Five Things It’s Not Cool to Hate Anymore
The title is pretty self-explanatory, but my first entry should clue you in as to what I’m talking about here. Everyone loves to hate things, but these targets are just tired out at this point. See the other four afterward.
Lena Dunham
Jesus Christ, just stop. Everything awful that could ever possibly be said about a person has been said about Lena Dunham at this point, and as such, there’s really nothing more to say. I don’t get the fascination with her to the level where people seem like they can’t stand the fact that Dunham and her show Girls even exist. Like, the show and it’s comedy are not for everyone. It’s purposefully about very annoying and self-centered girls, and it’s commentary on our (relatively lazy and aimless) generation.
If they annoy you, it’s working to some extent, and if you don’t think it’s funny at all, then just don’t watch it. The same goes for Dunham’s body. People are always crying that her constant nude scenes “offend” them, given her body type. You want to look at super fit naked people? Go watch Game of Thrones, Banshee, Spartacus, pornography. Literally any of that. You’ll get your wish.
It’s over. Girls exists. So does Dunham. Neither of these things directly affect your life. Get over it.
The Big Bang Theory
I started watching this show to see what all the fuss was about, both good and bad. It wasn’t Arrested Development, nor Friends or Seinfeld, but it was perfectly watchable and even somewhat enjoyable. Now, a few months later, I’ve worked my way through all the back seasons to the live episodes.
This seems to be one of those “people hate it because it’s popular and not remotely edgy” sort of things. It’s vanilla ice cream, but so what? People like vanilla ice cream! Then, when trying to find something to actually hate about it, people will cite all the “nerd stereotypes” and devote entire reddit threads about how the show is an affront to true nerds.
People like that are missing the point of the show, that exceptionally dorky people are people just like anyone, and often times a lot smarter and more badass than regular people. One of them went to goddamn space for crying out loud.
The show may be nothing spectacular, but there’s nothing overtly horrible about it, and you’d think people were watching like puppies dying when they talk about it.
Reality Talent Shows
I believe some reality shows are fully worth hating. Toddlers and Tiaras, Real Housewives, Honey Boo Boo and so on. These are shows that glamorize greed, gluttony and exploitation and are bad. Very, very bad.
But reality talent shows? I really don’t understand what all the fuss is about.
No, it may not be the best thing that The Voice gets huge ratings while Hannibal flounders for survival on Friday nights, but the actual content of these shows is so non-offensive, I have no idea what the problem is. Most of the time, the shows are about finding talented, unknown people who can sing (or dance, or whatever), and giving them a huge platform for potential success. Many pieces of popular culture from Black Mirror to God Bless America have used these kind of shows as a punching bag, but I don’t understand.
You just don’t like the music they sing? You think it’s contrived and lame and pre-packaged? Fine. But thinking something isn’t “cool” doesn’t mean it’s bad. No, it wasn’t great when American Idol made an anti-star out of somewhat like the tone deaf (and possibly autistic) William Hung, but they don’t do that anymore. These shows are ultimately about finding normal people with hidden talent. Watch this goddamn Paul Pott’s Britain’s Got Talent video again if you don’t think that can be a great and inspiring thing. If you think it’s lame, don’t watch, and there will be fewer of these shows. But until then, just shut up and let some talented kids sing pop music. Who cares?
The Other Video Game Console
In my other job where I write about video games ALL the time, I run into this to no end. People buy a video game console, an Xbox, a PlayStation, a Wii, or they own a PC. Now, they can’t just have this thing and like it, they have to HATE EVERYTHING ELSE and constantly remind those who do own one of the others how much it sucks.
The reality? There are very few difference between the video game consoles (there’s a bit more between console and PC). Like for the last two generations now, the PS4 and Xbox One, the PS3 and 360 are very, very similar. But people want to go to verbal war over things like a 20% price difference or the Kinect or whether this shooter exclusive is better than that shooter exclusive.
The worst part about all this for me is that I can’t express anything approaching an opinion about either console without being called a paid shill for the other side. I will sometimes literally write an article about something Microsoft needs to improve on one day, and something Sony screwed up the next. Yet I’m still accused of working for both sides.
