How to deal with music shaming
Music Shaming: the act of criticizing someone's music taste just because it doesn't resonate with your own.
Music, deemed proudly as the 'universal language', has often times ironically become the subject of social conflict as well as the basis of judging someone worthy of befriending. For instance, nowadays people with a keen passion for pop music or in fact any mainstream genre of music are often deemed tasteless solely because of their music preference. Assuming the former is acceptable, things get problematic when the judgments become less about the song itself and more about proving the superiority of their own music taste to that of others'.
Music is an art form and like most art forms, it is subjective. A person's taste in music varies depending on a significant amount of factors ranging from the type of music he/she was exposed to from an early age, to his/her personal preference as a whole. Simply put, there are 7.5 billion people in the world and not being welcoming to the concept of varied music taste will probably lead to your early demise. So for those who need it, it's safer to start being more open-minded and overall tolerant because after all, the best way to deal with a problem is to prevent its inception first-hand.
Looking at this as another form of bullying, you'll realize how the solution lies within the cause and effect itself. The cause is often the bully's insecurities driving him/her to criticize others to obtain a sense of accomplishment while the effect is often their increased self-esteem and motivation after a successful session of bullying. So the solution is simple: don't give them the power of satisfaction. It doesn't matter if others think it's stupid. Another "WHAM!" song came up on shuffle? Turn the volume up and sing your heart out for a change. Trust me you won't regret it.
A ridiculous phenomenon is associating people's music tastes with stereotypes. For instance it's thought to be weird, by some, for a guy in his twenties to be enjoying a Justin Bieber tune or for a teenage girl to be head banging throughout a Metallica concert. Making quick assumptions about someone's personality depending on the type of music they listen to is the same as assuming someone's a psychotic killer just because they watched 'Scream' multiple times. Conclusion-if eating a pizza doesn't turn you into a pizza, listening to Freddie Mercury doesn't magically alter your sexual orientation.
Lastly what's the true meaning of the words 'bad taste'? Is it the quality of the songs you listen to? No. It's rather the inability to be accepting of the variant genres of music out there. Hating on some genres just because it doesn't speak to you the way others do isn't very respectful. The music industry is an ever-changing one, providing us with forms of entertainment in varied colors. So it's wiser to focus on taking our pick from the lot than criticizing what others have picked as their own, all for the sake of appreciating music the way it deserves to be appreciated.
Veronica Gomes is a devout Coldplayer and Sherlockian who is convinced her dog has secret pet parties at her place when she's not around. Email her at gomesveronica1997@gmail.com