Post #227931 by Thomas on Fri, Apr 21, 2006 5:20 PM

I have yet another thought on the matter (after which I think I should go cold turkey on this topic for a while...).

I think when people have a strong fondness for something, they get very particular about delineations and often strongly dislike stuff that is "close" to it but not "the real thing." Some examples:

I know a guy who's a big Allman Brothers fan. He hates it when people put them in the category of "southern rock" and associate them with bands like Lynard Skynard. The distinction is very important to him. The Allmans are much more associated with the richness of the blues tradition, he insists (and rightly so, I say). But anyway, as an Allmans fan, he's neutral regarding, say, Bach, but strongly dislikes Skynard.

It's easy to imagine a diehard water skier in, say, Florida, who is entirely neutral regarding ice fishing ("seems OK, but it sure isn't my thing!"), but hates jet-skis ("they're awful! I hate 'em!"). Again, it's the thing that's "close, but not the real thing" that becomes the object of derision.

Any number of other examples come to mind. It's easy to imagine a Sinatra fan in the early '60s who was neither positive nor negative regarding polka music, but strongly disliked Bobby Darin ("trying to emulate Sinatra! A faker!..."). Again, the "proximal" thing gets the disdain in this sort of scenario.

Some of the passionate feelings regarding JB's stuff, which is often labelled "trop-rock" and is associated with the southeast and gulf coast, on the part of TCers seems to me manifest this process as well. Some sayings come to mind: "Good fences make good neighbors" ; "Familiarity breeds contempt" ; etc.