I own both systems, and that’s really the only way this ever gets resolved. If people used more than one system on a regular basis, they would understand that these differences aren’t worth launching verbal catapults at other fans across the internet for hours a day. Just play your games. Enjoy them.
Christ almighty. When the news broke this week that Facebook was buying Oculus, the company making the VR headset Oculus Rift, you would have thought they just committed genocide or something. People started cancelling their preorders like Facebook had literally just bought the company to stab it to death.
Look, Facebook is lame. It’s full of 95% my “friends” I never, ever talk to anymore, and my newsfeed is peppered with sometimes creepily relevant ads to my life. But as we established with American Idol, being lame isn’t enough to warrant actual hate. People are worried that Facebook will butcher the Oculus Rift by beam ads directly into your cerebral cortex. Really? Is that what they’re going to do? They spent $2B to massacre a product and turn it into something people hate? Yeah, that sounds about right for one of the world’s largest tech companies.
Facebook may buy stuff, but it doesn’t dismantle whatever it picks up. Instagram works as Instagram has always worked, and just because Facebook bought it, they didn’t turn it into something horrible. The same will likely be true for WhatsApp, and now the Oculus Rift.
As they say in Game of Thrones, all men must die, and the same is likely true for most massively popular websites. Maybe Facebook realizes they won’t be relevant forever and wants to invest boatloads of money in making the next big thing. Maybe that’s VR. Maybe they’re how we get our first full digital cyber realm. Would that really be so bad? Just shut up and let them give Oculus billions of dollars to do whatever they want.
The thing that’s really nasty about the talent shows is the way they do business and the fact that you can’t really get away from them entirely. You kind of need to be a music fan to get it, but basically instead of hard-working, ass-busting, creative MUSICIANS who are out there making art and end up working at a desk when they could be making life-changing music, the airwaves are inundated with pop star mannequins who are just pretty with a nice voice and are contractually obliged to record songs that are written entirely to sound like whatever is popular at the moment. It’s the radio equivalent of having shows like Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, and the like replaced on television by Tiara Moms and Real Housewives. Being able to not watch shows you don’t like is cool, but what happens when they start replacing the shows you do like?
“talent” shows are improperly named anyway; they should be called “popularity contests” because when was the last time the most talented contestant actually won based on their talent?
Let me put that another way, who was the last contestant that won based on talent that anyone actually remembers?
25 years ago I stopped hating. It takes too much effort and it doesn’t make me happy. I’ve mastered the ability to ignore. The only side effect to not hating things is that I’m boring.
I hate that.
me too
Leah Dunham is the worst. Her writing is awful. Her characters are utterly unlikable and her show is a waste of space on HBO. Hating Leah Dunham will always be in for as long as she continues to write such terrible material.
Lena, honey. Lena Dunham. It’s written write up there in the article.
right*, honey. The correct usage of write/right are taught to us in elementary school. Maybe you would know that if you didn’t waste your time learning some nobody’s name.
Whoooops. That’s embarrassing.
The characters are supposed to be unlikable. It’s the premise of the show. See also: Peep Show, Always Sunny, Arrested Development, Archer, Futurama, and like a million others.
The thing about those other shows though is that their unlikeable, but they still make you laugh quite a bit. With Girls (and yes, I get this is just an opinion) I get maybe, MAYBE, one chuckle an episode and the rest of the time I’m thinking “God you people are the worst”
The Futurama characters are very likable. I don’t watch shows w/ unlikable characters.
I’m no hater, but I recognize when things are overrated such as Sandra Bullock, The Walking Dead, Mumford & Sons and The Flaming Lips’ live shows.
If Dunham’s show is satire then clearly you don’t know what satire is. Some shows are just not that good.
Anyone with any praise for anything associated to Lena Dunham or her “work” really has no business being in the biz of entertainment reporting or opinion.
The world is full of things I have no interest in watching/reading/listening to/participating in. I used to waste time telling others of my lack of interest in said things, before I saw the irony in this.
