Moreover, it’s “I have nothing better to do but take a piss all over it,” which adds a shake or two of pathetic to the jerkish.
It puts me in mind of a story I told on here once before: there were two guys who would follow me around in high school and generally make fun of me. Their insults hadn’t changed in three years. One day, I finally turned around after having ignored them the whole way and said “Do you seriously have nothing better to do than follow me around with that crap?”
Yup, that’s what I was talking about when I said “(hint: goons)” in the OP. But being familiar with SA, you already knew that. This is the board that I post on and offer (sometimes) valuable insights. SA is the board that I lurk on and laugh myself to death.
As a non-HP fan who has been listening to fans obsess about over-hyped children’s books for years and years and years… well, that kind of shit cracks me up. Sorry, but it does. If that makes me immature, then so be it.
No, I won’t personally participate in any of it, and I do feel slightly bad for the casual fans, but for the obsessives who never shut up about a kids’ book, my sides are splitting.
What the hell is there to apologize for? We’re not killing babies, we’re just excited about a freakin book.
There are a lot of people excited about the book, the media and this board reflects that. Big fuckin balls. I can’t comprehend why this bothers you people. I’m sure you do things that I think are stupid, trivial and utterly without any redeeming qualities but I don’t expect you to defend them to me.
And first- I want to say it’s fantastic that you’ve got your kids so into reading. I have a feeling you’re probably a lot like my mom in that reading was always the answer when I was whining I was bored, summer meant home-made reading lists, and I was very friendly with the library folks since we made trips there twice a week at least.
But I would perhaps say that it isn’t necessarily a stretch to suggest that maybe Dopers and Doper children are going to be a little different than the general population as a whole.
(a) who are these people who actually never shut up about it? I’m curious. I’ve certainly never encountered anyone on the SDMB (for instance) who can literally not stop talking about Harry Potter, or even anything close to it.
(b) what kind of soulless malicious fuck are you to first judge them, based on their hobby, as unworthy; and then revel in their misery?
“Believe me, the regret which I feel for having read your works is entirely due to the unalterable fact that I can never again have the pleasure of reading them for the first time.”
-from an admirer’s letter to Mark Twain
Not a single person in any thead (or anywhere, AFAIK) has said this is “THE MOST IMPORTANT EVENT OF OUR LIFETIMES”. I realize it’s easier to make your argument when you so completely overstate and misconstrue things, but it’s kinda shabby. And transparent – it’s not actually a strong argument for how ridiculous it all is, when the person making it ridiculous is you.
I attended the 35th Anniversary bash at the Air and Space Museum a few years back. I got to see Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong and Walter Cronkite! It was fantastic. I just wished my Dad were there with me because he would have eaten it all up. He’s the one who got me interested in space flight.
But clearly I didn’t appreciate Apollo 11 enough, since I’m going to enjoy reading a book tonight.
No wait, maybe it means the throngs of people cheering Collins and Aldrin and Armstrong at this party were losers because we were all unashamedly enthusiastic about something.
One or the other has to be correct. I cannot possibly appreciate both.
Allow me to try to use smaller words, except the one you looked up for yourself:
When you use hyperbole to make things sound dumb, the one who sounds dumb is you.
There. I used only one syllable words, except for that one big one I’m sure you know, so maybe that will help you grasp the point.
It’s like driving. I look around, ahead, and drive carefully and defensively to avoid an accident. I am avoiding mentions of spoilers, I’ve clicked off the radio twice today because they went to a Harry Potter story. I am being defensive.
However, if someone were to suddenly turn into me on the road, there’s nothing I can do about it. I do not want to be in a situation where I am spoiled against my will. I do not want to be surprised. So I find the Salon.com article to be responsible, in that I can see what’s coming and take steps to avoid it. The people who deliberately go out of their way to spoil the book are assholes and I fear I can’t avoid them, and they’re the ones who make my blood boil.
