Nerd Church - Some People Will Always Add A Sneer

 

I don't get people who seem to find fault with everything.

(No, I'm not gonna give examples - so if you're here for the tea or shade, you're not gonna get it. Sorry. 

But hey, stick around a bit if you like - you may begrudgingly enjoy yourself anyway. 

Or you can just find a YouTube drama video, I don't mind. 😅)

Don't get me wrong - it is vitally important that people are able to discuss the shortcomings of media and art, whether that's a book, a film, whatever.

...But some people seem to actively seek out those shortcomings. 

They seem to want them to be there. 

They want the book to be naive, the film to be disjointed, the song to be superficial - just so that they can tear into it.

(Some will, on the flipside, be annoyed when the book is too complex, the film too flowing, the song too deep, for their tastes - you can't please all of the people all of the time.)

Hopefully I'm not coming across as hypocritical here - I write criticial reviews and discussion posts a lot.

But I like to think I'm fair. 

I like to think I try to discuss why I feel something worked or didn't, and point out that there's both pros and cons to pretty much everything.

...Not least because I get nervous that I'm being unduly harsh. A lot. 😅

But some people don't seem to have that problem.

Some people will add a sneer to the most genuine thing, just to point out how cringy they find it to be.

Some people will poke their nose up at any attempts to make Art™ more inclusive or more accessible

- and I mean accessible in either the disability sense, or simply in the sense of introducing the general public to a topic or medium that they may not be familiar with: both seem to pi** off some people.

And honestly? I can't stand it.

I can't stand the videos, opinion pieces, articles, whatever, where the speaker seems to be enjoying their disdain.

There is nothing wrong with having expectations of a piece of art or media. 

There's nothing wrong with wanting some meaning or some thought in a book, for example.

But actively creating perceived flaws because you feel you're smarter than everyone else? 

Because you feel that something you deem 'low-brow' cannot possibly have something meaningful to say? Or something 'high-brow' is de facto boring because of the lack of explosions?

Is not a good look.

Honestly, I feel I'm smarter than a lot of people

 - call me arrogant if you will, it's something I've never actually doubted (and that really is saying something when it comes to me and existential crises/self-worth issues. 😅)

But I'd never assume that other people are incapable of understanding complexity, and neither would I assume that art has to be complex and inaccessible in order to mean anything. 

That feels like a very narrow way to live your life, to me. 

Or at least a pretentious and tiring one - I can't imagine the amount of effort it takes to hold yourself that aloof, and/or pretend that some BS con-artist is the greatest thing in Art since Da Vinci was like 'F**k this sh**, I'm out.'

(...I have no idea where that sentence came from, but I am leaving it in!)

Likewise to stay within a short-attention-span-appealing genre or style when you have the ability to branch out and enjoy a whole bunch of different stuff feels like a wasted opportunity.

No matter what anyone else says, you are capable of understanding whatever it is you wish to understand - and if it takes you longer, shorter, or the same time as, everyone else, then it doesn't matter.

Everyone goes at their own pace - if you want to take on a more quote-unquote 'challenging' piece of art or media, you go for it. And if at the end you still think it's sh**? Well maybe it is!

I think I meandered off in several different directions here (...which isn't that uncommon for me, tbh,) but basically, the TL;DR point of this is simple:

Life's too short to actively pursue miserable experiences. 

You'll find fault - and rightly so in many, many, cases - but if you keep your eyes open for it, but still give the thing a fair chance then you'll be in a much better position to judge a work's merits. And you'll probably be a whole lot happier, too.

Life's generally full of good things - and even when it's not, it's the good bits that'll keep you going. Cling to them.

Do you get what I mean?

Do you think some people work too hard to find fault with everything?

Or am I being too harsh?

Talk to me! 😊💬

You can follow me on Twitter @CeeDoraReads, on Pinterest, and on Dora Reads @ BlogLovin. For more ways to support me, check out the Support Me page

Previous Nerd Church Posts:

• Nerd Church - We're All Just Muddling Through

• Nerd Church - Some Reminders To Myself (And Maybe You, Too)

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