Things you just don't "get".

[Johnny Impact]

Already mentioned: Smoking, drinking (to excess; I like me some Kahlua from time to time, not so fond of vomiting and feeling like my head's been jackhammered open), reality TV, bands who use screaming as a crutch to make up for a total lack of vocal talent, celebrity status, Metal Gear, strip clubs, CoD, fanboyism, popularity of Twilight, pro sports.

People who use idiotic cliches like "there's someone for everyone." Not that long ago, someone actually used the quote, "Cynicism is the incompetent twin of wisdom" in response to something I said. Okay, fine, maybe it is. But vomiting forth a trite, tired expression coined by a dead guy whose name you don't even know is the incompetent twin of actually having something to say. You may not like what I said, but at least ~I~ said it.

People who think that because they are okay with a situation, everyone else must be okay with it, too.

People who are proud of things they didn't accomplish and had no control over. To quote Bill Hicks: "A guy once asked me, 'Aren't you proud to be an American?' Well, I didn't have a lot to do with it. My parents fucked there, that's about it."

Car dealers. They're all CRAZY!!!, they all will charge you THOUSANDS LESS THAN DEALER INVOICE!!!, they all have UNBEATABLE PRICES!!!.... I know all advertising does this, but ads for car dealers in particular just drive me batshit.

I don't get advertising in general. Pounding your company jingle into my head until I can't forget it no matter how hard I try is NOT the way to make me buy. There are dozens of products/services I've made a point of not purchasing because their ads were so horrible.

I don't get why it's okay for guys to have muscle, but not women. Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about chicks walking around with huge, veiny slabs of meat percolating in all manner of supplements legal or illegal in the quest to become the most beefy of beefies. That looks as nasty on women as it does on men. I'm saying I think firm, healthy muscles are sexy. I'd certainly rather see a woman ripple with muscle than ripple with fat. I also don't care for the helpless, starved waif look.

Spoiler: Delicious!

I don't get supermodels. See the "starved waif" comment. I don't find them the slightest bit beautiful or fashionable. They look like stick insects.

I was going to say "I don't get women," but you know what? Why limit myself? I don't get people.

I get homophobia, it's just fear of something different. What I don't get is homophobes who lie about it. Don't say "as long as they keep their hands off me." Are they trying to touch you? Do random men try to sex you up as you walk along the street? No, they do not. Do random women try to sex you up as you're walking down the street? No, they do not. Is it likely to happen? No, it is not. Just say gays make you nervous! Then I might respect your honesty.

.....I like the juxtaposition earlier in the thread of "life is shit, the world is a toilet bowl of depravity swirling into a sucking vortex of blackness" and "I don't get Doctor Who." Made me laugh.

 

[RedDeadFred]

I'm with you on the Strip Club thing. I've gone once because one of my friends dragged me there saying that it's a university experience. I felt so awkward that I wasn't aroused in the slightest.

 

[Coppernerves]

Binge drinking.
Attempting to get totally wasted.

Maybe if I tried it I might get it, but I'd probably just vomit everywhere, pass out, and wake up with a thumping hangover and no idea what I may or may not have done while clumsier and lacking inhibitions.

 

[shadyh8er]

Hoooo boy here we go....

After watching the first half of the first season of MLP....I don't see what the bronies see in it. It's a typical saccharine girl's show with morality lessons that I learned back in 5th grade.

 

[Nouw]

People who listen to music because they think "OMG teh Lead Singer is so HAWT ROLFMAO!!!!11!1!", music is not a visual medium and therefore the looks of the artist should not be taken into consideration at all. Too many bands now are popular because of their looks than their actual music eg One Direction, Black Veil Brides, Attack Attack and almost every modern metalcore band essentially.

Boy you're not going to like K-Pop then. The members more or less differentiate between the different groups, not the music. I'm not the most well-versed on K-Pop but from what I see and read from T.V. and Facebook this seems to be the case, which is how the music is perceived and judged by the general audience. Anyhow, a die-hard fan can correct me if they wish!

Personally I think it's fine for a band's appeal to include their aesthetics, looks. Take Daft Punk for an example. Their robot outfit is part of who they are and what they believe in, or rather what they don't which is the 'star-system of celebrities.' Their outfit makes them easily recognizable and is often incorporated into the music itself. The funky outfit they rocked during the Discovery era was a nod to Disco. The black, almost dull, outfit they wore during the Human After All era was a reflection of the mentioned album. Their aesthetics enhances the music and even in other musicians where it's a nice extra like in the Gorillaz I think it's harmless.

The looks and aesthetics of the artist can and sometimes should be taken into consideration especially if done right, and like all things in life the issue is when the balance is upset which can be argued for in the case of boy bands. K-Pop is an interesting case because that's how it more or less how it strives but really, what's wrong with that? The market is filled, the people are happy and I still get to listen to Philip Glass. No harm done. Just don't be surprised when I leap for the volume control when the latest song comes on.

