Do something for me: think of your favorite band. Now, think of what kind of genre it belongs in. Rock? Pop? Hip-hop? Rap? Now, go into a chat room and shout out "___ is my favorite band and they belong in the ___ genre!" You'll probably get a few replies, including, "Ew, that's a terrible band," "I like them!" or maybe even, "That's not real, that's fake."
Fake? You never pictured your favorite band to be fake, right? My guess is that you probably pictured them perfect. They had the best songs, the music videos were always fabulous, and there wasn't a single complaint you could make about them. However, your best friend could hate your favorite band, and could think that it's fake rock, rap, pop, or whatever other genre you're thinking of.
Take Fall Out Boy, for example. One of my best friends, and a lot more of them, really don't like Fall Out Boy. One of them says that he likes most off their oldest album, Take This To Your Grave, two or three off From Under The Cork Tree, and one off Infinity On High. I asked him why and he said something along the lines of, "It's fake rock."
Even though I personally really like Fall Out Boy, and I love most of their songs, I didn't get into a heated debate with him, cause one, he's my friend, and two, everyone's entitled to their own opinion. I shrugged it off by saying that I liked them, and we went on, carrying on our conversation of our favorite bands and songs.
Now, let's talk about Glitsygrl's "The Music Scene" series. Maybe you don't like the bands that she features, or wishes that there was a variety of different music, not just her favorites, or suggestions from her friends. A lot of you said that in the article's BBS's, and I'm sure that you didn't fail to y-mail her and tell her your opinion.
Moving away from "The Music Scene" series, let's move on to all articles and poetry in general. Can you imagine how many times someone's had to say that everyone could have their own opinion and there wasn't anything we could do about it?
Back when I first joined and experienced the Times weekly, I posted frequently in the BBS's when they were added. There were hardly any times when you had to tell someone to cool off or relax because they got so worked up about someone's opinion. Now, we're not only posting that we don't like something, once but several times. In a recent article, I guess you could say that I told off someone because they said that an article was pointless. Now, why in the world would the Editor publish it if it were pointless, right?
Let's think before we write, talk, post, or publish, okay. Let's at least try and keep Whyville fun for everyone, not just the ones who don't get yelled at over an article. Let's stop bashing people or making them feel bad because we don't like the same bands they do. Let's just stop the rudeness. It won't kill, you, I promise.
Your fellow Whyvillian,
Blue