# Things You Were Surprised People Could Be So Passionate About **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 19, 2018, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409 "2018-06-19T22:58:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/21 "2018-06-20T04:10:43Z")
Search “knets” (South Korean Netizens). Not a week passes without someone, usually a celebrity getting a petition to the government calling for them to receive the death penalty! The petitions are quickly removed, but I’m waiting for the sad day when some crazy decides to carry out the knets demands. On a far less serious, though no less surprising note. There’s currently a survival show in China (Produce 101 China) in which 101 female singers vie to become part of the final 11 member girl group. The fans (National Producers which includes international voters) are collectively spending millions of dollars to buy votes for their favorites. The show producers meanwhile are laughing with each of their numerous trips to the bank. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/22 "2018-06-20T04:14:12Z")
I had a boss that was absolutely crazy about the football team from his alma mater. If they won over the weekend, he’d repeatedly give replays of every moment of the game throughout the day. If they lost, he would be a bit less vocal, but grumpy for the entire week. I asked his partner if he played on the team when he was in college and the answer was no. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/23 "2018-06-20T04:33:16Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > Sports. Honestly I still have a hard time comprehending why anybody cares at all, and when I hear about things like riots over some game or another I just don’t comprehend at all. > > I’m sort of weird. > (Also ‘americanizing’ Harry Potter is idiotic.) One example is the way people continue to talk about this almost 40 years later. > **[Miracle on Ice](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_on_Ice)** > > The "Miracle on Ice" was an ice hockey game during the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. It was played between the hosting United States and the Soviet Union on February 22, 1980, during the medal round of the men's hockey tournament. Though the Soviet Union was a four-time defending gold medalist and heavily favored, the United States upset them and won 4–3. > The Soviet Union had won the gold medal in five of the six previous Winter Olympic Games, and they were the favorites to win ... It also blew my mind how many people were pulling their kids out of school to see the World Series trophy won by the Chicago Cubs. Not the game - THE TROPHY. ---
**Author:** ![yellow\_sausage\_bandit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yellow_sausage_bandit/32/394_2.png) [@yellow\_sausage\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellow_sausage_bandit)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/24 "2018-06-20T06:44:02Z")
trainspotting, elevatorspotting ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/25 "2018-06-20T09:29:05Z")
We bought a truck recently. For towing and hauling things. In my naivete, I thought that’s what they were for. I found a website for owners of \ truck and thought I’d pop in to get some information about a few features. Oh. My. God. Apparently, what one does now, is spend insane amounts of money for suspension redesign to lift the truck up, so that one can cram preposterously oversized tires underneath, then change the engine controller (chips) to develop far more power, all to ensure the following: 1. Normal people cannot climb up into it. 2. It can no longer tow anything. 3. It is unstable and dangerous, as the center of gravity is lifted. 4. All warranties are null and void and, 5. Resale value is drastically reduced. They actually have a monthly award for the most garishly modified (and most unusable) truck. This is as ridiculous as buying a bicycle and removing the gears to make it as difficult as one of those bikes from the 1920’s. OK, I got carried away, no one’s _that_ foolish. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/26 "2018-06-20T11:37:20Z")
Ultralight hiking. I get wanting a lighter pack when hiking, but the picayune obsession over every last gram is silly. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/27 "2018-06-20T12:30:08Z")
Fonts. At some point when I wasn’t looking, people became very passionate about what font something is printed in. Some fonts are apparently incredibly ugly, some are especially appealing or sleek or dignified or what have you. I just can’t see that much difference. Poor old Comic Sans, for some reason that I cannot begin to imagine, comes in for special hatred. I can only conclude that Comic Sans killed everybody’s mother and kicked all their puppies. