... to actually appreciate all cars, even if you have favorites that you prefer? Why does every teenager find it so important to hate on things that aren't their current favorites? I'm starting to wonder if it's related to the ability to actually think.
*I* have favorite cars. But I can appreciate all kinds of cars, from imports to domestics, from new to old, from fast to slow. Stock and custom (and even art cars),
even if the customizing isn't something I would do myself.
Why do people have to hate on things that aren't their favorites in order to justify HAVING those favorites? Why is that expression of opinion so important? In all my years on automotive forums I run across all sorts of variations on this behavior. And invariably the people that know the most about cars, tend to exhibit this behavior the least. And invariably, the people that argue loudest that it's their right to act this way, know the absolute least.
I don't know. I've just never found it that hard to be able to enjoy the rush of a torquey big block pushing you off the line in a roar of thunder, and turn around and enjoy the rip of a small engine winding up and flinging you forward. I have no problem driving classic American muscle and modern Japanese sport coupes. I can drive a slow lowrider as easily as a full race Sports GT. A showcar built for artistic expression is as valid as a race car built for pure speed. I enjoy the feel of a good manual shifter, and the speed and power use of a good automatic. FWD, AWD, RWD doesn't matter, as long as the car is doing the job that's asked of it. A couple tenths of a second difference in accelleration figures isn't enough to crown one car the ultimate and it's competitor an utter pile of crap. And a few seconds difference in accelleration isn't enough to make me not want to drive a car on the street. And who else owns a car isn't enough of an excuse to drive or not drive an example of that car.
But so many people I talk to lately, especially young
or inexperienced people (i.e. they've only driven one kind of car their whole life), seem completely and utterly incapable of seeing that all of them are mass produced mechanical devices, and that while their favorite might be perfect for them, other choices are not POS simply because they are not their first choice. Whether it's import drivers hating "low tech domestics," Domestic drivers hating "rice rockets" or Euro drivers thinking anything else is a low class POS, it's all the end result of the same thing.
So why is it so prevalent? Tribal behavior?
This is the point I've made on may sites. "My family is better than their family. My school is better than their school. My team is better than their team. My community is better than their community. My state or nation is better, etc." Even people who don't want to be affiliated with a club or community or society are trying to fit in with others who are also trying not to fit in with that club, community or society.
Once a favorite is picked, championing that favorite seems to mean that you HAVE to loudly proclaim how much everything else sucks. The irony is that my favorite is striving for knowledge, and the goal of NOT striving for knowledge sucks.
Yes, lamenting that every teenager coming onto forums acts that way was hyperbole, exaggeration for effect (though after the recent spate of noobs on most forums I'm on, the percentage that doesn't act that way is frighteningly small). And there are enough adults that act the same way, due to not being confronted with larger experience before.
I don't want anyone to think I'm getting down on teenagers or younger people. And it's an intersting question to wonder if my generation would have acted this way had there been the internet and anonymous international forums available to us. I mean, things are said on forums that would never have been broached in person were you to join up with a community of experienced people in your chosen hobby or industry.
But it is arguable that the level of incivility even in person has risen in recent years, as has been the rise of the opinion being more important than anything. And really, who's to blame? Parents? Politicians setting a bad example? The instantaneousness of news and a glut of information (not all of which is valid)?
I don't know. What I do know is I'm tired of spending time to research information, back it up with decades of experience, and then have people who don't have much if any experience argue that their opinions on it are factual, and that they should be allowed to hate on and denigrate other people's cars because it's their right to do so. "I hate rice burners. They all need to die." "I hate pushrod engines." "I hate Fords." "I hate Dodges." "I hate Hondas." "I hate VWs" "I hate trucks" "I hate older cars." "I hate newer cars." "I hate cheap cars." "I hate chrome wheels, and if you put them on your car, you're stupid and I will insult you." "I hate lowered cars." "I hate drifting." "I hate NASCAR" "I hate automatics." "I hate" "I hate" "I hate"
..........................................
Yes, part of this forum is "cars I hate." But too often, that hate is a poorly thought out, and frankly ignorant statement of opinion based on a near total lack of knowledge. Why is that such a valuable goal to strive for? If you're going to dislike something, at least have the decency to hae a clear, solid reason that allows you to dislike it and also not instantly be insulting to those that DO like it. Because quite frankly, people will like the things you don't, and others may dislike things that are your favorites. the simple solution is to buy what you like and don't insult things that arn't your favorite. Best yet, strive to learn waht you can abuot your chosen field of interest and learn how not to hate in the first place.
