What happened to different strokes for different folks? To agreeing to disagree? To live and let live? I had this thought yesterday morning after waking up, checking social media, and coming across two persuasive arguments about two different things. The first is that the new 2026 Lexus ES design is good and what the market wants and the second was that the new Big Bad Wolf ride is actually terrible. Both were arguments attempting to swim upstream of the views of the masses and both were written as if their position was an ultimate truth and not an opinion.
For decades now anything new has been treated as if it is the worst thing in the universe by a lot of people. Especially if it is a departure from what a brand or series has been known for. This is seen often in video games or movies. Look at the reaction online from certain groups when it comes to the Star Wars sequels or any video game sequel. The old thing is always the greatest thing in the universe and the new thing is the worst thing ever.
This all popped for me when I saw yet another argument about one thing being better than another. This was a person showing off their BMW but doing it in a way to take a shot at Toyota. Here is the thing. A BMW driver is completely different than a Toyota driver. The cars are not made to appeal to the same demographics. You drive a BMW if you want a great driving experience and are accepting of higher maintenance cost and less reliability. You drive a Toyota if you want reliability and low cost of ownership. There is also the fact that BMW is a luxury brand and Toyota is a mass market automobile. The only crossover audience would be when a person is deciding to step up to a luxury brand and choosing between BMW and Lexus, but again this video wasn’t about that. It was BMW vs Toyota.
It all made it click though. People have become addicted to being on the attack. It is what the algorithm wants and on social media people serve the algorithm. You’ve heard it before. People react more to negativity than positivity. It creates an environment of constant battles trying to belittle everything that is not our thing and the inability to let things that aren’t for us be. Think about the amount of middle-aged men with angry Youtube videos about The Little Mermaid or Snow White. Movies made for small female children. You couldn’t get a more different demographic than out-of-shape permanently online sweat-hogs and 4-9 year-old girls.
I also am a believer in the theory that the media is the message and in this day and age our media is personalized. We all live in little bubbles. We work from home, stream TV shows, listen to music on Spotify or Apple Music, shop online, do self check-out or Instacart for groceries, order sandwiches at kiosks. Our lives have less and less human interaction and shared experience. People’s brains have become rewired that everything is meant to be part of this personalized experience and when it isn’t they can’t handle it. They have to convince anyone that disagrees with them that they are right and they are wrong, and it is especially true if they believe they are on the island of correctness or fighting the time and tide of the masses.
Our lack of shared experiences has cost us the ability to shrug our shoulders and say, “That’s not for me.” As the song says you got to know when to hold them and know when to fold them. That is where we are. A place where people forgot how to walk away.
David Huzzard Writes 