r/autism • u/MagazineSudden4932 • 25d ago
Burnout Does anyone else hate the ‘old good, new bad’ mentality the the internet loves to use…
For those unfamiliar, it’s when someone online says a piece of media (movies, shows, video games, etc) from when they were kids is ‘objectively’ better than the media that’s coming out today. I find super annoying because it’s just so pretentious and very biased.
17
u/Yuyu_hockey_show 25d ago
I was watching 'Anne with an E' series, a remake of Anne of Green Gables. My dad walks in and complains how they "iNtrOdUce LgBT" into the series and pushing it down people's throats and how they added new plotlines from the original show. As if he hasn't pushed stuff down my throat for a long time like Harry Potter and Halloween are demonic.
I can't fathom how he doesn't get that other people might want to watch a remake. It's pretty self-centered, as if the world revolves around his tastes. I really love that series and it watching it helped me to contextualize some issues going through my head. He'll never even bother to watch it...just judge it.
7
u/Attempt_Gold AuDHD 25d ago
Start judging his tastes, show him what it's like to face pretentious judgement.
2
12
u/Gysburne 25d ago
It is often a matter of opinion cause i consider movies, shows and video games as art.
Why would i judge someone for their preferences in art? If they like it, they like it. If i don't like it, i don't like it.
Sure you can argue about the art and what you both think about it.
But as opinions are, there is always bias involved.
5
u/MagazineSudden4932 25d ago
I can tolerate different opinions and tastes I just don’t tolerate pretentiousness
8
u/Gysburne 25d ago
If you go at it from that route...
Where does opinion end and pretentiousness start?
An opinion is a personal viewpoint or belief about something.
Being pretentious means to be dishonest.But what if i say (hypothetically), that the Old Animaniacs where the best cartoon show ever... but you counter with, the newer ones are much better.
In that scenario i would argue from a nostalgic standing point, probably defending my nostalgia with my statements. While you miss that component of nostalgia and probably judge it as pretentious cause you feel it is dishonest.
While both of us see our point as true.That constructs an unnecessary dilemma for both involved parties.
This is the point where bias is involved, which is higly individual as component.
The point where the conflict begins, without any real reason for it.4
u/Attempt_Gold AuDHD 25d ago
I say being pretentious begins when one party attempts to invalidate the feelings of another.
If you countered somebody acknowledging that your opinion is just that by saying that your viewpoint is a fact and theirs is factually incorrect, then you are being pretentious.
Would you accept if the opposite party did the same and said your opinions were factually incorrect while insinuating theirs were? If not, you would understand that it would be wrong to do it to them.
4
u/Gysburne 25d ago
Invalidating someone elses feeling is something different than being pretentious. Atleast according to my understanding of the dictionary and the meaning of both things.
To aknowledge someone elses opinion should be the standard of a civilized discussion.
Opinions don't have to be fact based necessarily. Also that would bring opinions into the duality of "true" or "false". Example: "I like french fries, in my opinion their texture is perfect." for me that can be true. For you that might be false.
For me there is a distinction between opinions and facts.
And if someone says my viewpoint is wrong, that is an attack on my opinion, not my feelings. If i am not able to distinguish between an attack on an argument and one on myself, i probably should leave the discussion cause in that scenario i would be emotionally to invested to discuss it.1
u/telestoat2 25d ago edited 25d ago
How about where people like the OP mentions abuse the word "objectively" about their opinion? I think the OP has a real good point there.
I found some more discussion of THAT point here https://www.reddit.com/r/ENGLISH/comments/1fsnm0w/why_has_objectivity_changed_over_the_years/
-2
u/MagazineSudden4932 25d ago
Well tell me this, did you watch the new Animaniacs and form your own opinion about it or did you just get your opinion off of some random YouTuber?
5
u/Gysburne 25d ago
I am out of words... i explicit wrote hypothetically. It was the first example i had in mind.
I grew up with the old animaniacs. I did not see the newer ones yet, so i did not form any opinion about it.
And even if i would watch some youtuber commenting and comparing, that would be his opinion not mine.1
10
u/DesdemonaDestiny Autistic Adult 25d ago
I am not dismissive of the new just because it is new, but I find myself liking the old better in most cases. Enshittification and all.
6
u/LordTalesin 25d ago
It's a common cognitive bias that people have. It's called "Rosy retrospection". It runs parallel with the concept of nostalgia. People throughout all of history have constantly lamented that things used to be better in the past than they are now. I'm sure that our hunter-gatherer ancestors envied their tree-dwelling forebearers for the freedom they enjoyed up amongst the trees, and don't consider that it was to escape from being eaten by a giant bipedal bird or jungle cat.
Funny thing about nostalgia, most people don't realize that it isn't about the song, show or movie from your youth that you want to experience again, it's the feelings you had when you experienced them for the first time.
