Acceptable Hobby Targets

""Fucking gamers again, dude?! Can I just get one break without gamers trying to destroy the fabric of society?" "How many schools need to be shot up? How many women need to be raped because of video games? I'm sick of it.""

- Ethan Klein (tongue-in-cheek) on a "virtual rape news report", Girl sexually assaulted in GTA V -- h3h3 reaction video

This is an index for the various stereotypes and Acceptable Targets that exist from their hobbies. See also Fan Hater and Even Nerds Have Standards.


 * Cosplay
 * Furry Fandom
 * Girl Show Ghetto
 * Naked People Are Funny
 * Rail Enthusiast

The devoted hobbyists

Whether it's collecting something people generally try not to think about, spending a lot of time watching/reading/playing something that many would think would have stopped being entertaining days ago, or just peppering any and every bit of conversation with obscure references to their hobby, it's generally considered okay to think of people like this as obsessive freaks. Characters may temporarily become like this during a bout of Fleeting Passionate Hobbies.

Chicago Cubs Fans

See also Every Year They Fizzle Out and Butt Monkey/Sports.

Until 2016, the Chicago Cubs hadn't won the World Series since 1908, and hadn't even been in a World Series since 1945. So, therefore, they are the worst team ever (even though plenty of other Major League Baseball Teams have never won the World Series), and all of their fans are complete idiots with no class who root for a lost cause. (Whether this will change with their World Series win in 2016 remains to be seen.) Similarly, fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs can be acceptable targets in that they have not won the NHL Stanley Cup (or made an appearance in the finals) since 1967.

New York Yankees Fans

At the other end, those teams (and their fans) that are deemed to be too successful, are often regarded as Acceptable Targets by rival fans and media. In fictional works, these teams are seen as the Opposing Sports Team.

Professional Wrestling fans

Feel like coming out of your steel cage closet and admitting you're a fan to, say, your boss?

Bodybuilders

Doesn't help much that they use steroids, or that everything about the lifestyle strikes some people as Ho Yay.
 * Even more so, Female Bodybuilders (and, by proxy, fitness and figure competitors). And don't try to argue that these women are instead attractive. You're bound to be caught up in numerous Flame Wars detailing stereotypes about female beauty, one's sexual orientation, and a whole gamut of topics not fit to be reproduced on this page (or elsewhere, for that matter).
 * In Real Life bodybuilding is split between long-term builders and get-big-quick muscleheads (usually teenage males) who try to live up to the stereotype. The former usually emphasize healthy diets and avoid steroids and supplements while the later will buy any new gimmick to get "ABZ."
 * Ironically, bodybuilding is a popular couples sport, either with one person training and the other coaching, or both working out together.

People who prefer media free of sex and/or violence

Unfortunately, all people who uphold this preference tend to be lumped in with Moral Guardians - even if those are just personal preferences, and they have no intention of pushing those personal preferences onto other people. Heck, even if you just say you'd like a little less sex and violence in entertainment, you'll be accused of being some right-wing anti-sex prude who obviously doesn't know what "real" entertainment is. Dear god help you if Values Dissonance of any sort comes into play.

Fans of a Dead Horse Music Genre

At least, the people who like the latest teen pop have an excuse of "following the crowd" - but if the music is no longer even popular, then what's their excuse? Surely, it can't be because it just so happens to be the music that they derive personal pleasure from. No, of course not! It's because they're too stupid and misguided to know any better.

Trainspotters/Railfans

They have become a byword for all pathetic, pointless hobbies.

People who obsessively play online games

Especially stuff like World of Warcraft, which is the biggest target. For some reason, partly due to New Media Are Evil, it's seemingly perfectly acceptable to blame any addictions to online games as the fault of the game itself - whereas doing this for just about anything else (namely blaming the murder on the murder weapon and not the murderer) usually results with people not taking it seriously.

Gun hobbyists

Either right-wing nuts or terrorists in training or tragedies waiting to happen.

Men who knit

Men who knit are frequently compared to homosexuals, old ladies, or old lady homosexuals. Despite the fact that a girlfriend would probably love to have a guy that can make gorgeous accessories for her from scratch.

Tabletop Roleplayers

All 30-year-old man children who have no social skills and will live in their parents' basements as long as they can. More modern interpretations don't even let them get to be out of their teens, but they're just about always socially stunted nerds, and girls are mysterious-nigh-mythical creatures to them; certainly no girl would ever be caught playing a tabletop RPG. They also wear silly hats while they play. Which brings us to the Brotherhood of Funny Hats, though it's rare to see this nowadays...
 * When the occasional tabletop gaming female does appear, she's either a fat, unattractive, overdramatic emo-girl (there's a lot of overlap with anime fangirls here), or a tomboy who's probably a little lesbian.

