My Majority Conflict

I have many faults....many many faults, but one that I have always been aware of is the fact that I tend to (intentionally or unitentionally, I am not entirely sure) shun most things that are popular. I tend to ignore or avoid or dislike a lot of societies fads and craze, and I have been known to go out of my way to make my feelings known.

To elaborate my point further I would like to point out a couple of instances when I have delved into such mind frames and avoided a product or idea that was popular or even considered the norm and the reasons why I have done so.

A couple of years ago the world went Digital Audio Player rampage, more specifically ipod rampage (because there were many mp3 players years before the arrival of the ipod but people were still largely into discmans and MiniDisc players) and people had now found a new fashion fad...and if you thought the ipod was nothing but a device used for listening to music, podcasts and watching videos, you would only be half right.

Being that I am music junkie, I have gone through my fair share of personal audio devices (about 8 discmans, 4 minidiscs and countless flash based players) so it was only right that I moved on to the next level, which was Hard Disc Drive; for which to sedate my beastial musical cravings. You would think I would just go out and buy the most popular gadget that (on the surface) satisfied my needs, but then you probably never had a conversation with me so you cannot be blamed for thinking that.

I researched on various Hard Disc Drives in the market and ended up buying the Creative Zen Vision M, for two main reasons. 1. It is renowned for having great battery life, unlike that of the ipod which most owners complained about. 2. It wasnt an ipod. So now even though I had something to sate my music listening hunger, and I wouldnt be one of those people that thought they were somehow cooler than you because they had white (shitty, i feel i must add) earphones in their ears.

I know it seems sort of harsh, but the truth is that most people that do own an ipod only buy it because everyone they know owns one and it is the in thing.

I would like to point out another instance that I have avoided something that was popular and I have to warn you that from this point on you might start to get an idea of how strange and weird I can be sometimes.

I am an avid reader, most of you reading this probably already know this. My taste usually tends to be confined to fiction but every now and then I will read something non fiction. But my love truly lies in horror and mystery genre and so I am always on the look out for something that challenges my beliefs and rocks my imagination. With this in mind you would think it would be apt that I would be willing to or already read The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.

The reason why I havent or refuse to read it? well it annoyed me when the world went crazy over a book that covered a subject matter that was not even original and also the fact that i meet a lot of people who didn't even enjoy reading but picked up the book and acclaimed it for it's "greatness". I'm sorry but if you only read Harry Potter novels and the few novels you had to read in your english class and yet proclaim a book as one of the best things written this century, I cannot respect your opinion.
Even I have some gripes with my favourite authours and I believe that if you are going to give a book or authour criticism you should be able to spot the greatness and the shortcomings but I have never ever meet anyone of these Dan Brown lovers (and I have meet a whole lot of them, the world seemed to be filled with them a couple of years ago) that has a problem with him and they just go on about how great his works are and I am convienced most of these people dont know what they are talking about and only say how good he is because they feel they need to and everyone else around them is saying the same thing.

There have been a lot of instances where I have avoided something because of how popular it is but that there are also many instances when I have rejoiced and enjoyed over the popularity of something. When I have tried to get people that arent interested in something famous or popular interested in it. The quickest example I can think of is with the Lord Of The Rings films, practically everyone loves the films but I have meet a couple of people that arent into fantasy films and yet I have tried to persuade them into the awesomeness that is Lord Of The Rings.

I do admit that I do have an unexplainable lure to the underdog but even though I have avoided popular crazes and fads I dont do it because everyone else is in it; I do it mostly because I cant stand it when people don't think for themselves and just follow the general population.
You should be able to enjoy something because it appeals to something inside you (regardless of whether it is famous/popular or not) instead of that trying to fulfill that shallow and capricious desire to fit in.