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/28 "2018-06-20T12:44:08Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > They did make a number of other changes for the American audience such as changing “revising” (for an exam) to “studying” and changing the spelling. I think they overall did a good job, although I thought the change in title was idiotic, but I can’t say I am passionate about it. I mean “philosopher’s stone” is a standard reference and sorcerer’s stone is meaningless and people who don’t get the reference to the former will not better understand the latter, there being nothing there. The title change was idiotic. The book explains what the sorcerer’s stone is, so obviously, it explains what the Philosopher’s stone is (I have a copy of the UK edition, and it does). Given that there is no such thing at all as a sorcerer’s stone, and while there isn’t a Philosopher’s stone either, it’s at least a real part of folklore, and history, why, oh why did someone think that it would be easier to grasp what a sorcerer’s stone is? I do not get people who are passionate about their sorority or fraternity, especially 20 years after they finished college. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/29 "2018-06-20T12:44:49Z")
Find wrestling fandom hard to relate to - don’t understand it, so am baffled how grown men can actively take a passionate interest in it. Seems like something you’d take your 8yo kid to go and watch. I can see the nostalgia angle, if it was a cool, fun thing when you were growing up. And it seems to have a lot of history in the US - the sort of thing people used to go and watch in the midwest in the old times, when there was literally fuck all to do all day. But there’s a decent fanbase in the UK, which is a headscratcher. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/30 "2018-06-20T12:52:47Z")
> [@Busy\_Scissors](#): > > Find wrestling fandom hard to relate to - don’t understand it, so am baffled how grown men can actively take a passionate interest in it. Seems like something you’d take your 8yo kid to go and watch. > > I can see the nostalgia angle, if it was a cool, fun thing when you were growing up. And it seems to have a lot of history in the US - the sort of thing people used to go and watch in the midwest in the old times, when there was literally fuck all to do all day. But there’s a decent fanbase in the UK, which is a headscratcher. Its a mixture of theatre and sport. Its rather easy to understand. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/31 "2018-06-20T13:07:16Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > Fonts. > > At some point when I wasn’t looking, people became very passionate about what font something is printed in. Some fonts are apparently incredibly ugly, some are especially appealing or sleek or dignified or what have you. I just can’t see that much difference. > > Poor old Comic Sans, for some reason that I cannot begin to imagine, comes in for special hatred. I can only conclude that Comic Sans killed everybody’s mother and kicked all their puppies. I came in to say this. Baffling. To it, I’d add the issue of how many spaces are needed after a period, and the Oxford comma. While I do have my own opinions on these subjects (one period is enough with modern word processing software, and the Oxford Comma is inelegant but sometimes necessary), I can’t imagine caring enough to actually get into an argument about them. Whatever, guys. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/32 "2018-06-20T13:09:30Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > They did make a number of other changes for the American audience such as changing “revising” (for an exam) to “studying” and changing the spelling. I think they overall did a good job, although I thought the change in title was idiotic, but I can’t say I am passionate about it. I mean “philosopher’s stone” is a standard reference and sorcerer’s stone is meaningless and people who don’t get the reference to the former will not better understand the latter, there being nothing there. Yeah, the whole “I can’t believe they changed the title! How dare they!” reaction does kind of baffle me, and here’s why: You’ve all heard of Agatha Christie’s novel _Murder on the Orient Express_, right? Did you know that when it was released in the U.S., it was called _Murder in the Calais Coach_? Do you know why its title was changed? Because the year before, Graham Greene had released a novel called (in Britain) _Stamboul Train_, which had been re-titled _Orient Express_ for its U.S. release. To avoid confusion, Christie’s novel was also re-named for America. Perhaps because I knew all this, the title change from _Philosopher’s Stone_ to _Sorcerer’s Stone_ never bothered me all that much. My reaction was more like, “They changed the title? Yeah, that happens.” Indeed, here’s a [list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_works_with_different_titles_in_the_United_Kingdom_and_United_States#Literature) of books that have had different titles in the U.K. and the U.S. Seriously, this happens _all the time_! ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/33 "2018-06-20T13:25:36Z")
The religious anti-abortion nutjobs. I’ve talked to some of them, and they are very scary people. “You’re going to have to stand before God and confess to killing your baby.” ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/34 "2018-06-20T13:29:27Z")