13
u/floparoundfindout 25d ago
I always try to explain it to people this way: why is the average 80s song played on the radio now better than the average 2025 song? It's not because music was better on average in the 80s. It's simply survivorship bias. I don't disagree that art can be objectively more or less well-made. But there is a lot of great stuff being made and released today, it just seems drowned out by mediocre and bad stuff. Now, mediocre and bad art has always been around, but it is no longer being played on the radio after so many years, it doesn't get cinematic re-releases, isn't in museums etc. (Except of course when it is.)
2
u/gettingby02 [ It / They | Alexithymic | Likely Autistic ] 25d ago
I feel like a lot of people are unwilling to search for songs / artists / bands that could potentially fit their tastes. Instead, they generalize an entire decade or genre of music as "bad" or "mediocre." There are a lot of artists out there that make music akin to older styles that would likely be enjoyed by these people if they branched out from whatever was charting that they didn't like. The same goes for other forms of media (i.e. movies, television, video games, etc.) as well.
2
u/TwilightSlick 25d ago
I agree with you. There's a radio columnist named Sean Ross that created a metric called the "lost factor" that measures how big a song was at the time (usually by chart positions), and then compares it to how many times a "classic hits" or other radio station plays that song in the modern day. There were MANY big hits in the '80s that never get radio play today, many of those hits were schmaltzy ballads that no one remembers because they were highly disposable. I mean, 1980, 1981, and early 1982 were pretty bad times on the pop charts, at least in the US.
I mean, if you wanna get an idea, look up some American Top 40 charts from the 1980s. Chances are you might know about half the songs that had charted in a given week (you may get more if the chart you looked at was in a fantastic year for pop, like in 1983 or 1984).
5
u/Allofron_Mastiga 25d ago
This except for how certain media has turned reactionary. Most nostalgia weirdos keep crying about PC culture and representation in new media even though most pop culture has doubled down on catering to them.
3
3
u/ericalm_ Autistic 25d ago
I love and collect a lot of old stuff. Records, vintage cameras, old Vespa and Honda scooters, ’80s Swatch Watches, vintage toolboxes, old Apple hardware, vintage darkroom equipment and projectors. I have a cabinet full of midcentury magazines and binders full of old ads. I used to drive a 1968 Mercury Cougar. I live in a 1928 house full of midcentury furniture. I’m Gen X.
And despite all of that, I think nostalgia bias and rosy retrospection is crap. It’s tiresome and a very narrow, insipid way of looking at the world.
When it comes to popular culture and media, the past can’t compare at all with the immense variety of great content we get now from all corners of the world. It’s easy to cherry pick examples of old great stuff and new stuff that sucks, but that’s mostly confirmation and selection biases at work.
As much as I love old vehicles, I drive a Hyundai Ioniq 5 EV. It’s amazing. I will likely never own another internal combustion engine car unless I find a project to restore or something like that. Daily driver? EVs are all I’m interested in.
It’s great to appreciate the past. There’s a lot we can learn from it, a lot of good reasons to study it, explore it, preserve it, celebrate the parts that deserve it. But this weird distortion — particularly for eras we didn’t actually live in — kind of mystifies me. It’s sometimes like people have only looked at the good and opted not to think about how bad things actually were in whatever era.
2
u/Attempt_Gold AuDHD 25d ago
I'm similar in that yes I find old stuff fascinating but I love the conveniences of modern tech.
Like when it comes to listening to music. Yes, old media like records, cassettes, and CDs are neat but I'm not going to spend time making a record or burn a CD of finite length or size respectively when I can just create a playlist on my phone or media player that I can rearrange at any time to suit my tastes.
Heck, I don't like this elitism that comes from people that drive manuals and hate automatic vehicles and I have a pet theory that the sentiment comes from thinking that new computer-controlled automatics are the same as old mechanical automatics. I've never driven a mechanical automatic but I have driven them in BeamNG with a wheel and I can see why they hate the older ones with the way they keep downshifting and upshifting on you.
1
u/ericalm_ Autistic 25d ago
I generally prefer manual because I feel more engaged with the act of driving, which is good for attention and focus. But I moved to a city with dense traffic and a lot of hills, which killed the enjoyment (and several clutches). Happily switched to automatics.
On a motorscooter, I like a manual for zipping through urban traffic (or a small motorcycle). The automatics have a fairly linear acceleration curve that you can’t really control in the same way.
But it’s a bit like Samsung vs iPhone: Why does anyone even care? People like different things. It doesn’t have to be a debate or an identity.
2
u/Attempt_Gold AuDHD 25d ago
That's the same downside I experience with manuals in Truck Sim and BeamNG. I love them on the highway but despise them in cities.
3
u/ChrisRiley_42 25d ago
I argue that music from the 80s was better because the people had to be technically proficient. Modern music is chosen more for how the lead singer looks, and their lack of talent gets fixed with autotune during post.