 

[Clowndoe]

Today's pop music, the kind you hear on the radio and the MTVs. Grrrr...

 

[Dagda Mor]

I don't get roller coasters. I don't get paying to be frightened half to death. I've done one roller coaster in my life, in the 6th grade, and thought I was literally dying. I swore to myself "Never.Again." and I've kept that promise to myself. Ugh. It also comes with a very nasty side effect of headache/motion sickness. Yeah, I'll pass.

I don't like roller coasters either in that sense, but I like rides where the point isn't necessarily "You're moving fast and plummeting straight into the ground AHAHAHAHA" like the Mummy at Universal Orlando, or that Harry Potter ride in the castle thing.
I don't get collectivism.

 

[Pink Gregory]

Celebrating artists, like musicians for example.
If they make good music, I buy it, no question. But I don't understand why people pay so much money to stand in the mud for hours to see a glimpse of their artist is beyond me.
I don't know them personally, the audio quality is always worse than recorded and it's exhausting.

Well, that's festivals, not 'celebrating artists'

I'm not much of a fan of festivals, although I can appreciate that some people like the atmosphere.

 

[Dangit2019]

Screamy metal. If you're going to have singing, at least sound like you're trying to form words. Don't just scream! What is this popular?

If metal is evocative of aggression (for the most part), than it only makes sense to take the voice to its most aggressive extent.

I don't get Brony-ism.
I don't get how some people seem capable of going through life completely oblivious to the world around them. For an example of what I'm talking about, this is an honest to god conversation I had the other day:

Friend 1: What're you doing?

Me: Just listening to Mel Brooks.

F1: *blank stare*

Me: You know who Mel Brooks is, right?

F1: Yeah...

Me: Ok, what has he done?

F1: ... Movies?

Me: Jesus. *I turn to another friend* Do you know who Mel Brooks is?

Friend 2: *blank stare*

Me: *turning to yet another friend* Please tell me you know who he is!

Friend 3: *pause* ... Braveheart, right?

I swear that happened. And that's by far not the only example I have of this sort of thing. I mean, I can understand not knowing who, say, Bo Burnham [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1wbG58vY7k] is, but this is comedy god Mel freakin' Brooks we're talking about. Honestly.

To be honest, while Mel Brooks is a movie legend, he's not necessarily part of everyday life. Hell, a lot of the people at my school haven't even seen a single Star Wars movie, and even though that's a big deal to me, they don't see the larger appeal because they aren't very interested in movies. It's not that they're oblivious to the world, they probably just don't follow movies that much.

OT: There's a lot of stuff that I don't share an appeal in, but I can definitely see it. I mean, yeah, I think The Big Bang Theory sucks, but to say that I don't "get it"? It's a comedy. If people laugh at it regularly, they will probably watch it again. There's no bigger picture, guys, people find enjoyment in it.

Besides, why the hell are we bragging about how we don't understand things again? Shouldn't we be spending our time here trying to more accurately understand things instead?

Also, I was going to put "inb4 bronies" but it seems I'm about 10 different posts too late.

 

[Dangit2019]

Seriously, guys, it's like you want the 20-page "I don't get MLP, explain yourselves you perverted fiends" threads to come rolling back in.

 

[Starik20X6]

-snip-

To be honest, while Mel Brooks is a movie legend, he's not necessarily part of everyday life. Hell, a lot of the people at my school haven't even seen a single Star Wars movie, and even though that's a big deal to me, they don't see the larger appeal because they aren't very interested in movies. It's not that they're oblivious to the world, they probably just don't follow movies that much.

I should clarify- we're at a film school. As in, knowing about film is one of the expectations of the course. And the Mel Brooks example is just one of many. I've encountered people who don't know what Doctor Who is, or have never heard of Michael Jordan. Again, these aren't obscure things- even if you've never watched an NBA match in your life you know who Michael Jordan is.

 

[Dangit2019]

-snip-

To be honest, while Mel Brooks is a movie legend, he's not necessarily part of everyday life. Hell, a lot of the people at my school haven't even seen a single Star Wars movie, and even though that's a big deal to me, they don't see the larger appeal because they aren't very interested in movies. It's not that they're oblivious to the world, they probably just don't follow movies that much.

I should clarify- we're at a film school. As in, knowing about film is one of the expectations of the course. And the Mel Brooks example is just one of many. I've encountered people who don't know what Doctor Who is, or have never heard of Michael Jordan. Again, these aren't obscure things- even if you've never watched an NBA match in your life you know who Michael Jordan is.

Oh.

Well that would have been nice information to know beforehand.

