how i learned to stop worrying and love ben affleck

despite being a big fan of kevin smith movies and, 'dazed and confused,' i have, in the past, held a pretty negative opinion of ben affleck. i think it started when he was dating j-lo and he showed up in one of her music videos. there was also 'gigli,' (which for the record is a movie i've never actually seen so my assumptions on its horribleness are all based on my own biased worldview and hearsay) and that time the makers of south park made a song about how bad ben affleck was in, 'pearl harbor,' in the movie, 'team america' (i put a ton of stock into what the creators of south park think about things cuz i'm pretty sure they're beings of higher intelligence that were put here to enlighten us all through crude yet thoughtful humor). i was also a little bent about the whole, 'daredevil,' debacle, but not nearly as much as everyone else.

so when the news first broke that ben affleck would be the latest actor to portray batman, my initial reaction was a generic, 'what the fuck are they thinking?' but that didn't last long. cuz i had already seen the internet blow back before it happened. comic book fans and generic geeks of the world were going to hate this at a high social networking decibel that would be impossible to ignore. and they did. and maybe they have the right... that's what the internet is for i'm assuming, displaying your hate for things that, in the grander scheme of this shared experience we call existence, don't mater.

my first facebook post in response to the news was a simple, "i 'heart' ben affleck." i was really just trying to display my general sense of apathy for the whole thing. but i could've just as easily jumped on the, 'ben affleck sucks,' bandwagon. it would've been so easy. it's not that much of a stretch for me. if i were interrogated on the topic, i'm sure i could easily come up with at least five actors who i think would be a better choice (i had jokingly posted on facebook that they should've casted mr. t. ridiculous? yes. good idea if you're looking to make the next great viral youtube video? you know it). but my problem is that i don't care that much about it. it's not that big of a deal to me. whatever. it's fucking batman. there's gotta be bigger matters in the world.

and there are. i could get all serious and buzzkilly and list all the fucked up shit that's wrong in the world today. but i won't. cuz as much as i don't care about who plays batman, there's other ridiculous stuff i do care about that i could be called out on. all of this ben affleck business broke a little less then 24 hours before my first fantasy football draft... my first... there'll be a second one for a second league in about a week. fantasy football. i draft real life players onto my own imaginary team and hope that on a weekly basis they score enough fantasy points to beat my opponent's roster of real life players scoring fantasy points for his (yes, 'his.' i'm in an all male league, though i will point out that i have heard of women who participate in fantasy football. it's a thing) make believe team. just typing that out helps me to realize that i'm in no position to bitch about people bitching about ben affleck. they have the right (let's not even get into how i'm a pro wrestling fan as well).

everyone's a geek for something. we all enjoy something a little more passionately than we probably should. and that's okay cuz it's cool to be passionate about things. it's fun to be a fan of stuff. we're not all gonna be fans of the same things which is also okay cuz that just means life is so awesome that we've been given a large enough variety of stuff to choose from that we don't all end up liking the same things. how boring would that be if we did? we all happen to have different tastes but we all know what it's like to enjoy stuff immensely. we're all guilty of being geeks. so when we see each other bitching about something that we may not be a fan of, before attacking, we should sit back and appreciate that they happen to enjoy something as much as we enjoy whatever bullshit it is we choose to enjoy.

so to those who have a distaste for ben affleck as the next batman, that's cool. if that's how you naturally feel about it, you have a right to that opinion. as for me, i'm just glad that we've all been given stuff to be passionate about. ben affleck being cast as batman caused such a passionate response (on both sides i might add... the initial negative response to it, and then the people who respond negatively to the negative response... this is a pretty constant and consistent cycle for all things on social networks) that for me it acts as a reminder of how cool life is sometimes. we've been given so many options on things to enjoy and be a fan of. and for that uplifting reminder, i thank you ben affleck, even if you did stink it up in pearl harbor.