Iconoclasm for Dummies

Waxy.org has discovered the joys of reading bad reviews of good things on Amazon and called it the Amazon.com Knee-Jerk Contrarian Game!

I'm sure you'll all have your favourites, but as an orthodox Cinema lover I found the comments on Citizen Kane funny:

• "The only good thing about Citizen Kane is that it will put you to sleep faster than any film."
  
• "Please stop the hype on Citizen Kane. It doesn't work. It's like you are trying to convince people that poop smells good."
  
• "Citizen Kane is a hymn to all filmmakers who have ever tried to create something artistic and meaningful and failed miserably every step of the way."
  
• "It was just a bad attempt at a boring story about newspaper tycoon. It's one of the worst movies I have ever seen."
  

I got into an argument with one such heretic some time ago. It's odd the pride with which they hold their opinions, as if not liking something they are told is great makes them better than anyone else. In my particular argument, notice how I use one or two facts to back up my points only to be told that these are worthless compared to the opinions of my arguee and his teacher (whose argument against the film he briefly and sketchily summarises). Then again, discussion on Usenet rarely rises above schoolyard level.

Actually, a point could be read into some of this, in that, peoples opinions on something are only opinions and once you have one its usually impossible to argue you out of it.

Link via the often wonderful Boing Boing.