People who like animes are more open minded?

[Deathkillz]

Originally Posted by Cats

Are we to judge what other people should hate or love now!? Oh Sweet

oh sure...carry on twisting it

* Cough Cough
Anyway, like I said, even if they hate it with ought knowing what it is, it's still well within reason. They may have other more important things to explore or think about. (I'm not talking about some work schedule)

The only circumstance where they would be eligible for the title of closed minded fools is if they where surrounded by anime in every day life but refused to acknowledge it's existence. And that's still far from your original sorting-order.

You're presuming too much with your last example, conducting any sort of research into the subject would require some will to begin with. If theory don't even like it a little where is it going to come from. Nobody has any sort of obligation to be extra fair to what they don't know or like.

yet even though they know jack all...they still generalise the crap out of it trying to be smart (i know anime is for kids therefore i will never try it)

this topic can go either way and we will be debating it til the cows come home at this rate

so what is the true meaning of being close minded? opinions would vairy from person to person so it isnt exactally some "set into stone" as a definition.

[Demongod86]

No, they also channel surf past it or are otherwise exposed to it and if they don't know what's going on, they'll think it's really stupid.

"So I saw my little brother watching a show about these two guys with yellow spiky hair screaming like they're constipated."

Sounds an awful lot like DBZ to me.

Trust me, America makes anime look bad, and that reflects on the potential viewers. They don't show Miyazaki films or the really good anime until midnight (Trigun for instance).

Most people here in America were exposed to "constipated" super saiyans, girls with overly large boobs, a bunch of reused animation, and fat ugly geeks that talk about it all the time.

There are those people that are very much normal that watch anime like one of my best friends. When he said he was watching DBZ when he was at home, people still laughed at that.

[Aoie_Emesai]

That true, but I don't think cartoon network is about to be showing an anime which won't be popular or boring or unproductive >.<

[JustInn14]

At least anime's a GOOD form of entertainment, and not crap like PBS Kidz, or the Diznuh C#@nn3L!

[Trogdor Jube]

As anime does inspire me with fan fics and such you might think that anime fans are the best type of fans. But these days anime seems to be the root of fanboyism. But anime has never made me view the world any different and I doubt it has to anyone else (I could be wrong). I say not really.

[Royal_Devil]

Originally Posted by JustInn14

At least anime's a GOOD form of entertainment, and not crap like PBS Kidz, or the Diznuh C#@nn3L!

What's wrong with PBS kids? It aired some of my favorite shows when I was a little kid. Maybe it's not to your "adult" taste nor does it try to. It's for little kids and I know little kids that love the stuff and actually do learn things from it. So what's wrong with that?

[Oppius]

In my opinion,most anime fans are not open-minded.Just look what most of them will say about Disney or Nickelodeon cartoons.They even outcast people who love either channels or both.Being an anime fan myself,I enjoyed those channels when I don't have anything to watch.I don't see anything wrong with them.While I agree anime have strong fanboyism,Disney was like that too.I already met someone who obsessed with Disney and had tons of Disney-related stuffs.Just like most anime fanboys and fangirls.

[4Tran]

It seems to me that there are two different questions being asked in this thread. The first is "does watching/liking anime make one more open-minded?" and the second is "are people who like anime more open-minded than the general population?" The first is a very difficult one to answer since it's so dependent on each individual's approach, and because anecdotal evidence is usually worthless. The answer to the second is an unequivocal "yes" in the case of non-Japanese anime viewers. The reason is that a population which is composed of people who express an interest in a form of entertainment outside of their own culture is automatically more open-minded than the general population. This isn't exactly unique to anime, and this difference in open-mindedness can be quite a bit smaller than one might expect because of the nature of statistical curves. There will still be the odd xenophobic misanthrope among anime viewers, but chances are that there won't be as many there are in the general population.

