Snob

Melanie, you're a snob.

Am I? Well, let's see.

What is a snob?

The dictionary says:

noun

1.

a person who imitates, cultivates, or slavishly admires social superiors and is 

condescending or overbearing to others.

2.

a person who believes himself or herself an expert or connoisseur in a given field 

and is condescending toward or disdainful of those who hold other opinions or have different tastes regarding this field:

a musical snob.

There are some slightly different definitions out there too:

Anyone who thinks they are better than someone else based upon superficial factors.

(Urban dictionary)

Or:

A snob is a person who believes a correspondence between status and human worth. The term also refers to a person who believes that some people are inherently inferior to him or her for any one of a variety of reasons, including real or supposed intellect, wealth, education, ancestry, power, physical strength, class, taste, beauty, nationality, fame, extreme success of a family member or friend, etc. Often this form of snobbery reflects the snob's personal attributes.For example, a common snobbery of the affluent is the belief that wealth is either the cause or result of superiority, or both. Both definitions are used as a pejorative.

(Wikipedia)

I'm not even impressed by wealth or social status, so that whole area isn't relevant, and a lot of this is bigotry, frankly, so I really don't think I fit in there. I do hope not.

It's more when it comes to matters of taste that I get criticized. But even then, I plead not guilty, because I don't consider my tastes to be better than yours, they are just my tastes. If you don't share them, that's fine.

For example, up there - the musical snob. I enjoy opera, I don't enjoy country music. I am not asking you to listen to my music, and yet I still get called a snob for that preference. Not only that, on occasions, those who enjoy country music go on long, passionate rants about why it's good, or even better, than my tastes in music. Hang on, who's the snob here?

I am also often called a food snob, because I rarely eat processed food and I like a lot of international foods. I'm also a good cook and fascinated by food history, so I have a head full of interesting little factoids about it, which I'm prone to share. I do NOT claim to be an expert. I don't WANT to be an expert. Experts are often pretty boring, actually. People sometimes fight back by telling me how good X frozen pizza (or whatever) is, and fine. If you like it, you eat it. Just don't feed it to me. But if you get really uptight about it, if you start preaching about it, then I'm not the one with the issue.

But what really gets people riled up, for some reason, is when they find out I don't have TV.

Apparently if you don't have TV you are a cultural snob. Even if you never mention it until the topic comes up. Beat that.

This is complete bollocks. By the same logic I'm an animal snob because I don't have a budgie.

Snobbery involves JUDGING others on their tastes. Surely the snob is the person judging my lack of TV?

There is such a thing as inverted snobbery. This can include judging a person for speaking good English, or dressing conservatively, etc. I think it applies with my tastes in entertainment.Instead of saying "I know that I watch a lot of rubbish on TV, but I like it" they will have a go at me for not liking it.

Quite often people will confess to watching rubbish on TV with the excuse that "mindless" entertainment is relaxing. Fine. Enjoy. I don't find it relaxing, I find it annoying. You do what you want, I'll do something else.

It gets a bit stickier when the programme in question is highly regarded. We won't name names, because it will  distract, but there is a TV show on that is INCREDIBLY popular. My son has some episodes on DVD and I have taken the time to watch it with him. I don't like it. I don't like the story, I don't like the acting, and I don't like the production. It would therefore be quite easy to get into an argument about the quality of this show with those who like it, but to what end? Seriously?

However, if I say I don't like it, they get all snotty about it, quite often to the point of being defensive, and I have been judged for my opinions on it. That doesn't make me the snob, does it?

Oh emotional people, you are allowed to enjoy anything you want. Nobody is going to take it away from you. It isn't necessary to attack in order to defend. Are you that insecure that you need to do that?

I think what you really mean is that you think I'm too highbrow in my tastes, and not only do you not share my tastes (nobody is asking you to) you feel threatened by them (why?). Instead of shrugging and moving on you attack me for an attitude I don't even have. And that's silly.

What's silliest is that I have plenty of lowbrow tastes too. I just like what I like. If I were a food snob do you really think I'd eat Salad Cream? Food is supposed to be enjoyed, not worn like a badge. If I were a music snob would I listen to the Sex Pistols?

Eat what you like, watch what you like, read what you like, listen to what you like. Makes no difference to me. Just don't inflict it on me!