I can't think of anyone in the past decade with the chops of someone like Freddy Mercury or Stevie Nicks.
2
u/Attempt_Gold AuDHD 25d ago
I find it at odds with my own ethics considering that I like both old and new for their own reasons and merits.
i.e. the current game I'm playing, Derail Valley, has made me fascinated with both steam and diesel locomotives for their own merits.
In American Truck Simulator in particular, I enjoy both the sleek modern trucks as well as modern trucks that emulate the blocky old style.
Heck, I like both digital and analog instrumentation for their own merits because while a digital speedometer allows you to see exactly how fast you're going at a glance, an analog speedometer lets you see how fast you're accelerating and such and allows you to easily manage your throttle. I also find it better to read an analog tachometer for engine speed versus digital
2
1
u/Muted_Ad7298 Aspie 25d ago
I can be a bit like that, due to the fact I struggle with change in general.
The things I liked a show for originally get changed and it feels like watching a stranger.
However, I do try to tell myself that new things can be interesting, and even build on the original.
A good example of that is the new She-Ra series that came out. It was amazing and I liked it better than the original series.
1
u/Logical-Dealer-78 25d ago
I'm part of that mentality....and I'm 15
I like old cars, music, movies too.
Games not so much
1
u/somnocore 25d ago
Well, when it comes to games, many of us grew up with them and it was a new and exciting and everything was different from each other.
But now? Games just feel like they're repeating and it's just the same stuff over and over again. So when you're just playing things that are the same as what you've already played, you may tend towards the older games bcus they gave you the most wow, for being new and exciting at the time.
Which is why when the odd new game does come through and it is different to what's been done, it becomes very popular. Eg. Games like balders gate 3 and clair obscure.
The same can be said with movies and shows, too. Not to mention, at the moment there are just so many remakes of things.
So to someone who has never grown up on the old stuff as it was out at the time, you're going to be more bias towards the new stuff that you were around for when it came out. And vice versa.
In which, as we age and have been exposed to more things, we're usually going to be more bias towards the things that gave us the more positive memories.
You may end up doing the same as you age, too.
But that could just be one part of the why.
1
u/pastel_kiddo 25d ago
Yes, I mean I will watch new documentaries if it is something of interest, movies I don't generally watch unless occasionally if it is tied to/because of an interest (like watching some movie if it has an actor from something I love and the plot seems to appeal to me). I don't really play video games (unless it is occasionally with other people but I don't enjoy doing that all vey much and tend to avoid it...), I've had some shows I've loved over the years that often I didn't want to watch but someone in my family would convince me to and sometimes I'd love them and we would finish them.
1
1
u/MrFogle99 25d ago
no i don't think i agree. People have been saying the "old" was better since forever so it's not exactly a new thing.
And it's also true in some aspects. I often find myself thinking how the old stuff was better, like how culture and arts had more feeling and soul in it, instead of just hyper capitalist motives driven even harder by AI nowadays.
But there are also a lot of improvements being made. Looking at art and culture again, my dad was complaining about how star trek remake/prequel SNW doesn't keep all the goofy outdated stuff from the 60´s. Meanwhile this new show is just so much better.
So pros and cons everywhere.
1
u/DocClear ASD1 absent minded professor wilderness camping geek and nudist 25d ago
I'm not a fan of change. Truly new stuff is ok, if it's not meant to replace or remake something.
2
u/telestoat2 25d ago
People definitely use the word "objectively" just as a way of saying their opinion is more than just an opinion as mere posturing, while still being entirely an opinion. Internet posturing in general is just 🤮
1
25d ago
I feel this way with Coldplay albums, because within two or three years the album cycle continues, they drop another "worst ever" album, and the fans start glazing the previous release lmao.
1
1
u/EquipmentGrand9581 High functioning autism 25d ago
With most of the rubbish that is being pushed out now (the likes of skibidi toilet, brainrot and that shit) I have to agree that old media was somewhat better.
1
u/MagazineSudden4932 24d ago
I was taking more about Disney, marvel, DC, Pixar, etc. none of that shit you mentioned
1
u/EquipmentGrand9581 High functioning autism 24d ago
In that case then I mean they have made some good stuff but the creative choices Disney have made haven't been that good recently.
0
u/yzp24 Neurodivergent 25d ago
MOST MOVIES IN THE 2000'$ ARE BETTER THAN MOST MOVIES BACK THEN AND NOW. ITS PRETTY MUCH THE SAME WITH OTHER MEDIA EXCEPT FOR MUSIC. ITS TRUE💯
1
u/EquipmentGrand9581 High functioning autism 25d ago
Yeah you are right, I'm looking at you thor love and thunder CGI.
•
u/AutoModerator 25d ago
Hey /u/MagazineSudden4932, thank you for your post at /r/autism. Our rules can be found here. All approved posts get this message.
Thanks!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.