I have no hate for Lena Dunham. She is very talented in my opinion. The ability to have made it this far shows that she is. What I hate is the women I’ve met that aspire to be those that are on the show. No one should aspire to be ANY of those people. They are all horrible, horrible people (or characters at least), and wanting to be like them is a waste and a damn shame.
As for the Big Bang Theory, that show needs to be destroyed from the human consciousness along with the song Taking Care of Business by Bachman Turner Overdrive. It is the worst portrayal of “geeks”. They are the ones that are the brunt of the jokes on that show with the audience identifying themselves with the normal characters and all that they have to put up with by being thrown together with those types. It allows others to laugh at those types of people without doing it to their faces and feel good for it. It is, without a doubt, the laziest sitcom to come along since Three’s Company and Mork and Mindy.
As for the hating on the “other console” that is just people clinging to the last hope that they may be in the right for their choice of a hobby. To me it won’t be money making schemes of “evil” companies like EA, Activision or Zynga that will destroy gaming, it will be awfulness of our fellow gamers that destroy it in the end.
KILL YOURSELF
I apathy all those things. Hate is just way too much effort.
Don’t ignore your Nintendo articles, there’s more in life than Sony and M$. :p
I’ve only ever read one article on this website, I was linked here from Cracked.
How dare you tarnish Cracked’s name with this awful, awful writing. Your just an apologist for each of these things, you don’t actually make any points. There’s nothing here! It seems as though you wanted more to publish an article than actually go through a process of thought to come to a conclusion. You did the former, but in the latter you came up short.
My first and last read.
Exactly what I was thinking.
You sound like you have trouble with perspective.
I’m listening, go on…
It’s called Courting Controversy. Some writers are popular because they write thoughtful, introspective pieces that make you think; others take the low road to popularity by being contrary and annoying snobs who clearly see their opinions as superior to yours. It’s clear which method Paul prefers.
The writer you describe sounds like someone I would want to read because it seems as though they have something to say. “Paul” has simply decided to avoid controversy, to bring a validating closure to what he finds annoying.
There’s nothing interesting here because he ISN’T being contrary. It is only through BEING contrary, through argument, that we advance ourselves! As is, Paul seems to just be running in circles.
“Courting Controversy”, more like “avoiding hard topics by talking them down.”
I think we’re all making this more complicated than it is. Simply re-title the article “Things which are unpopular but which I happen to quite like” and all the problems go away.
You know that one girl who always feels the need to insert herself into every conflict and try to break it up, no matter how justified or necessary or *none of her goddamned business* the conflict may be? That’s you, Paul. You are that girl.
But is he single?
It is neither justified, nor necessary, to hate any of these things… and if hating is your business, your need some better business.
Certainly not necessary, but the justification is only your opinion, with which I respectfully disagree. These things suck.
wow, your comment has to wait to be approved? now I’m sure my comment will be posted, because the post above sure shows also a lot of argument-making capabilities and mental maturity
As someone who likes the majority of the content you write for Unreality, this article was a massive swing and a miss. Bottom line is that people are entitled to their own opinions and are allowed to hate something for the same reason you are allowed to love that something.
And since everybody’s entitled to his opinions, hence the article…
The article explicitly telling people to stop having opinions?
My opinion is that it’s still part of his opinion about opinions from people that have them
Paradox. He can’t have an opinion if he’s telling others they can’t have their own opinions.
Most of this isn’t hate, it’s resentment. I don’t hate American Idol/Big Bang Theory etc. I just resent that, despite it’s mediocrity it’s crazy popular and keeps getting renewed even when vastly superior shows are getting cancelled.
THERE IS NO SHOW (SITCOM AT LEAST) ON TV BETTER THAN BIG BANG THEORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
it seems obviously forced for the purpose of comedy, but okay. The ‘girls’ segment was almost unreadable due to poor punctuation/grammar. Way too much ‘voice’, yet your points are valid. Calm down, be funny.
Weak.
You haven’t even scratched the surface of my immense, boiling, reservoir of hate…
My hate for Big Bang Theory is very personal: I can’t stand being called Sheldon anymore. Every-fing-body says I remind them of him except the people who truly know me; they think I’m nothing like that asswipe.
