Quality Entertainment

   That conception, of these groups being losers, must be on some level fair: it ties to the "starved-for-culture" thing, where we allegedly eat lichen off of river rocks for nourishment. They're losers because their quality of entertainment is so low. That seems to be the stereotype. For any degree of outcast. Bronies buy anything with a pony on the cover, furries buy anything with a fox on the cover, Juggalos any album with a Psychopathic records label, country music lovers any album with a pickup truck and an American flag. Society looks down on those with such easy-to-reach standards.

   That explains the old "geek" stereotype, as until science fiction and fantasy moved into the mainstream a few years ago the so-called "geeks" and "nerds" were that easy to please, at least in society's eyes, as exhibited by the pulpy magazine covers and low-budget serials. But then science fiction became mainstream, and they could actually afford to have distinguishing tastes. Um, to an extent. Now that we've moved past that, we've got the opposite stereotype: the impossible-to-please fanboy. We've become too complacent with the high standards. Entertainment grows customized, so you get exactly what you want.

   Maybe because of this the increased customization of entertainment isn't a good thing. We give ourselves lower standards again. It fits your specific narrow interests, so you jump on it. You don't care if it's good or not. That's exactly the thing. The way science fiction nerds did use to buy anything so long as it had a spaceship on the cover, so is the way more recent fan groups such as furries snatch up anything with a foxy cover. Of course, there's a lot of room within that, but they're still looking for mainstream entertainment value within their narrow interest, is what I get out of that. We are drawn to these like magnetmoths getting drawn to an iron lightbulb. And so we have no choice.

   Or perhaps not? In politics, there is the right and there is the left, correct? Yet the greatest champions of both sides are bigoted blowhard idiots. As many good points as they raise, you're still embarrassed to agree with them. So we are either fine or not fine with mainstream, depending on who is looking.

   Urgh, not that mainstream stuff is any better. 90% of everything really is crap. Still, 10% is a lot, and there's so much room for incredible beauty and versatility.