field where it comes up constantly (along with interrelatedness and multi-[everything]), but that’s what these haters are missing. I write a blog because I like to write and I like to have people read what I write (both self-important), but believe me, I wouldn’t carry on if no one cared and I doubt anyone would be reading if we didn’t have relationships that extended beyond the content of my writing. I don’t get on twitter to announce to the world what I’m doing; I get on twitter to talk to people I like.
That kind of hater mentality where you reject something at face value just drives me crazy. That people then put energy into making sure everyone knows how much they hate something is a waste of life. There are things I don’t understand, but my immediate reaction is not to hate them.
But, this is all to tell you that I’m a total hypocrite, because there are at least a few things that I’m a total hater for. And I’m not talking about violence or passive aggressive facebook statuses, because those are things I hate legitimately–for good reasons. To be a hater is to hate things irrationally, but usually still passionately.
For me, these things include fuzzy sweaters, turtleneck sweaters (actually, most all sweaters), Mitch Albom books, Nickelback, and these damn ambiguous trailing ellipses . . . . (actually, again, ellipses in almost all circumstances). Dislike for any of these things could be, I think, warranted, but the fact that I hate them on some kind of visceral level puts me in the hater category. So, don’t be offended if you were just reading Tuesdays With Morrie while listening to Nickelback, because I already denounce and reject myself. I say, if you can’t stop yourself from being a hater for something, then at least know how ridiculous you’re being.
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Nickelback is just way too cheesy.
I’m a hater for: all people that drive BMW’s. Hell, my friend drives a BMW and even he knows how I feel about it. I don’t care, you can be the best person on earth if you drive a BMW I’ll still think you’re an asshole. Oh and people that hate bandwagons just for the sake of it annoys the hell out of me.
We’re all haters for something I think.
There is a lot of hatred for Twitter right now. I guess it’s because it’s all over the media, and people who don’t use it are sick of hearing about it. That’s something I understand, but I don’t get why you would be angry towards Twitter itself rather than the media coverage about it. I suppose people don’t think it through that much.
This is funny because I have a post that I’m working on about how much I love sweaters.
For all the blog haters & twitter haters out there…
“Yo comments are whack!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tt-WIdmCVQ
I consider “interneting” (using Twitter, blogs, Facebook, etc..) to be a hobby just like anything else. In my opinion, all hobbies are self-important. Isn’t making scrapbooks about your life and/or your family self-important? Most hobbies are self-important, unless they are geared towards helping someone else, because they are something that a person likes to do for themselves.
I try not to hate things, but I agree 100% with Mitch Albom books. I think he is a cheesy hack. And turtlenecks make my neck itch.
Hahaha. I loved this post your last paragraph is great!
Back to people judging blogs, though, I TOTALLY agree! It’s not about being on a soap box or being egotistic or whatever; it’s about COMMUNITY! This is something I didn’t realize until I’d started blogging and literally fell into the community, so I think that people who don’t blog probably have trouble realizing this.
A lot of people in my journalism program criticize bloggers and claim they are wannabe journalists; I usually just keep my mouth shut and ignore them because I don’t think they would ever understand.
I hear ya! When I talk to some people about twitter or blogging or other status updating kinds of things, people roll their eyes and give me an attitude about it. But mostly it is because they don’t understand what it is all about. They only hear the bad stuff and none of the cool stuff that comes out of it.
And fuzzy sweaters are the worse! They make me so itchy.
You have a really good point. Usually when people hate some vehemently they do let the world know. Why put so much effort into it? We get it, you hate whatever it is.
I can’t say that I’m not a hater in some respects but I’d like to give whatever it is a shot before I denounce it. I try to practice that but don’t always succeed.
I’m quite fond of sweaters and trailing ellipses. However, I find turtlenecks irritating and suffocating. Sweaters with no turtlenecks are cozy and warm. But there are a lot of things I could list that I don’t like. I won’t bore you with the details.
I too blog and twitter because people do care. I enjoy feeling connected to people I’ve never met.
Lol, I hear you. My grandparents don’t understand at ALL why I do blogs or twitter, and even my parents are wary about them, reminding me not to share TOO much info (because of stalkers and also because they think that’s just silly). But hey, I like them anyways, even if others get tired of my blogs and tweets. :)
You’re not the only one going through this. Some of my family members think it’s pathetic that I’m putting my life out there for strangers to read about. I just shrug it off and not even bother explaining because they’ll never understand.
I’m bad with the ellipses. Sorry . . . . . ;)
Great post however!
Mitch Albom is not a good writer. There. I said it. No take-backs.
I feel better. Thanks.
It’s tricky because, on the one hand, one shouldn’t pass judgment on things based on personal preference but then again not everyone is going to like or value the same thing. I think we’re all bound to be “haters” of some things, it’s almost inevitable if we are going to like or prefer certain things, because personal tastes will invariably crop up. I think, as with most things, that as long as we’re aware of what we do it makes it (more or less) all right.
And I know I’m probably guilty of overusing ellipses but I’ll have to be careful so I don’t draw your ire… or else!
i will now apologize for wearing sweaters, listening to nickleback on occasion (though i just lost all street cred and am trashing their mp3′s as we speak), and using ellipses even though i haven’t the faintest idea why [...]. :)
some things that make me a hater: 1) telling people to “i-search” instead of “research,” 2) “auto-ethnographic journals,” because they should just be called “reflections,” 3) pink, the singer, not the color, and 4) girls who wear sweaters, uggs, and MINI-SKIRTS.
I think the problem with the stereotypical view of blogs is that it’s all about self, in diary form. People who don’t know much about blogging don’t realise how many uses it can have in terms of genre and how it can be used to inform and the social aspect. I’ve come across people who don’t understand why people would use the internet as a whole (then these people start using Facebook) but never talk about blogs.
Sorry lady, I love sweaters :) Good thing you live in SoCal!