Reyno Rants: Today's craze is tomorrow's trash
The wonderful thing about the world we live
in is that everything is practically at our fingertips.
Music, news, restaurants, books, movies,
video games, plane tickets everything is just a
few clicks away these days.
This is the golden era of accessibility, but it truly comes as a double-edged sword. Since I’m able to get my hands on everything, it’s getting more difficult to get excited about anything in particular. That new song I just discovered might have been played on repeat for weeks when I was 12, but with the endless stream of new content on the Internet I find myself putting more and more things on the shelf in my passive search for my next muse.
I know I’m not alone in this habit. Ask anyone these days what their favourite band, song, book or movie is and you’ll be treated to a drawn out “hmmm” that never seems to resolve in a finite answer. We’ve become so accustomed to the wealth of information available to us that we’ve become insatiable. We’re devouring art that would have been appreciated for months or years in a matter of minutes.
Now, I did say that this was all a double- edged sword so what’s the other side? The other side can be simply summed up with one word, “Fanatic”.
Yes, there have been super-fans for decades and decades, but the last 20 or 30 years have granted people new depths of information that wasn’t attainable before. There used to be a sense of mystery about things, but these days a quick Google search will reveal the darkest secrets of almost anyone and anything in existence.
This has led to an interesting era of intellectual elitism. Seeing as it’s so easy to access even the most obscure facts about art, culture, politics and philosophy, many people are ridiculed for not knowing a particular fact. Just because someone’s spent 70 hours reading about the ecosystems on Chewbacca’s home world, Kashyyyk, doesn’t mean that the next person is going to know each and every tribe on the planet.
This elitism often leads to discouragement as people are bombarded for not being a ‘real fan’. Who’s to say what constitutes as a real fan anyway? Are we not simply allowed to enjoy or relate to something in this world without researching every nook and cranny of it? Can’t a kid enjoy Spiderman and still be surprised in 2012 when he discovers Peter Parker wasn’t always lusting over Mary Jane Watson? For many people, The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) was their first encounter with Gwen Stacey, but does that mean they enjoyed the movie any less?
It’s dangerous to ostracize someone for finally pausing their endless search and saying, “Hey, this is a cool thing, maybe I think I’ll stick with it for a bit.” Just because someone’s new to a topic or maybe not as invested as you are doesn’t mean that they’re not allowed to enjoy it. Being a real fan is a dangerous construct that needs to be thrown out.
People are allowed to be self-professed experts on their favourite topic, but that doesn’t mean they get to be a giant prick about it. The world is at a point where some people are so worried about being a ‘real fan’ that they will research answers on the fly when discussing things with friends online. This leads us to less authentic interactions and consequently, a bunch of fake know-it-alls.
Just because we live in the information-era doesn’t mean we have to know everything about everything. Just because something exists doesn’t mean we’re obligated to devour it. Being informed is important but we have to remember to give ourselves a break every once in a while.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
This is the golden era of accessibility, but it truly comes as a double-edged sword. Since I’m able to get my hands on everything, it’s getting more difficult to get excited about anything in particular. That new song I just discovered might have been played on repeat for weeks when I was 12, but with the endless stream of new content on the Internet I find myself putting more and more things on the shelf in my passive search for my next muse.
I know I’m not alone in this habit. Ask anyone these days what their favourite band, song, book or movie is and you’ll be treated to a drawn out “hmmm” that never seems to resolve in a finite answer. We’ve become so accustomed to the wealth of information available to us that we’ve become insatiable. We’re devouring art that would have been appreciated for months or years in a matter of minutes.
Now, I did say that this was all a double- edged sword so what’s the other side? The other side can be simply summed up with one word, “Fanatic”.
Yes, there have been super-fans for decades and decades, but the last 20 or 30 years have granted people new depths of information that wasn’t attainable before. There used to be a sense of mystery about things, but these days a quick Google search will reveal the darkest secrets of almost anyone and anything in existence.
This has led to an interesting era of intellectual elitism. Seeing as it’s so easy to access even the most obscure facts about art, culture, politics and philosophy, many people are ridiculed for not knowing a particular fact. Just because someone’s spent 70 hours reading about the ecosystems on Chewbacca’s home world, Kashyyyk, doesn’t mean that the next person is going to know each and every tribe on the planet.
This elitism often leads to discouragement as people are bombarded for not being a ‘real fan’. Who’s to say what constitutes as a real fan anyway? Are we not simply allowed to enjoy or relate to something in this world without researching every nook and cranny of it? Can’t a kid enjoy Spiderman and still be surprised in 2012 when he discovers Peter Parker wasn’t always lusting over Mary Jane Watson? For many people, The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) was their first encounter with Gwen Stacey, but does that mean they enjoyed the movie any less?
It’s dangerous to ostracize someone for finally pausing their endless search and saying, “Hey, this is a cool thing, maybe I think I’ll stick with it for a bit.” Just because someone’s new to a topic or maybe not as invested as you are doesn’t mean that they’re not allowed to enjoy it. Being a real fan is a dangerous construct that needs to be thrown out.
People are allowed to be self-professed experts on their favourite topic, but that doesn’t mean they get to be a giant prick about it. The world is at a point where some people are so worried about being a ‘real fan’ that they will research answers on the fly when discussing things with friends online. This leads us to less authentic interactions and consequently, a bunch of fake know-it-alls.
Just because we live in the information-era doesn’t mean we have to know everything about everything. Just because something exists doesn’t mean we’re obligated to devour it. Being informed is important but we have to remember to give ourselves a break every once in a while.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
