# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/61 "2018-06-20T18:18:26Z")
The colour of a fucking passport. j ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/62 "2018-06-20T18:21:47Z")
Phones. Sure, they’re a great tool, but put it down once in a while. And taking endless “selfies” and pictures of your fucking lunch. Nobody cares! > [@MrDibble](#): > > Ultralight hiking. I get wanting a lighter pack when hiking, but the picayune obsession over every last gram is silly. This is good! When I raced motorcycles, some guys would spend thousands of dollars on lightweight fasteners and parts that weighed a gram or two less than stock, then install them while drinking beer. 😃 > [@pullin](#): > > 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. Jesus, NEVER go to websites for specific car/truck models. Those folks are warped. I lasted about 3 days at a BMW site before wanting to set my car on fire. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/63 "2018-06-20T18:49:21Z")
[Civil war reenactments:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War_reenactment) > [@Wikipedia](#): > > Although many periods are reenacted around the world, Civil War reenactment is, by far, the most popular in the US. In 2000, the number of Civil War reenactors was estimated at 50,000, though the number of participants declined sharply through the ensuing decade, to around 30,000 in 2011. Possible reasons for the decline include the cost of participating and the variety of other entertainment options. The 150th anniversary of the war has regenerated interest and stimulated growth in the hobby. The numbers of reenactors steadily climbed to past levels. > . > . > . > At the other end of the spectrum from farbs are “hard-core authentics” or “progressives”, as they prefer to be called. Sometimes derisively called “stitch counters”, many people have misconceptions about hardcore reenactors. > > Hard-cores generally seek an “immersive” reenacting experience, trying to live, as much as possible, as someone of the 1860s might have. This includes eating seasonally and regionally appropriate food, sewing inside seams and undergarments in a period-appropriate manner, and staying in character throughout an event. The desire for an immersive experience often leads hard-core reenactors to smaller events, and to setting up separate camps at larger events, which other reenactors often perceive as elitism. > . > . > . > Total immersion events are made up solely of progressive (“hard-core authentic”) reenactors, who often refer to them as “Events By Us and For Us” or “EBUFU”. As the names imply, these events are held for the personal edification of the reenactors involved, allowing them to spend an extended time marching, eating, and generally living like actual soldiers of the Civil War. Total immersion events generally require participants to meet a high standard of authenticity, and in most cases little or none of the event will be open to public viewing. Odd, nobody seems to want to reenact the Vietnam War, or WW1. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/64 "2018-06-20T19:08:50Z")
Reality TV I don’t understand its appeal. It’s obviously not “reality.” It’s scripted and edited and so very superficial. All segments end with a hook to keep you viewing after the commercial, then the hooks turn out to be of little consequence. I prefer that real actors recite the scripts. At least they’re talented. Why does anybody care about Mama Booboo or some loud spoiled kid or the non-ST Kardassians or My 600 lb life? Shows that involve a craft, skill or trade are fine. Pawn Stars, Iron Chef, Flip This House, fine. At least you’re learning something. ---
**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, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/65 "2018-06-20T19:55:27Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Nobody’s pro-abortion, sport. Your bias is showing. Wrong word choice, but I was trying to make my point that people on both sides can get pretty passionate about their views. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/66 "2018-06-20T20:38:49Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > [Civil war reenactments:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War_reenactment) > > Odd, nobody seems to want to reenact the Vietnam War, or WW1. Vietnam War reenactors > **['In Country' review: Vietnam War reenactors in Oregon](https://www.oregonlive.com/movies/2015/05/in_country_review_vietnam_war.html)** > > "In Country" follows a group of Vietnam War reenactors in Oregon. World War One reenactors > **[WWI Anzac Units](https://www.reenactor.net/index.php?page=33)** > > The WWI area of reenactor.Net, the on-line home of historical reenacting and living history! reenactor.Net is THE on-line clearing-house for reenactors of all periods from around the world!. We have links and articles about, to and for reenactors... ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/67 "2018-06-20T20:40:20Z")
This thread has become exactly what I had hoped it would: a list containing many examples for which I could _totally_ explain why this or that is important or interesting to people - but won’t because such explanations would be off-topic! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/68 "2018-06-20T21:15:44Z")
I am a big fan of Marvel Comics, Star Trek, Star Wars and professional wrestling. It’s hard going to any sort of forum dedicated any of them because it seems the forums are dominated by the fans who obsessively nitpick the smallest details about them. I’m talking about the fans who will come up to you and complain how inaccurate the costume you are wearing is. Or who complain about small special effect mistakes in in tv or movies. Or who complain how critics rated something.(Especially when it’s them complain that critic only gave it 4 and half star instead a perfect 5 stars.) Or who complain some obscure character didn’t make it into the movie. I’ve actually stopped going to some forums because of this. ---
