Guilty Pleasures

One of my possible prompts for today was "What is your guilty pleasure?" Spoiler alert: This blog is not going to contain a guilty pleasure of mine, because I don't have any.

I really, really hate the notion of guilty pleasures and from time to time I like to talk about why it's a dumb notion. Pleasure is defined as "A feeling of happy satisfaction and enjoyment." It's 100% a positive word. Pleasures are just things that make us happy or give us some form of enjoyment.

Personally, I'm not going to let anyone make me feel guilty for something I enjoy. Call me a basic white girl as much as you want, I will enjoy whatever I want. Look, I've brought myself to talking about another notion which I abhor: that humans can be "basic". No. Every single person you meet is vastly complicated, and yeah, some might wear Uggs and leggings (I honestly don't know much about the qualifications for debasement of this kind), but that does not define their existence. 

Where do these notions come from? That we're not supposed to like things that aren't aimed to our demographic, or in the case of being "basic", apparently we're not supposed to like too many things aimed at our demographic? Or to feel like our intelligence is in question because we like a certain thing? These things are so nonsensical. Sure, there are things that are not intelligently written or that are mostly aimed at old ladies, but if you find pleasure in those things, good for you. A lot of things about the world can be not great, so if you find happiness in something, no matter how small or trivial, you shouldn't have to hide it. There should not be guilt associated with things that make us happy, unless you are somehow causing harm to others. If you're hurting other people or enjoying the pain of others, yes, stop enjoying that pleasure ASAP. 

I admit. I make fun of Twilight, Nickelback, The Big Bang Theory, and some other things, but I wouldn't think less of anyone for enjoying these things (though I do have legitimate concerns about messages contained within these things). I'm trying not to make fun of people for differences of taste, because I know I have a tendency to get quite passionate in my opinions, but I truly do think that no one should have to feel guilty for liking what they like. I'm sorry if I've ever done that to people. 

Unabashedly loving is the best thing we do as humans. We shouldn't let other people put limits on what we get to love. We are defined by how we love, not what we love.

Listening to: "When It Was Now" by Atlas Genius