[Geass]

Originally Posted by 4Tran

It seems to me that there are two different questions being asked in this thread. The first is "does watching/liking anime make one more open-minded?" and the second is "are people who like anime more open-minded than the general population?" The first is a very difficult one to answer since it's so dependent on each individual's approach, and because anecdotal evidence is usually worthless. The answer to the second is an unequivocal "yes" in the case of non-Japanese anime viewers. The reason is that a population which is composed of people who express an interest in a form of entertainment outside of their own culture is automatically more open-minded than the general population. This isn't exactly unique to anime, and this difference in open-mindedness can be quite a bit smaller than one might expect because of the nature of statistical curves. There will still be the odd xenophobic misanthrope among anime viewers, but chances are that there won't be as many there are in the general population.

Excellent points. I was planning to express my views in about 2 minutes, but it seems you've beaten me to it while explaining better than I could.

[Ledgem]

Originally Posted by 4Tran

The reason is that a population which is composed of people who express an interest in a form of entertainment outside of their own culture is automatically more open-minded than the general population. This isn't exactly unique to anime, and this difference in open-mindedness can be quite a bit smaller than one might expect because of the nature of statistical curves. There will still be the odd xenophobic misanthrope among anime viewers, but chances are that there won't be as many there are in the general population.

I agree in general, but this part doesn't necessarily hold true. I've seen plenty of anime fans who embrace anime, but become incredibly hostile towards their own culture's forms of entertainment. It reminds me of a number of psychological models for ethnic minorities. According to the models, the individual starts out accepting mainstream culture, until they're exposed to a certain event. Suddenly, they shift to an extreme, totally rejecting the dominant culture, and wholly embracing their native culture. Later on, the models state that the individual comes to realize positives and negatives of both cultures, and accepts both to a certain degree. That is the happy ideal end along the model development line.

I see a slight parallel with people here, except that they're not minorities returning to their native culture. They're people enthralled with a new culture (Japanese culture), who suddenly reject their own culture and/or the dominant culture and want to live the Japanese culture. I would argue that people going through that are not more open-minded. If the model truly could be applied in this situation, then they are actually quite ignorant.

In my observations, the cultural shift occurs mostly among younger people, particularly teenagers. And that makes sense, because the teen years are notoriously a time of discovering and establishing yourself as an individual. It'd be interesting to see how frequently it occurs to people across all age groups. If it's somewhat standard, then it could be argued that people go through a phase of ignorance. I'd presume that most come out of it, though. One would think that they'd be more open-minded after passing through that phase. Going back to the psychological models, a person does not need to progress linearly through the various stages, and they may even get stuck at a certain stage. Even knowing all of that, I can't make a highly informed generalization about anime fans.

[4Tran]

Originally Posted by Ledgem

I agree in general, but this part doesn't necessarily hold true. I've seen plenty of anime fans who embrace anime, but become incredibly hostile towards their own culture's forms of entertainment. It reminds me of a number of psychological models for ethnic minorities. According to the models, the individual starts out accepting mainstream culture, until they're exposed to a certain event. Suddenly, they shift to an extreme, totally rejecting the dominant culture, and wholly embracing their native culture. Later on, the models state that the individual comes to realize positives and negatives of both cultures, and accepts both to a certain degree. That is the happy ideal end along the model development line.

That shouldn't make too much difference to my argument since such people are present in the general population as well. The main difference is that the anime fan is almost certainly not a xenophobe, while that is not necessarily true in the case of the non-fan.

Ledgem, I have the sneaking suspicion that you're interpreting "more open-minded" to mean "fairly open-minded" when this doesn't have to be the case at all.

Originally Posted by Ledgem

I see a slight parallel with people here, except that they're not minorities returning to their native culture. They're people enthralled with a new culture (Japanese culture), who suddenly reject their own culture and/or the dominant culture and want to live the Japanese culture. I would argue that people going through that are not more open-minded. If the model truly could be applied in this situation, then they are actually quite ignorant.

This is untrue. If person A and person B were identical in all respects except that person A is only open to his own culture but person B is non-Japanese but is only willing to adopt Japanese culture, the latter is the more open-minded of the two by definition. This would be true even if both people were complete misanthropes.