Dr. Sheldon Cooper is one of the best characters in television history. You are the asswipe.
You know what is bad about Big Bang Theory and many shows like it? The annoying laugh track. It may well have been a funny show but I couldn’t bear to listen to the canned laughter. In general if you have to cue people to laugh then it’s probably not funny.
Except… it’s not canned laughter… they have a studio audience. You can actually be in the audience. The laughter is from actual people.
THERE IS NO LAUGH TRACK!!! You only think there is BECAUSE YOU DON’T HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR!!!!!!!
How did I KNOW that BIg Bang Theory would be on here? Maybe I don’t hate it, but it’s definitely not a show worth watching.
THROW OUT YOUR TV IF YOU DON’T WANT TO WATCH THE BEST SITCOM EVER MADE. UNLESS YOU’RE JUST NOT INTO SITCOMS….look I don’t really care. I just love BIG BANG so much I can’t understand how anyone couldn’t. Maybe it’s better you don’t. You don’t get it, or it’s just not ‘for you’. The show has made me laugh, cry and yeah; it even pisse me off on rare occasion. My point is it effects me on a deep level that you won’t ever appreciate and that’s ok. In case you we’re wondering, my other favorite show right now is THE WALKING DEAD. I’m a geek. I like geek stuff. I apologize for ranting. Good day.
..uh?? Throw out my TV if I don’t want to watch one television show? I own the television to watch millions of movies, shows, etc. I love plenty of geek stuff. BBT just isn’t it for me.
Honestly, I was expecting to see things that had legitimately no reason to be hated. Instead we see Lena Dunham, who has set her show in a city but has included zero POC. Ah yes, several white women of different sizes. Less diverse than The Big Bang Theory, shockingly, and even less diverse than How I Met Your Mother. At least How I Met Your Mother features likeable characters and well… the few POC characters and queer characters that show up are ate least not caricatures. You know who should be in place of Lena? Taylor Swift. But then again, with limited realization of /why/ some things are resented I doubt your brain could come up with logical people that get far more backlash then they truly deserves (see also: Nicki MInaj, Beyonce, and Demi Lovato).
really your using the word color what is this the 1950
Actually, “people of color” is now the politically correct term, and has been for a few years. Get with the times!
PEOPLE. Should be the only term. But in reality labels exist for a reason and P.C. police like you should get bent.
Well regardless, you’re going to look pretty stupid if you’re still using the outdated terms 10 years from now. You’ll look like those old senior citizens that still say “negro.”
Also it’s stupid to say that “people” should be the only term. The races DO have genetic differences, and cultural differences. We’re not all the same. And studies have proven that the “colorblind” philosophy- where you believe people are all the same and don’t “see” race- actually INCREASES racism. That’s because the differences in the races means each race faces unique problems, so pretending they’re all the same prevents you from recognizing that each race needs different kinds of help in different areas.
Studies have shown that studies are funded by people who want a certain outcome. Sociologists, scientists, and other experts “find” what they have to to get paid. Of course telling this to a person who is so socially cautious is a waste of breath, but you can find studies that confirm any viewpoint you want on any topic. With the whole PC mentality what is not racist today is racist tomorrow. No matter what old people will be racist and the civil rights movement will be halted from including anyone but a few chosen minorities. A perfect way to maintain the status quo while looking “progressive”
Guys, it’s also not cool to hate me. I’m adding that.
Anyway, I get that everyone can hate what they want, and as all these things are intensely hated, I knew there would be pushback. I wrote this from the perspective is that I’m just sick to death of hearing these same arguments over and over. Not to say everything here is great, but I do feel like most of these things are somewhat harmless and people way overreact to them.
Sorry if you didn’t like the piece.
Burn the witch! Man, I’m glad I came back here today. This is a mighty fine rodeo, bossman. I haven’t managed a shitstorm like this in years. Many props. The only ones who are correct here are the ones suggesting that hate is more trouble than it’s worth. So very true.
