Why Anti-Meta?
Late at night when I ought to be sleeping I end up surfing. Tonight the great http wave took me farther than I usually go and washed me up in an old entry of naomichana’s. She and Thamiris are people whose blogs I ought to track more. It’s a long entry, so here’s a representative sample:
Why, on a similar note, is it that every time the fan-related journals I read get into a long, satisfying discussion about the ethical or moral or metaphysical or historical or whatever implications of a favorite book or TV show, half a dozen people start whining that (a) we have made them feel stupid (without their consent? uh, whatever); (b) we have been mean and nasty and judgmental (this is said with no trace of irony); (c) we are stupid, and have been engaging in a pointless wankfest*** (usually a shorthand way of expressing (a) and (b) together)? And these aren’t the people engaging in the discussion; these are non-participants, either commenting from the sidelines or engaging in the hallowed tradition of YAGE (Yet Another Grand Exit) posting. Yes, of course, they have every right to announce their opinions (drat those civil liberties), but if a discussion bores me, I usually exercise my motor nerves and move on to another discussion. If I don’t feel like discussing something in detail (that does happen, sometimes, in leap years), I don’t. I find it odd and frustrating that people who are otherwise intelligent, friendly, resourceful human beings suddenly turn into cranky anti-intellectual zealots when enough of their acquaintances start showing signs of being interested in the dreaded “meta” zone.
I don’t think I can say it better, but I can say it shorter: why do people get annoyed by discussions that don’t interest them? Is there a law about being all things to all men? Fanfiction is supposed to be about Taking Things Too Seriously, after all. The pot is calling the kettle black, and the kettle just doesn’t get it.
Pardon me while I go link this woman right now. Here’s the line that pushed me over the edge:
I do indeed believe that God created heaven and earth, along with things that flower and fly and swim and creep and blog.