Fiona Moore wrote:
Sally and Betty were mature enough to take me at my word, and provide me with intelligent and sensible answers, rather than making nasty overgeneralisations about social scientists.
In my case, this may have less to do with "maturity" than with the fact that I'm quite happy to have the metaphorical electrodes stuck in. (Heck, I'd probably volunteer for the *literal* electrodes if they'd let me in on the results.) My response to this kind of "study" (as long as it *does* seem to stem from a genuine and non-judgmental interest in how other people think) is pretty much going to be along the lines of "Here, sure, let me help you with those electrodes. Can I probe *your* brain next, please?" It comes as a bit of a surprise to me, really, to see how defensive other people can get about being put "under scrutiny," although I can certainly understand it now that I think about it... Especially when one feels one is being *told* what one thinks instead of *asked* about it. (Not that you seemed to me to be doing that, Fiona.)
Anyway, Fiona, it seemed to me that you deserved an intelligent and sensible answer because you asked an intelligent and sensible question. If you'd come across to me as nasty and judgmental, I probably would have just ignored you, but you didn't, certainly not the way that some others did. It kind of saddens me, actually, to think that *why* individual fans are into the things they're into has become the kind of topic which can't be discussed without generating hurt feelings. Because it's something that's really, truly, interesting to me.