Have you ever been forced to like something?

Post Reply New Topic

I feel the same way! I do my damnedest to at least PRETEND I'm interested in what my friend's saying, if I'm not already genuinely interested; but she seems to show pretty much zero interest in me!
And I'm always annoying my mother with my ramblings about anime and stuff that happens at school, and other random things, because I'm desperate for someone to take an interest in me! I don't necessarily want someone to take interest in MY interests, but just for them to be interested in ME, and the mere FACT that I'm interested in things like that! I'm always saying to my mother, "Why can't you at least PRETEND?"
That's why I was so glad when I went to a school program at a different location from my real school, and found someone there who a) Loves hugs, b) Is interested in me (she used to take pictures of me all the time, and scream my name whenever she saw me), c) Loves anime and yaoi, and d) Is really hyper, just like me!
When I met her, I was totally foreign to someone taking such a keen interest in me -- when I asked her why she kept taking pictures of me, she said, "You're my new photo fascination!" I pretended to dislike it (on some level I did, because I'm not very photogenic), but on the inside it actually felt good to have someone so interested in me. I had never experienced that, so when I met her it felt the way it might to make a real friend for the first time after a lifetime of loner-ism and fake friends. It felt...kind of warm, and inviting. It felt safe. It felt...oh, what's the word??...almost, like a relief. Like being dragged out of the mud. I hadn't realized how uninterested my friends at school were in me until I met someone who really WAS interested. It gave me some perspective.
Uh oh, I've gone off-topic again! I'm sorry, I do that a lot! What can I say? I HAVE A STORY TO TELL! ^^"

Sorry for the ALL-CAPS outburst ;P. But yeah. I like to tell about myself. If that makes sense. ^^

Dude, I absolutely LOVE this sig! Can I put in on my Facebook profile as a favourite quote?

In the name of Being With Guys, I have at various times forced myself to put on a fixed grin and say I absolutely love...
a) Rick Astley (don't ask)
b) glam rock (let's not even go there)
c) ham radio
But that was many moons ago. And that really belongs in the love and dating forum, right?

If we're talking friendships, the thing that still makes me uneasy is that in the equivalent of high school, I tagged along with a bunch of girls who did their level best, in the name of friendship, to convert me to their particular form of evangelical Christianity. Always handing me pamphlets, getting me to come to mission meetings and so forth. It didn't help that I was always into world religions and 'alternative' spirituality (and in fact, still am). I wasn't about to pretend about something as serious as religion, and I never did convert. And the way they reacted to that became, in the end, rather unpleasant. I won't go into detail, but I didn't make any effort to maintain contact with them.

Many years on, someone in my family still knows a couple of these people, and I still feel uneasy about the idea of them wanting to meet up with me again.

Wow, so someone else has little to no interest in music? I thought it was just me.

A few things my co-workers try to get me to like:

Music in general
People
Emotion
Vegetables

So far they haven't succeeded.

spanikopita

At a weeklong family reunion when I was a little kid, my aunt though it would be interesting to make for dinner. Feta cheese is nasty.

Also, Rap Music
There is nothing like being in a 100% white suburban catholic private school to convince people that they are ghetto/gangsta/crunk.

You've got a very valid point there, PunkyKat. Other people need to show an interest in you as well. As for me, it takes a bit of effort to show an interest in someone else, which you can all understand, I'm sure. I've never been forced to like something, but I'm almost dead sure I force my interests on other people sometimes, i.e. Commodore 64 synthesized music!