I didn’t like it because of a lack of a solid opinion, weak evidence, and even weaker writing. Don’t quit your day job, kid.
I sure hope it’s cool to hate* my fellow internet commenters. What I bunch of whiny whiners many/most of you are. I don’t like a lot of popular culture either. So what.
When a person elevates the meaningless to the category of things they hate they’re just showing how bored they are with life. Which can be a good thing I suppose. It indicates you probably aren’t struggling just to survive.
I reserve hatred for truly important things. Like DVD menus that force you to watch major plot spoilers before you can even manage to figure out where the ‘play’ option is located.
*I’m just kidding. I may not like you but I don’t actually hate you guys. It just fit with the premise to say I do.
My roommate won’t stop watching Girls, and I find it nails-on-a-chalkboard irritating. I understand it’s dumb to complain about shows that no one is forcing you to watch, but until I can make a sandwich and not have to hear about “but I don’t even SEE race!” I will be complaining for a little while longer.
Flobberblobs
You may all have opinions unless they aren’t mine.
Uh, no the point of the Big Bang Theory is to make fun of pathetic nerds and someone who probably has autism, then to try and show off your “nerd cred” because you saw an episode where they made an “aquaman is lame joke”, “lol Aquaman is so lame, Im such a nerd! XD”
And facespace just bought the Occulus Rift, the most innovative piece of gaming technology potentially ever and the first functioning VR system..so you can play Farmville in the 3rd dimension…
Great.
YOU’RE AN IDIOT.
Who pooped the bed?
Why was I brought here. I guess paying for clicks works.
I don’t watch TV, and I don’t really go to Facebook anymore. I don’t hate any of these things because I really don’t know what they are. I did tell someone that I thought they looked like Lena Dunham the other day, hopefully they weren’t offended.
“seem to can’t”, “Like, the show and it’s comedy are not for everyone.”, “It’s purposefully about” ***Hey Paul, did you skip EVERY English class in school???***
Yes, Paul should have attended the class where they taught you to put three question marks at the end of your sentence and surround the same sentence with asterisks.
You’ve gotta be friggin’ kidding me. You must be ***A LOT*** of fun at parties.
“I don’t get the fascination with her to the level where people like literally seem to can’t stand…” I stopped reading right there; are you like literally twelve years old? Because you seem to can’t write.
You criticized the author’s writing with a poorly written comment. “Because you seem to can’t write.”
*woosh*
Seems like Mark Johnson didn’t even bother to read the article.
No, I got it. I just thought it was a childish comment. But, hey, whatever raises your meager self-esteem.
My dislike for Big Bang Theory is not because it’s popular but how lazy the writing is. My girlfriend once forced me to sit through an episode to give it a try (It was the one where Bob Newhart and Bill Nye guest starred). After five minutes I wrote down how I figured the rest of the plot was going to go.
Despite having never watched the show before, at the end of it I had guessed every plot point and the resolution. The only thing that threw me was the Bill Nye cameo, which also featured the only joke I felt was actually funny.The rest was so stock standard.
LAZY WRITING!!!!!!!! IT HAS THE BEST WRITING OF ANY SITCOM THAT’S EVER BEEN PRODUCED!!!! NO SHOW HAS EVER DONE EMOTIONAL MOMENTS W/ SUCH GRAVITAS W/OUT LOSING THE HUMOR BEFORE!!! WHAT YOU CALL LAZY, I CALL UTTER BRILLIANCE.
Compared to what? Please cite your source.
This article should be retitled “Things I don’t like people talking badly about.”
This article should be retitled “It Annoys Me When People Criticize these Things.”
Is it still OK To hate this article though?
The bad grammar in this article hurts my soul.
Another one: Mac vs Windows. Hate the one you don’t use.
This article gave me cancer.
