I definitely fall for it myself, but not as much as a lot of people. I have favorites but not often a favorite. I have favorite movies, but no #1. I have favorite bands, but no #1. Jimi Hendrix, Leslie West, Jimmy Page... All awesome guitarists, but I'm not going to try to claim one is better than the other (although, I often do so in jest when posting something "best song ever!", but I don't ever really mean it).
I was wandering around youtube looking over some videos trying to find guitarists who's music I might enjoy; something in the style of say Leslie West, Hendrix, or like minded guitarists... What do I come across - people bitching back and forth about how "this guitarist is so much better than this one..." and how "this guy is amazing, but Jimi Hendrix is still the best ever...".
Then I think about here - Best sports game of the year. Best non-sports game of the year. Who's better Kobe or Jordan? Who's better Moss or Owans? Who's the greatest RB of all time? Who's the greatest hockey player - Gretzky or Lemieux? Who's better now - Ovechkin or Crosby? etc, etc, etc.
Then we're obsessed with our awards... Best movie of the year. Best actor of the year. Best rapper of the year. Best metal song of the year. Best actor ever. Best rapper ever. Best metal band ever...
It all starts to look so stupid with people bickering back and forth about why so and so is better; how this guitarist can play really fast but has no soul, how this basketball player is at fault because he hasn't won as many championships or because he played with a better team...
Why does something or someone always have to be better or the best? Why can't things just be equal ever? We've always got to single out who's better than the rest and try to make up as many reasons as to why it's correct.
Why can't we just accept that there are simply an amount of people who certainly do stand out above the rest, but that possibly these people are all just great in different ways?
I dunno - silly rant, but just trying to watch sports and trying to listen to music on sites like youtube, we're constantly bombarded with people trying to prove that someone is better than another; and it just seems so dumb.
And really we don't just do it with people, but everything. What's the best phone? What's the best utility phone - "the iPhone roxxors...", "not teh Droid is the best... iPhones are for trendy nerds..."
Windows, Mac, Linux... Food. Music players... Computer brands... headphones... freaking stain cleaners... Something always has to be "THE BEST".
Heck, go into any sliders forum here and you're bound to find people fighting over who has the "best" sliders, on top of posts asking for people to just link to the "best" sliders so they don't have to play any themselves and just find what works... Because clearly since multiple sliders exist, one of them must be the best.
I was wandering around youtube looking over some videos trying to find guitarists who's music I might enjoy; something in the style of say Leslie West, Hendrix, or like minded guitarists... What do I come across - people bitching back and forth about how "this guitarist is so much better than this one..." and how "this guy is amazing, but Jimi Hendrix is still the best ever...".
Then I think about here - Best sports game of the year. Best non-sports game of the year. Who's better Kobe or Jordan? Who's better Moss or Owans? Who's the greatest RB of all time? Who's the greatest hockey player - Gretzky or Lemieux? Who's better now - Ovechkin or Crosby? etc, etc, etc.
Then we're obsessed with our awards... Best movie of the year. Best actor of the year. Best rapper of the year. Best metal song of the year. Best actor ever. Best rapper ever. Best metal band ever...
It all starts to look so stupid with people bickering back and forth about why so and so is better; how this guitarist can play really fast but has no soul, how this basketball player is at fault because he hasn't won as many championships or because he played with a better team...
Why does something or someone always have to be better or the best? Why can't things just be equal ever? We've always got to single out who's better than the rest and try to make up as many reasons as to why it's correct.
Why can't we just accept that there are simply an amount of people who certainly do stand out above the rest, but that possibly these people are all just great in different ways?
I dunno - silly rant, but just trying to watch sports and trying to listen to music on sites like youtube, we're constantly bombarded with people trying to prove that someone is better than another; and it just seems so dumb.
And really we don't just do it with people, but everything. What's the best phone? What's the best utility phone - "the iPhone roxxors...", "not teh Droid is the best... iPhones are for trendy nerds..."
Windows, Mac, Linux... Food. Music players... Computer brands... headphones... freaking stain cleaners... Something always has to be "THE BEST".
Heck, go into any sliders forum here and you're bound to find people fighting over who has the "best" sliders, on top of posts asking for people to just link to the "best" sliders so they don't have to play any themselves and just find what works... Because clearly since multiple sliders exist, one of them must be the best.
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