Fans of "That Other Football"

For most, if not all of the world, the most popular sports in a specific nation will usually include one game that is called "Football"...and usually only one sport at that although in rare occasions two. (ex. Association Football / Soccer and Rubgy Football in the United Kingdom, American Football in the United States, Gaelic Football in Ireland, and Australian Rules Football in Australia). However for some reason, it seems to be taboo for one to like two or more football codes, especially one that is considered "foreign". In Australia for example, most of the country is either divided between Rugby and Aussie rules, with soccer being an afterthought (outside of the national team), while in the US; outside the US Mens (and sometimes Womens) National Team, soccer is not seen well as a spectator sport compared to American Football, and it is hard to find someone to openly say they are a fan of both Football and Soccer (or even just soccer for that matter). Of course, since there are quite a few sports that claim the name Football, there are quite a few heated arguments among the fans of each sport on which sport really is the "Real" Football (Soccer vs American Football debates especially), with plenty of eloquent and well-researched arguments to make their point.

For the record, if you were wondering where all these sports called "Football" came from, in the 19th century, kids played their own versions of football however they felt like it. But soon after, there was a call in England for standardizing the rules of Football, which of course led to lots of arguing. In the end the arguers settled on two games: Rugby Football and Association football. Not long after, other organized sports based on these two sports as well as others were formed (Australian Rules Football, American Football, Gaelic Football, etc.) and all of these "Football" sports have since gained a foothold in sports culture. Of course since there are quite a few sports that claim the name Football many of these arguments continue on to this very day.

Fantasy Sports Players

They are often accused of bringing "nerd-like traditions" into sports fandoms, and cheering when they are "not" supposed to cheer.

Women who don't like clothes (or shoes) shopping

Even though this, technically, a traditionally feminine gender norm - this is one trait that will be expected in women, even by other women. Women who don't fancy spending an entire Saturday in a shopping mall are often treated as being socially aberrant. In some cases, even mothers will express concern over their daughters' lack of interest in clothes or shoes - and may attempt to "correct" that. Also, while men may not care so much about the "women hanging out at a shopping mall" aspect, many will act as if women not caring about looking fashionable is some sort of affront to them. "How dare you not care about making yourself look good for us?" But for other guys, it's Fetish Fuel!

Fans and artists of media intended for Teenage Girls

See also Girl Show Ghetto.

Examples of this include: Twilight, Justin Bieber, pretty much any Boy Band, and pretty much anything from Disney Channel (such as Hannah Montana... and Miley Cyrus, for that matter).

If a form of entertainment is manufactured with this demographic in mind from the beginning, it is immediately shunned and becomes an object of ridicule, often sight unseen. Even if something was liked and respected before it had fangirls, it is written off as valueless the moment the squeeing starts. Treating these series with anything other than total disdain (even indifference) can get you branded as a complete idiot who has no idea what True Art is, a brainless zombie who only follows what is popular, or a fifteen-year-old girl.


 * Forget teenagers, this includes media intended for girls of any age. Even media that only looks like it's meant for girls.

Men who keep cats as pets

This is often judged as profoundly effeminate and bad (the two often overlapping due to homophobia).
 * Right-Hand-Cat?
 * Men who don't like dogs often get this attitude as well.
 * And pity the boy who doesn't like dogs. Barring allergy, there is apparently no excuse for a boy to not like dogs.
 * And woe betide the poor guy who loves dogs - but they happen to be the "wrong" dogs. Like a chihuahua or shih tzu instead of something "macho" like a pitbull or doberman.

Mimes

See also Everyone Hates Mimes.

Historical Reenactors

Creepy, Always Male ultra-nerds who live in the The Theme Park Version of another time period because the present does not suit them. Often casting themselves as the Politically Incorrect Hero to hide their bigoted attitudes behind faux Values Dissonance.

Hobbyist musicians

They're not very good, but insist on inflicting their music on their friends, and probably on practicing in the middle of the night when their neighbours are trying to sleep. For bonus points, they either play an insanely loud electric guitar, or an instrument that sounds really discordant when played badly, such as the violin, the bagpipes, or the accordian.

Anime Fans

They are almost ALWAYS portrayed to be either basement-dwelling, obese, unattractive losers or over-obsessive, annoying, immature halfwits who speak Gratuitous Japanese and are trying to act Japanese. So, if you like anime, expect to have a lot of crap thrown at you.