“Facebook may buy stuff, but it doesn’t dismantle whatever it picks up.” Time will tell, but other companies’ buyouts look drastically different. The vast majority of companies that Google and Yahoo! have bought out have indeed been dismantled. Facebook *might* go a different way, but, regardless, whatever value Facebook sees in Oculus VR is, one-for-one, deemed genuinely creepy. Facebook is a social network; they’re in the business of being in our business, and coupling that to entertainment hardware is weird. Not only creepy, but it offers up absolutely no industry advantage to the industry that Oculus VR engages in; Oculus VR is not in the social networking business, it gains absolutely no advantage in being owned by Facebook except only for the take-the-cash-and-walk-away monetary gain of the buyout.
I will hate the Big Bang Theory because I think it is just bloody awful and painfully unfunny.
You have no sense of humor.
I have a sense of humour. That’s why I don’t like TBBT.
My problem with Lena Dunham isn’t that she’s nude, but why and how she defends it. She can be nude all she wants, but that nudity should generally serve a purpose either plot-wise or to show you something about a personality or maybe some mark on their body that might come up later (see plot-wise). When she does it she does it at random times and says she does it because “That’s what normal girls do. They just are naked at for no reason a lot” (paraphrasing). See i know that’s not true because all of the girls I’ve known who I’ve talked to about this while watching the show or otherwise completely disagree, they don’t nor does anyone else they no do that. As for when people ask her why she does it or even more so when they ask her why she does it so often she screams at them and claims that they’re sexist and should be ashamed of themselves. Maybe answer the question and don’t get so defensive. Maybe you’re not so comfortable with yourself if you jump on that question so easily and attack people!
uhhh… ever hear of editing? this is incredibly poorly written (content isn’t terribly interesting either).
The problem with The Big Bang Theory is really pretty simple. Imagine if all they did was hire white people to act out black stereotypes and every time someone said “fried chicken” the audience laughed. That’s essentially all they’re doing. It’s just nerd blackface.
Normal conversation, normal conversation, then a nerd says something that’s not even funny about dungeons and dragons, and the audience cracks up. That’s got to be the easiest writing gig in television.
I don’t like Big Bang, I don’t like the show Girls, I don’t play video games, I never had a facebook account and the last time I watched Idol was when Simon was on it. I don’t hate any of them – but they’re not for me.
I’ve seen the big bang theory without the annoying laughtrack it was awful so i am given the obligation to bash on it
People hate Girls because it has become what it supposedly commentates on, that is a bunch of unlikable people sitting around waffling on about mundane bollocks and not achieving anything. Not precisely compelling viewing. The complaints about her nude scenes are not cool, though.
People hate Big Bang because the whole show is “Laugh at the guy with Aspergers Syndrome”, which is a legitimate reason to hate it.
People hate reality talent shows because every aspect- every contestant being there, every song choice, every judge reaction, every winner and loser- is staged for the benefit of making a select few people unreasonable rich while adding nothing of worth to the music industry.
People hating the other console is just people using the Internet to express their fierce brand loyalty, or FBL. FBL has always been as common as dog bollocks, but the Internet provides a platform for every farmer and his mum to bang on about how Coke > Pepsi. This particular entry just indicates you are confused about how both the Internet and Internet People work. (As an aside, the differences in gaming platforms these days are mainly the service each provides, not so much hardware or games [though PC wins at games {there, I said it}])
People hate Facebook’s Occulus Rift deal because at the time the Rift’s backers knew exactly where their money was going, and that it was needed, and now their contributions are so much piss in the wind. Facebook won’t go out and screw the project ON PURPOSE, but that original vision is gone, swallowed up by a change of hands and three planets worth of money.
In conclusion, think before you article.
Dude, if you have a blog, link it and I will read it. If you don’t, get one. You’ve managed to put together the most meaningful comment I’ve seen on the internet in weeks. And I’m not being sarcastic at all. I really enjoyed the points you made and they were all valid.
Saying “its not cool” to hate this things anymore is like having a mouse die in somewhere in the walls of your house stinking up the place, and you saying “dude, stop complaining already. The house smells like this now, deal with it.”
Voice – I enjoy the auditions. After that I’m done.
They beat the crap out of it.
“Guest Stars” God knows what
to wring out every last drop.
Must work but not for me
Oh god….. stop! It’s still OK to hate Paul and worthless opinions. I think I’m suppose to be somewhere else.