Think of it this way, if person A was the stereotypical Japanese otaku and hated everything outside of otaku culture, and person B was identical but for the fact that he's American, who would be the more open-minded of the two?

[Daniel E.]

I am not really sure if people here are talking about being more open minded in general or just being more open minded about the things they are willing to try and enjoy.

A person can be very open minded when it comes to anime, at the same time, that very same person can be completly closed about other things.

[Hotaru Suzume]

I'd call anime fans (and avid fans of anything else in this world) anything but open-minded, purely because of the fact that they're pretty much obsessed with one specific thing (otaku, eh); hardly open minds much, more closed like a bulkhead on the Pillar of Autumn. xD

[JustInn14]

What's wrong with PBS kids? It aired some of my favorite shows when I was a little kid. Maybe it's not to your "adult" taste nor does it try to. It's for little kids and I know little kids that love the stuff and actually do learn things from it. So what's wrong with that?

I'm not saying I hate those places, I just hate it when AdvuhTyzmentals' are shown on thw WRONG NETWORK!

In my opinion,most anime fans are not open-minded.Just look what most of them will say about Disney or Nickelodeon cartoons.They even outcast people who love either channels or both.Being an anime fan myself,I enjoyed those channels when I don't have anything to watch.I don't see anything wrong with them.While I agree anime have strong fanboyism,Disney was like that too.I already met someone who obsessed with Disney and had tons of Disney-related stuffs.Just like most anime fanboys and fangirls.

Hey, I used to like Nick and Disney, it's just that, they decided to air slutyy teen poser programs, and BADLY MADE CARTOONS, instead of show cartoons/other shows.

[crazyhorse]

Originally Posted by Ichihara Asako

This depends greatly on subs vs. dubs. A lot of dubs really dumb series down (let's not even get in to the severe butchering known as 're-tooling' that used to be common: see Macross->Robotech etc.) -- Somebody who only watches dubs on something like Adult Swim is going to be in a different league as somebody who watches a much broader range of things, in their original language without crappy American edits.

Sorry I just had to comment on this. Not to start another one of those 'dubs vs. subs' wars, but dubs THESE days aren't 'dumbed down' as you say it is. There aren't a lot of edits, and if they do edit out things, it's usually just blood. The script for most dubs now are pretty good and if they sound dumbed down then it's just to make it sound more natural when the words are spoken. Really, subs are great and all and they sound ok when you read them, but when you hear some of the lines spoken outloud, it doesn't sound natural. Besides, from all the complaining I hear from dub haters, they usually just complain about the voices or acting, but I don't hear anything about the overall translation of the original script. So in my opinion, just because someone watches the anime dubbed doesn't mean they missed the overall meaning of the anime.

Ok back to the original topic, I don't really think that anime has made people more open minded in general (as said by a lot of people so far in this thread), but I can say that it has made me a little more open minded in some areas. It has made me a lot more open minded towards homosexuality. Before watching anime, I was wary and a bit uncomfortable with gays and lesbians and be one of those little children who crack gay jokes or find calling someone gay as an offense, but now I'm totally ok with it and don't mind it at all.

[Grimkill7]

I absolutely hate the phrase open-minded. People are different for a reason. Disagreement and debate are spawned by differences in preference and beliefs. Phrases like "open-minded" and "close-minded" just work to tear down these walls and assimilate everyone. Any disagreement, no matter how huge the subject, can be refuted with, "Well maybe your just a close-minded person".

Person A: "Yeah, I'm thinking about killing my wife tonight."
Person B: "Dude, that's fucking sick!"
Person A: "Wha, why?"
Person B: "Because murder is wrong!"
Person A: "Well I think you're just a close-minded person."

Yeah I know it's a stupid scenario, but it doesn't make the point any less valid. I don't believe in calling someone close-minded because they don't conform to my beliefs. Now that's not to say you shouldn't tolerate someone else's tastes. I hate country music (very much), but I will not rip on country music fans. And in return I would like them to respect my preferences and not call me close-minded for not liking theirs. Diversity defines humanity.