**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, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/69 "2018-06-20T21:18:48Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Obama’s birth certificate. Who would have thought it could have led to where we are today. Just an observation and please don’t start a political discussion but it is strange that people got so passionate over the thing. Same thing with people who would post 30 or 40 anti-Obama memes every day on Facebook. I blocked several of them. I don’t even see extreme measures like that now! How about women who got divorced decades ago, and that’s STILL all they want to talk about? I just can’t comprehend carrying around that level of anger and bitterness. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/70 "2018-06-20T21:19:09Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > Reality TV > > I don’t understand its appeal. It’s obviously not “reality.” It’s scripted and edited and so very superficial. All segments end with a hook to keep you viewing after the commercial, then the hooks turn out to be of little consequence. I prefer that real actors recite the scripts. At least they’re talented. Why does anybody care about Mama Booboo or some loud spoiled kid or the non-ST Kardassians or My 600 lb life? > > Shows that involve a craft, skill or trade are fine. Pawn Stars, Iron Chef, Flip This House, fine. At least you’re learning something. A lot of the reality shows have basically replaced the spot soap operas filled in when it comes to the demographics of who’s watching. Though I never really understood how passionate some women could get about soap operas either. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/71 "2018-06-20T21:38:49Z")
**Dub vs. Sub** - whether to watch foreign media with a dubbed soundtrack or with subtitles. Most of the inexplicable passion comes from the sub side - the dub position seems to be “that’s what I prefer” whereas the sub position is “subtitles is the one true way and only sub-literate idiot cretins who aren’t worthy to consider themselves anime fans or little kids watching Pokemon would taint their eyeballs with dubbed versions”. Sure, I prefer subtitles for foreign films as well (you get a sense of the original actors’ performances even if you don’t understand the language), but I’m not going to crap all over someone who has a different preference. ---
**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, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/72 "2018-06-20T21:44:54Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Since you mention toxic fans, I’ll clarify my original post by saying that there’s a big difference between someone displaying their video game passion by spending all their disposable income on Nintendo tchochkes and someone sending death threats to a game developer because they’re mad about a new character. I don’t really understand the allure of either but if you just want to harmlessly spend your money on stuff, rock on with your bad self. Exactly! That’s pretty much where I was going- you can be an avid fan without being a toxic one. The other people whose passion I don’t get are the ones who are really passionate about a particular piece of software, and are like evangelists about it. I had a professor in college who was absolutely bonkers for [TeX](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TeX)/[LaTeX](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX), to the point where he required us to use it for the essays that we had to write for his _one credit hour_ survey course, and would routinely badmouth stuff like Microsoft Word and Publisher, and even Aldus Pagemaker as being inadequate. Of course, doing it his way meant that we had to type our essays out as text, then format it using the LaTeX markup language, and then do something else to it, to create a postscript file, which we could THEN print and see what our output looked like, since all this was command-line UNIX stuff back in 1995. I’ve met people after college who were equally worked up about their pet operating system- UNIX, LINUX, Windows, OS/2, etc… These guys were seriously invested in why their particular platform of choice was better than all others, and usually why Windows sucked extra bad. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/73 "2018-06-20T21:52:53Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > [Civil war reenactments:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War_reenactment) > > Odd, nobody seems to want to reenact the Vietnam War, or WW1. I would think that the fact that the battles actually happen in a place you can easily drive to might have something to do with it. There are civil war sites that dot half the country almost. Try getting a group of people to France to reenact the battle of the meuse argonne forest or ia drang and its going to be a fairly expensive field trip. ---
**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, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/74 "2018-06-20T22:37:34Z")
A while back, I was lurking on a board that I quickly realized was aimed at teenagers. In addition to the usual ban on discussion about religion and politics, they were also not allowed to talk about rock bands, sports teams, or sexual experiences, whether real or imaginary. It was OK to say things like “I like Nickelback” 😃 but it was not OK to say things like “You’re an idiot if you don’t like Nickelback.” Anyway, I mentioned this on yet another board, and a woman who had raised at least one teenager and lived to tell about it said, “So, what DID these kids talk about?!?!?” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/75 "2018-06-20T23:14:03Z")
