Recently, I read a conversation on a Youtube video talking about NieR: Automata and it basically has two sides: the side that was saying "The plebs are going to ruin Yoko Taro's fanbase and make his games worse over time" and the other that said "Elitists like you are the reason Yoko Taro isn't getting recognition to begin with."
If you want the TL:DR, here it is:
TL:DR Quit being a bunch of fucking idiots and stop causing trouble where there doesn't need to be.
Though I've seen this "Us vs. Them" Mentality pretty much everywhere, because this is a gaming and anime blog, I'm going to focus strictly on those things. That said, I do acknowledge that a lot of what I say here can be applied to other areas of discussion.
Generally these discussions are borne from two opposing mentalities. The Plebeians Mentality is that of "I like what I like and I shouldn't be allowed to be told how to like it." Meanwhile, the Elitists Mentality is that of "I can appreciate this work of art/literature/narrative for the underlying themes and subtleties that it presents." These are fair thoughts to have and I'm not going to be criticizing these.
What I am going to be criticizing is what each respective side thinks the opposition thinks. To the Elitists, the Plebeians think "Oh look, flash/sexy thing onscreen, Imma fap!" On the other side, to the Plebeians, the Elitists think "I'm such a great intellectual person and no one on my level can possibly think differently from the way I do."
Bearing in mind, I'm using Plebeian and Elitist to refer to both sides because I don't really agree with either side's behavior and want to convey that by using each side's respective pejorative.
To the Elitists, the Plebeians are shallow idiots, and to the Plebeians the Elitists are Arrogant Pricks. And while I do acknowledge that everyone is unique in some way, I'd be lying if I said these behaviors didn't exist in a good majority of each side.
I want to talk about the Elitists first because it's easier for me to articulate my problem with them and normally, when these conversations are started, the fight is always picked by the Elitist.
Normally, when I see a comment by an Elitist of something they value above everything else, either they will make their own standalone comment that contains enough insulting buzzwords that it gets people to try to get into a fight with them, or they're responding to someone else's comment with largely the same behaviors.
A lot of elitists think highly of themselves for liking something that is unknown or underrated and are able to appreciate its qualities the way others can't when in reality they're a bunch of self-important assholes who think they're a lot smarter than they are just because they appreciate something that others don't.
To those of you who are like this, I have a few things to say. First of all, if you like your underappreciated gem, feel free to do so. However, if you're using that gem as a standard to judge the quality of other people's tastes, you're devaluing that gem you love so much by taking the conversation away from where you want it to go.
For example, if you like the Yakuza games, fine, that's entirely up to you. However, that does not give you the right to pick fights with others who are not fans of those games, especially when those people you are fighting with didn't get defensive or aggressive until you decided to be a dick. I don't care if they're fighting back, the fact that you started the fight means that it could've been avoided if you kept your mouth shut and your hands off your keyboard.
Everybody's allowed to like what they like for the reasons they like it and no amount of "Mah underappreciated gem" is going to change that other people have different standards for judging these things.
In the case of NieR: Automata, these Elitists have the idea that the NieR fanbase and future NieR games will be ruined because of people who appreciate good combat systems or who like 2B's figure will automatically lower the IQ of the fanbase as a whole.
If that sounds like it's too extreme to be real, rest assured it's not. I think what people have a hard time understanding is that, just because someone likes a good combat system, or finds a female character attractive, that that automatically makes them dude-bro idiots, when that's far from the truth.
In reality, the more initial interest someone takes in something, the more they want to learn about it. And the more they want to learn about it, the more they take it seriously. This is why it's always been a fallacy to say that attractive people aren't taken seriously. Attractive people are taken very seriously, far more than people who aren't. They're given the time of day and it's only when that time is spent that you learn what those people or things are really about, whether those things are good or bad is entirely on a case-by-case basis. If you are attractive and you aren't taken seriously, usually that means there's not enough there to warrant it.
And that brings me to the topic of the Plebeians. The problem with a lot of Plebeians isn't so much "I like what I like for the reasons I like it." Again, that's not something that should be attacked in any way. The problem comes when these same people refuse to learn about the subject matter because they don't want to put in the effort.
Going back to the 2B example, if you like 2B's ass and you find her attractive, that's fine, just so long as you take that interest further than simply "I find her attractive." This isn't really so much a problem when they look at a character, think "She's hot" and then move on. It's more a problem when they see the character, focus on that character, fantasize about that character, and talk about how great that character is without putting in the legwork to figure out what that character is really about.
Of course, people of both persuasions will always exist, there's no getting around that. However, mitigating the problem of "The other side is a bunch of idiots/assholes" is more about finding the flaws in yourself and overcoming them than simply trying to educate people about yourself. If you come across someone who wants to teach you about a subject, give them a chance. Only deny them if they want to fight rather than discuss.
Just as well, let people like what they like. You can ask them questions about why they like the things they do and let them go on about what it is they enjoy just so long as they are given the right to like it. If they don't want to learn or simply have no interest in learning, that's when you brush them off.
I like to think of myself as something of a middle ground because I like to learn about underappreciated gems but I also tend to like things for simple reasons. My problem is with both sides and how conflict can arise from people who refuse to learn but who think they're right anyway.
Have a wonderful day.
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