I like to think that I’ve gotten less judgmental as I’ve gotten older, less willing to look down on others because they enjoy things I don’t. I’m still happy to look down on people for the way they act, the things they say, and the things they do, but my days of calling people assholes for listening to bad pop music are gone.
Last weekend, while spending time with my extended family, my nineteen year-old cousin Mark spent a goodly while berating my thirteen year-old cousin Kara for her obsession with Twilight. “Those books suck. That movie sucks. It should all be destroyed! It’s terrible and stupid and I hate it!” First of all, there isn’t much honor in telling a thirteen year-old that what they like is stupid. It’s your job at thirteen to like stupid things. For example, I used to carry around a suitcase filled with all my Phish bootlegs. But more than that what’s the point in judging a person based solely on what they like? When I asked Mark why he hated Twilight so much, he answered, “Twilight ruined Hot Topic.”
Yeah.
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