Elitism

I love to read. Magazines, novels, history, philosophy, the back of the cereal box, if it's printed, I will probably at least give it a chance to see if it grabs my attention. Recently it has come to my attention that many fellow readers are snobs. They look down on my love of some authors, presumably because those authors sell too many books. This confused me for a while, than I realized where the root of this problem lies, people are elitist. They like to think that they are better than the common man, so anything that is embraced by the common man must be held at arms length, lest these elitist be associated with the very people they are trying to set themselves apart from. Now, admittedly, this is not a bad policy for the most part, not because I wish to set myself apart from anybody, but because, generally speaking, most highly popular movies, authors, and musicians are horrendous. That being said, there are some exceptions, and just because somebody is popular does not mean that their work is without merit. If you hold this attitude it proves two things:
1. That you cannot think for yourself, you must adopt the view of those around you so that you can be one with the flock. Baaaaa.
2. That you are no better than the people who like something simply because it's popular, they just belong to a bigger flock.
It's OK to hate Brittany Spears music because it's tripe, but don't hate it just because everybody else in your circle of friends (flock) hates it. Try thinking for yourself. You might be surprised to find out that you are missing out on some very good stuff. Life is to short to do otherwise. I'm off to read my new Ludlum novel.