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Star Trek TnG
patrickl:
Yeah I guess it's a matter of opinion. I can understand people wanting to learn languages or wanting to know more of the (fictional) technology or history behind all the books and movies (for both franchises). On the other hand I would never go and play with a lightsaber or dress up as a Klingon. Yet from what i understand you find the first weird and the second less so.
Personally I find sports fans a lot weirder. Even though that's utterly mainstream. Especialy the Dutch fans I think. All colored oranged wearing hats and noisy things and claiming that if they don't wear those orange things that the team is not going to win (when they are watching the game on TV!).
But then my sports loving friends think that a middle aged guy building a "games cabinet" is even weirder ... tsk tsk tsk
shmokes:
The sports thing is a perfect example. When I say wierd I'm speaking in terms of social norms. But if you're talking about objective weirdness in terms of human behavior, then I guess it's probably a wash or something. Like, painting your face your sports team's colors or Darth Maul's colors I suppose are more or less the same thing, objectively speaking. One is just less cool. It's not objectively less cool, if there is such a thing. It just so happens that society, probably more or less arbitrarily, accepts one to a greater degree than the other. I think this is the difference between Star Wars and Star Trek. It's an arbitrary difference, but one is more accepted than the other, making the other weirder. No reason for it. It just is.
patrickl:
You mean because more people do it?
shmokes:
More or less. I mean kind of by definition. I figure weird more or less means strange or unusual or not normal. I mean, 30 years ago French women thought Americans were weird for shaving their legs and armpits and vice versa. Weird is largely a function of what people do. The more people that do it, the less weird it becomes.
shmokes:
At least that's what I mean by weird. There are other senses in which to use the word, of course. Like, "It's weird that so many poor people support a political party that protects the interests of the rich at their expense." But in terms of social acceptability of behavior, which is what I think we're talking about, there's definitely safety in numbers.
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