I just thought of another one: Sobriety. I think we’re all used to younger people getting cult like with Vegetarianism, Veganism, or Libertarianism. But, some newly sober people can be just as bad as the most obnoxious vegan. Posting every 20 minutes on Facebook or just telling anyone who will listen about how great their life is now. Some of them grow out of it, regrettably others don’t ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2018, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/76 "2018-06-21T04:16:33Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > 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. Font Queens are annoying. Apart from anything else, Comic Sans is an excellent font for teaching literacy, especially with students unfamiliar with the Roman alphabet: recognising and reproducing “g” and “a” in particular can be a real problem in many common fonts because students think they are entirely different letters from the ones they’re shown how to write: you don’t have that problem with “g” and “a”. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2018, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/77 "2018-06-21T13:39:50Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > Font Queens are annoying. Apart from anything else, Comic Sans is an excellent font for teaching literacy, especially with students unfamiliar with the Roman alphabet: recognising and reproducing “g” and “a” in particular can be a real problem in many common fonts because students think they are entirely different letters from the ones they’re shown how to write: you don’t have that problem with “g” and “a”. Yeah, I never understood the level of concern/interest/obsession that some people have about fonts/typefaces. I mean some “fun” fonts like Comic Sans or Broadway may be more or less unprofessional if you’re using them on something like a RFP or other more formal document, but outside of that, who cares? And even within more formal documents, it just really doesn’t matter one bit if you use Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman, Cambria, Bookman Old Style, Tahoma, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, etc… They all look decently professional and none are “fun” fonts. ---
**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 21, 2018, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/78 "2018-06-21T15:00:47Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Anyway, I mentioned this on yet another board, and a woman who had raised at least one teenager and lived to tell about it said, “So, what DID these kids talk about?!?!?” 😛 Guy calls the city desk and tells the editor, “My grandfather doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke, doesn’t gamble, nor chase women and today he’s celebrating his 105th birthday.” “…How?” ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2018, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/79 "2018-06-21T16:45:32Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > The way the Right was so passionately opposed to President Obama. > > \ > > Now its the Left’s turn to be passionately opposed to President Trump. > > \ > > Just relax. The United States is going to be just fine. Isn’t this just the inductive fallacy? The turkey has nothing to worry about until the day before Thanksgiving. Democracies have elected themselves right into dictatorships before. This is a thing that can happen. Without getting into the specific politics here, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to worry that it might happen. There’s also some amount of survivorship bias here. That is: the problems that people make a lot of noise about tend to not become catastrophic, at least in part _because_ people were aware and vigilant. I remember people in retrospect pointing out how unreasonable the worry about the Y2K bug was, since basically nothing happened. And while some of the worry almost certainly _was_ unreasonable, at least some of the reason nothing happened is that people were vocally worried about it and spent a lot of effort making sure that it wouldn’t be a big problem. Sometimes things that have software in them totally stop working when there’s a simple bug somewhere in something that seems like it shouldn’t be mission critical. It’s not totally unreasonable to worry that “airliners” or “the banking system” could have had those kinds of bugs. Obviously, Obama did not become a dictator. Very likely (in my opinion) Trump won’t either. But it takes more analysis than “people are vocally worried about X even though it’s never happened” to show that people are wrong to be vocally worried about X. ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2018, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409/80 "2018-06-21T17:45:43Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > But refusing to check your bag and taking pride in travelling light rings hollow when you can’t even move your bag on your own. Check it and be done!) Are you certain these people are taking pride in “travelling light”, or are they just trying to avoid the $25.00 and up per checked bag fee many (most?) airlines are charging nowadays? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-surprised-people-could-be-so-passionate-about/816409.md?page=5)