 

[V da Mighty Taco]

What I don't get? Whenever something I either don't like or find sub-par ends up ludicrously popular or vice-versa, especially a new episode / movie / game of a series (inb4 someone mentions the irony that I am a fairly hardcore Season 1 brony). Whether it's Magic Duel / A Canterlot Wedding in MLP, all CoD games starting with MW2, Infamous 1 (haven't played 2), or the Avengers (I still liked it a lot, but it has a lot of flaws like Loki in his entirety); I just don't get why people enjoy them so much more than I did. Granted, this does happens to everyone; but it still drives me nuts.

Off topic time!:

I don't get cynical people. Or people who are always negative.

I can't process in my mind what they are thinking that always makes them go to a negative statement.
I don't get when people say ''humans are [insert negative word here]''.
For example if someone says that humanity is selfish, does the person ask himself if they are ?
I can say by experience that a lot of these people that says ''humanity is selfish'' they are themselves.

We should always spend our energy toward something positive. I mean, we have a fantastic brain, we live in a wonderful world with good folks, why always aiming for the negative. Nothing's perfect, but hey, life is life.

Yeah I really don't get it...

I can explain this one quite easily. The truth is that a lot of evil shit happens in this world all the time, to the point that nobody out there can come close to actually comprehending all of it. For many people, it gets to the point that all they can see is the evil in the world and people, and the good out there genuinely seems either nonexistant or heavily overrun by the fucked up shit. This gets amplified greatly if one's personal experiences reinforce it (like growing up in the ghetto or having to live with an abusive person).

We live in a world where people are killed over things like sexual preference or religious beliefs, women in many countries are property and are mutilated regardless of age for simply wanting to learn, entire nations are starving to death due to one man's ego-trip (you know what country), and people all over the world that will do absolutely anything (and I mean anything) to get what they want (power, money, revenge, the list goes on) without caring even remotely about who it might hurt or whether it is right or wrong. When all one can see is Mexican cartels, dictators commiting mass murders, CEO's screwing over millions of customers and / or employees for a quick buck, and even politicians defending rape; it becomes quite easy to believe that the evil people in the world are the large majority or that everyone is at least partially evil as the old saying "everyone has a price" goes. I should know, I was once that way.

I'm actually still that way to a notable extent. I have a hard time fully trusting people and typically keep everyone at arm's reach without fully letting anyone in mentally. Most people will probably laugh at what I'm about to say, but the movie "Kickass" completely changed me and killed my belief that everyone has a little bit of good in them. It isn't because I thought the movie was bad - far from it - but the themes of the movie really stuck with me and the villains in particular I could not only see being real, but see the very same mentality they had in many real people. Not everyone thinks of themselves as the good guy, and many of them simply don't care. All that matters to people like those in drug cartels is themselves, and they'll do the most atrocious things they can think of to anyone standing between them and what they want. Not only do these people exist, but they're surprisingly common in the world and the mentality of Darwinism / "only the strong survive" simply encourages it more.

Back to the movie, I simply haven't been the same since I seen that movie. While I was already jaded before, I became exponentially more so after that movie got me to rethink and abandon several of my core beliefs. This combined with all the unusually fucked up things I've been through in my life (not going into details there) killed any good I saw in the world, and it seriously wasn't until I got into Friendship is Magic that I began to remember that I wanted to be a source of happiness in people's lives and that good in the world does exist. Not trying to turn this into a pony thread, but ponies do play a big part in this for me - in particular Pinkie Pie who represents everything I've always wanted to be. I'm still cynical, mind you, but far less so than I used to be thanks to that pink equine.

Anyways, my point is that losing sight of the good in the world can be a surprisingly easy thing to do, especially when everywhere you look there's good old human nature kicking in and fucking things up. If one is knowledgeable about the world around them and isn't a sociopath; then becoming a jaded, cynical asshole is very possible unless they have something to remind them not everything is fucked up. Sorry for the rant, I just wanted to give a detailed explanation on this using my own personal experiences with the subject as an example.

 

[Piorn]

Celebrating artists, like musicians for example.
If they make good music, I buy it, no question. But I don't understand why people pay so much money to stand in the mud for hours to see a glimpse of their artist is beyond me.
I don't know them personally, the audio quality is always worse than recorded and it's exhausting.

Well, that's festivals, not 'celebrating artists'

I'm not much of a fan of festivals, although I can appreciate that some people like the atmosphere.

Yeah festivals too, but my primary thought was the "cult" fanatics build around a celebrity. I meant it like they celebrate the existence of an artist, instead of the music.

 

[likalaruku]

A list of things I DO get would be infinitely shorter.

 

[Damy]

I don't get feet fetishes, feet are embarrassing and gross!

 

[Bepo_Bear]

I have a foot fetish, there neither of those things

 

[The White Hunter]

Wait wait wait wait wait. Can't find my last post but I saw this in the latest feed and thought:


Laid

: D

 

[anthony87]

I don't get how people can see something Metal Gear Rising and not think that it's the most awesome thing ever.