Open-Minded Fanboyism

Picture semi-unrelated. It makes a great desktop wallpaper though.

Over the course of my high school and college careers, I realized that there are three things that I really don't like. These are:

1. The Twilight series.

2. Mac computers.

3. President Barack Obama.

I will explain why. I see Twilight as a women's equivalent of the Sport's Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, giving it little to no literary significance, and intensely annoying husbands, boyfriends, fathers, and other males. I see Mac computers as more of a toy and less of a computer, giving them little to no technological variation, and annoying techies, geeks, and other computer-using people. I see President Barack Obama as more of a political celebrity, creating too much idol worship, and annoying democrats, republicans, and other people.

Now I understand that at this is will cause many people to stop reading here and now, especially if your a super Obama-supporting, mac-using, Twilight-loving type person. Before you do, I would like to point out that the purpose of this blog entry is not to slam on President Obama, not to slam on Steve Jobs, nor to slam on the Twilight series*.

*Trust me. I think I've done that enough here, and it will only continue once New Moon is released.

Instead, I would like to discuss a concept that I believe could be extremely beneficial to people who are trying to get other people to believe what they do, or even to just get people to understand their point of view. This concept is one I like to call "Open-Minded Fanboyism".

First, allow me to illustrate for you, my reader, what a Fanboy is. Amongst the gaming community, a Fanboy is someone who is hopelessly devoted to a certain gaming console, whether it be the Playstation 3, the Xbox 360, or the Nintendo Wii. These kinds of people are typically very biased towards their chosen console, and tend to get into pointless, almost funny, arguments online, debating towards their chosen side by way of insults, and almost always ending in the same result. That result? Nothing gets accomplished.

Now, these kinds of online (and offline) debates have something in common. For the most part, most of their debating tactics involve a heavy supply of emotion. While having an emotional connection with your argument is always a plus when debating something, it will most definitely become detrimental to your cause if that is your soul tactic for discussion.

Now this concept of "Open-Minded Fanboyism" does not require for anyone, Fanboy or non-Fanboy, to severe their emotional connection with anything, whether it be a video game console or a political figure. However, what it does is takes the "Fanboyism" approach to persuasive discussion and adds one simple element. Good, intelligent, facts.

You see, what I found about Twilight, Macs, and President Barack Obama is that as much as I dislike them, what I dislike far more are many of their fans. What I've seen is that many of these people are very strong in their stances, and they have dumb reasons to back them up. I've mentioned a few on this blog, but some I would like to reiterate.

"Twilight is so good! Edward Cullen is so hot!". "Macs are just better!". "Barack Obama closed down Guantanamo Bay!".

The problems with these arguments are that they are mainly emotionally driven, with little facts to support them. Jessica Alba is an attractive woman, but that doesn't make The Eye a good movie, at all. Macs may be better, but how are they better? As it turns out, President Obama hasn't shut down Guantanamo Bay. Look it up.

The point I'm attempting to get across here is this. If you have an assertion, and you want to discuss with someone who has opposite views, be prepared to back up your argument with intelligent conversation. Never try to demean your opponent, nor try to make them out as stupid for having such an opinion.

Being a Fanboy is fun. Being an Open-Minded Fanboy is fun for everyone.

If your brutally offended, oh well. Otherwise, send me an e-mail to:

celebino251@hotmail.com

Oh,and thanks for everyone who sent me sympathy from last week.