[Solace]

Originally Posted by Grimkill7

I absolutely hate the phrase open-minded. People are different for a reason. Disagreement and debate are spawned by differences in preference and beliefs. Phrases like "open-minded" and "close-minded" just work to tear down these walls and assimilate everyone. Any disagreement, no matter how huge the subject, can be refuted with, "Well maybe your just a close-minded person".

Person A: "Yeah, I'm thinking about killing my wife tonight."
Person B: "Dude, that's fucking sick!"
Person A: "Wha, why?"
Person B: "Because murder is wrong!"
Person A: "Well I think you're just a close-minded person."

Yeah I know it's a stupid scenario, but it doesn't make the point any less valid. I don't believe in calling someone close-minded because they don't conform to my beliefs. Now that's not to say you shouldn't tolerate someone else's tastes. I hate country music (very much), but I will not rip on country music fans. And in return I would like them to respect my preferences and not call me close-minded for not liking theirs. Diversity defines humanity.

I think you are misunderstanding what being open or close minded is about. It's not a belief system. It's an understanding of how you view the world. Every single person has a different set of beliefs, values, and ideas. So no, it's not possible to be 100 percent open minded. We're all individuals in the end.

What being open minded is all about is the reflection of influences. So for instance, I do not like all music. I usually listen to rock. However, I do like some music from every genre I've heard, and I enjoy seeking out new types of music to discover if I might like or dislike them. If I'm in a place where I am listening to music I do not usually enjoy, I tolerate it and make the best of it. So no, I don't scream turn it off that music sucks! I give everything the benefit of the doubt.

A close minded person would say x music sucks, and never give it a chance. I have a friend like that. He only listens to metal. He refuses to listen to rap or country, despite me pointing out that sometimes he does listen to it and doesn't realize it, which is usually met with a defensive attitude about how it's all crap and he would never listen to that junk.

There's nothing wrong with his opinion honestly. He's entitled to it just like everyone else is. And I'd be lying if I said I was always open minded. There are some things I have difficulty with changing my stance on, just like he does.

It's possible to be more open to some things than others. It's also possible to be open to a point and then draw a line. For instance, murder is wrong, but killing people in war is not murder. Show me where one is ok but not the other. Self defense? Justice? All terms used to justify something that goes against everything you are told while growing up. It flies in the face of all of your beliefs. In fact many soldiers have a hard time with it. But they still do it. It's their job.

You get to a point where classifying open or close mindedness ends up with a grey area of discussion, but hey that's life as an adult. Oh for the days of childhood when everything was black and white.

[4Tran]

Originally Posted by Grimkill7

I absolutely hate the phrase open-minded. People are different for a reason. Disagreement and debate are spawned by differences in preference and beliefs. Phrases like "open-minded" and "close-minded" just work to tear down these walls and assimilate everyone. Any disagreement, no matter how huge the subject, can be refuted with, "Well maybe your just a close-minded person".

Your problem isn't with the phrase "open-minded"; it's with people misusing that phrase in a fallacious manner. Being open-minded doesn't mean that one is receptive to all ideas, it means that one is receptive to all ideas that make sense. This means that an idea should be rejected on its lack of merits rather than because it's unfamiliar or seemingly strange. However, a lot of poor/dishonest debaters use it as an ad hominem attack when they can't refute an opponent's argument.

[stjeppe]

"No i don't think so"

guys what is this all about???
this must be the weirdest anime-related Question i've seen so far.
some of you here are posting with very hard-to-read words, this is an anime-forum, not a psychology-forum.


calling an anime-watcher open-minded (or not) is only because of an indivual definition you yourself give to anime-watchers;

i fail to see how anime is cultural-related. maybe some are .. but pls enlighten me in that case

[RavenHawk]

No; some are open, some are closed, some are 50/50, just like stjeppe said.

It's just that simple.... (walks away)