let people like what they like

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Quote, Unquote!

In September, I wrote a post titled “please be a nerd.” Then in October, I wrote a sort of sequel to that post titled “are you passionate or possessed?” Both posts were very well received, I liked writing them, and I thought I was done, but there was just something missing. And I think I’ve finally figured it out.

I still think it’s great to be a nerd. You absolutely should be a nerd. But the addendum is this:

You should be a nerd about whatever you want.

Let me give an example.

I love Taylor Swift. I love her music, her style, how she puts it all together. In fact, she’s my all-time top artist on Spotify. And I think that’s great. I am not apologetic at all about being a Swiftie.

However, because Taylor Swift’s music is so widely appreciated and distributed, I often run into people who make it their life’s goal to put down people who like Taylor Swift, just because she’s popular and “mainstream.” Not because they dislike her music (some of them haven’t even heard her music) or even her–just because they think that people who like her are automatically–I don’t even know. Shallow? Also mainstream? I’m not completely sure what the reason for dismissing people who like Taylor Swift is.

I see this a lot with popular media. “I’m special because I don’t listen to Taylor Swift or Harry Styles or Olivia Rodrigo. I’m special because I only listen to 24-hour-long recordings of whale noises”–or whatever.

This doesn’t just apply to music. Maybe you love the latest Netflix series that everyone is talking about. Maybe you’re super into that new fantasy trilogy that everyone on TikTok and Instagram seems to be talking about. You’ll encounter this kind of elitism everywhere. “Oh, while you were reading A Court of Thorns and Roses, some bad book that you were tricked into buying on TikTok, I was reading this really underground, not-well-known fantasy series. What’s it called? Oh, it’s The Lord of the Rings. Yeah, you wouldn’t really know it.”

I think that this is honestly really sad.

Taylor Swift’s music brings me a lot of joy. I love dancing around the kitchen to “Cruel Summer” and singing at the top of my lungs to “Style” (and sobbing on my floor at “All Too Well”, but that’s irrelevant). That person is reading A Court of Thorns and Roses because they enjoy it. It makes them happy. And while I will probably never read it, who am I to take away their joy? Who am I to put them down just because they like something popular?

This popular media was made for this exact reason. The whole reason it’s popular is because it makes people happy. That’s literally the entire point of it being created.

I would urge you to remember this before you judge. If your first instinct upon someone telling you that they like to listen to Taylor Swift is to scoff and roll your eyes, well, you need a little bit of an attitude adjustment, my friend. Even if you don’t like the mainstream media in question, the very least you can do is be a polite and decent human being about it.

And then put yourself in their shoes. I guarantee you there is something super popular that you like that people will scoff at you for liking. Think about that.

I think that you should like what you like, and you should let other people like what they like. If their appreciation of something popular isn’t hurting them or you or anyone else, leave them alone.

If I have come across as rude or abrasive in this post, I do apologize to you. This is something I feel strongly about. I hope that if nothing else I have ever posted sticks with you, this is the thing you’ll take away from my platform as a whole.

Thank you so much for reading, and I’ll see you next Wednesday.

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