Bethany Larson

I am not a resolution maker. Sure, I have personal goals and things that I know I can work on, but I hardly ever sit down to think up my yearly “resolutions.”  So, it is a rare occasion that I read an article that makes me evaluate myself, let alone my reactions. Especially my reactions pop culturey things.

But after reading The AV Club’s article pitting the attitude of intense hyperbole versus the holier-than-thou throne of “meh,” I found myself amazed by how much I was thinking about my usage of the word “meh” (Not that I never use hyperbole, I do. I just use “meh” much more often.) and even more amazed that I found myself resolving to banish it from my vocabulary.

The entire article, which is actually a debate between two people, makes valid and thought-provoking points about the pros and cons of both passion and apathy, at least in the realm of critical responses to culture, (The same arguments can probably be made the passion/apathy in politics or religion, but those are icky topics…so we won’t talk about them). While reading I found myself nodding my head from point to point, agreeing with most of what was said. But what really made me think about my reactions was this statement:

“Hyperbole has its side career as a selling tool or attention-grabber, but as an argumentative tool, it and “meh” come from the same place: a desire to belittle and infuriate someone whose opinions disagree with yours, while expending as little energy as possible.”
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