We all have something that we are passionate about, something that we call ourselves fans of.
Whether it is a sports logo that we wear proudly on a cap or a band that decorates the front of our shirt, our passions can run deep, and, for some, that passion goes beyond the average interest.
It rises like a plateau that we stand upon and can be more easily seen.
We can be recognized by this passion and identified by it.
Individual preferences determine what resonates with each of us, forming an intimate personal connection between fan and the entity of their admiration.
These individual biases also determine what we find disagreeable and distance ourselves from. And while we have reasons for why we like or dislike something, even these reasons themselves are subject to varying personal views which may be just as valid as those held by anyone else.
We have a tendency to ostracize those who can easily associated with something we think of as immature, silly, a waste of time, or even immoral.
We reduce a person to one characteristic then disregard every other aspect that makes up a human being.
Is that type of thinking not the basis for discrimination that uses other attributes to reduce a person such as gender, ethnicity, sex, or sexual preference?
Whatever specific object our passions tie us to couldn’t we recognize the passion itself and identify with each other by the fact that we can feel passionately?
Can’t we cultivate that shared sense of what it is like to have something that brings a universally understood joy into our lives instead of creating an adversarial atmosphere?