When did hating things get so popular?

Another rant about something that bothers me:

To paraphrase from my Uncle's best friend, at some point, it becomes cooler to hate a cultural phenomenon than to enjoy it.

I'm not referring to not liking something after having tried it, or even to professing a deep and visceral loathing. AFTER TRYING IT.

No, what bugs me is the blind hatred of something SIMPLY BECAUSE OTHER PEOPLE LIKE IT.

The most current target of this pop-culture hatred is, of course, the Twilight Saga.

I was conversing with a fellow student the other day who, when the aforementioned books were brought up in the context of encouraging teenagers to read, professed her undying hatred of them, and all their fans. Being a fan myself I asked, "Have you read them?"

"Uh...no," was her slightly sheepish response. I admit I was a little taken aback by this answer. After all, even as a fan I know there a lot of things to dislike about the series. The writing is not great. The storyline, even discounting the vampires, is ridiculous; and a tale of two teenagers falling madly in love with each other and growing alarmingly codependent is not a healthy example for anyone.

I know all this, and I still like the books. I can understand people who don't, believe me. But my fellow student really can't fairly say that she hates them. She's never read them. She's basing this dislike completely on the opinion of others.

If this was happening the other way, if she LOVED something, say Harry Potter, without ever reading the books or seeing the movies, people would think she was a moron. And a weird moron at that.

This is less about disliking the novels than it is about enjoying the feeling of superiority that comes with disliking something popular. And that makes absolutely NO SENSE.

The same problem arises with things like Star Wars, Star Trek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dungeons and Dragons, Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica and Harry Potter. It has been drilled into us that these are things the nerds like. Many people feel embarrassed mentioning they enjoy these shows, movies and books, until it is confirmed that the listener is a fan too.

To hell with that. Things become popular for a reason. And if I like something, I like it. It's better to accept that I'm a nerd than to fight it. I'm happier. And if people don't like it, they are cordially invited to bite me.