My Little Pony - Friendship is Magic. Bronies. Etc. Is it just a furry thing? ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/35 "2018-06-20T13:31:24Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The religious anti-abortion nutjobs. I’ve talked to some of them, and they are very scary people. “You’re going to have to stand before God and confess to killing your baby.” 😕 Being passionate about abortion makes more sense than anything else in here. If you believe people are killing hundreds of thousands of babies a year, why would you NOT be passionate about it? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/36 "2018-06-20T13:41:49Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Video games. From “console wars” over two pieces of virtually identical technology with a couple different game titles to people spending hundreds of dollars on a plastic video game character statue to people going ape irate about how they’d never buy any title digitally and only on physical media because what if they really want to play some dusty old title from 2014 in the year 2035 and so on… I like video games in general but the amount of emotional energy a lot of people put into it (or into arguing about it) is baffling. I’ve never \*understood \*this either, and in one way or another, on one system or another, I’ve been a pretty avid gamer for 40 years now. I think it’s really just another manifestation of the toxic fandom we see out there. A lot of people get really, truly and unreasonably torqued out of shape about the dumbest things. And this isn’t limited to nerdy stuff like video games and movies- you see the exact same phenomenon with sports, and have for decades. People take it way too seriously and invest way too much of their own emotional well-being in pointless entertainment. And don’t try saying “Well, it’s only dumb from \*your \*point of view.” No, it’s objectively dumb for a grown person to get spitting mad over Rey’s parentage, or whether Rian Johnson sucks, or about Tom Brady and football inflation, or if Fallout 4 was awful, or whatever it is that the toxic fans are getting their panties in a twist over. IT DOESN’T MATTER ONE BIT. They’ll all still get up in the morning and go to work, and in the main, life will continue on just like it did before the movie/game came out or their team lost or won. Don’t get me wrong; I get the tribal affiliation thing, especially for collegiate or national level sports (don’t quite get it for pro sports though). But life goes on, and in the final analysis it’s entertainment. Nerd fandom stuff… I don’t get the level of investment. I’m interested in a lot of those things, but I don’t get the level of anger, or feelings of betrayal, etc… that a lot of these toxic fans seem to have. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/37 "2018-06-20T14:21:08Z")
> [@yellow\_sausage\_bandit](#): > > trainspotting, elevatorspotting As an American train nut I can understand trainspotting, though it’s not my cuppa, but… elevatorspotting? \>Ding\< Yup, there’s the #3 elevator in this bank again, right on time. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/38 "2018-06-20T14:22:21Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Traveling with only carry on luggage. 3 weeks overseas and you’re only bringing a carry on? Look, I agree completely that you shouldn’t overpack and, ‘When in doubt, leave it out.’ But, I’m an adult, I don’t want to wear the same clothes constantly nor do laundry in a hotel room! > > But wow, some travelers are so passionate about carry on only that they’ll start a Holy War over it. Whatever floats your boat. When my Wife and I traveled to Germany for three weeks I started thinking about how many pairs of socks and underwear I would need. 21 pairs of socks and 21 pair of underwear? Um, no way. And as we where going to do all of our travel from hotel to hotel by train, we did not want to carry two bags apiece. So, once, we had a hotel service wash our clothes, and otherwise washed stuff in the bathroom. No problem at all. Also, I bought travel clothes that dry quickly. Since then, unless we are going for a long trip by car, One carry on each is no problem. Heck, it’s liberating. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/39 "2018-06-20T14:30:55Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > As an American train nut I can understand trainspotting, though it’s not my cuppa, but… elevatorspotting? I don’t know if this is what is meant by “elevatorspotting,” but I’ve run across more than one YouTube channel devoted to people filming themselves riding elevators. Complete with close-ups of the buttons being pushed, and of the floor indicator going up. One of those channels also features recordings of this guy taking his car through automated car washes. Seemingly whenever he visits a new town, he makes it a point to find a car wash and film it. I don’t know if he’s exactly “passionate” about it, but it seems like a weird hobby to have. ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/40 "2018-06-20T14:33:08Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > 😕 > > Being passionate about abortion makes more sense than anything else in here. > > If you believe people are killing hundreds of thousands of babies a year, why would you NOT be passionate about it? This was my thought process, too. Out of the things mentioned here, I think this is one I can understand. On the other hand, pro abortion advocates can get pretty fired up, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409.md?page=3)