Why do people become obsessed with the things they hate?

There could be several reasons.

One reason is that maybe they once loved it, then they realized or were convinced that it was stupid and decided to hate it. But just to make sure that the world knew that they truly hate it now, they made it as widely known as they could and didn't pass up any opportunity to bash it. I know that this is the case with a *lot* of Miley Cyrus, Twilight, and Jonas Brothers haters.

Maybe they had bad experiences with it. I know someone who had a really bad experience with an antelope and now, to make her self feel better, she tries to make out shapes in the clouds, all of them involving terrible accidents with antelope. Well, that's what I assume anyway....

Maybe they are just extremely strongly opinionated. One of those all or nothing, love it or hate it people. If you hate it, make sure *everyone* knows. Same goes for the love with these people.

Maybe they're one of those people who just wants to piss off the world. My sister is like this with Harry Potter. She just likes seeing the look on peoples' faces when she tells them she hates the series. My God, is she annoying....

Maybe it's the opposite of/often compared with something that they really love. Like Harry Potter vs. Twilight. Miley Cyrus vs. Demi Lovato. Rap vs. Country.

That's all the reasons I can come up with, but there are probably others.

I suppose to some extent, they want to know that they we not alone - that we are not the only ones who hate having Twilight constantly shoved down our throats or dislike it when someone knocks on the door at 8am on a Saturday to hand out religious material. Misery loves company.

A little discussion on the things that we hate with like minded people is, I think, perfectly healthy. It allows us to vent and to know that we are not alone. Too much discussion becomes dangerous when somebody truly does become obsessive about hating that thing - to the point where the positives are overlooked in favour of the bad. One real life example of this was in my home city, a new underpass was being built at a major intersection. While construction was going on, business slowed considerably at a nearby store, because everyone believed it to be closed. The store's owner spend quite a lot of money printing a banner telling the government what they thought about the underpass and what it was doing for their business and hung it at the front of the store. The government never took the least bit of notice of that sign. I often wonder what would have happened if they'd put up a banner that said "Business As Usual" instead. Maybe they would still be in business today.

Because hating something distracts us from the real problems. Ranting about irrelevant stuff to personal lives gives you something distant to hate. It's easier to hate something you don't really know about than hate personal things in your life

Also hating things can be seen sometimes as a way to relinquish control. For instance an obseesion with an object may have ruined your life and the only way you feel you can regain your life back is by hating it.

It could also be some form of jealousy or public ranting can be attempt to be accepted.

e.g. The world hates tissue paper, so I'll hate it too- just louder.

But personally- on this site- I think people just don't anything better to do.

Me included. =]

Usually people have been wounded mentally by a subject, or they feel threatened by it.

For example a fond relationship can go bad because the other person was an incurable judge or bigot. The bigots religion would forever be blamed, and that religion would be attacked .

A person can feel threatened when his cherished and desperately needed beliefs are challenged ---this is very much the mental equal of physically attacking him with a knife. Many people really NEED their religion, and they will put down any idea that diminishes it. This is probably healthy.

And some people just like to play final judge of everything. They think that what they like is "good", and what they don't like is "bad",

The brain has a re-play button and it often gets stuck. When emotions get involved in our thoughts, this pairing creates a dynamic that gives a lot of energy to the object that one fixes on. It's easy to make this a habitual behavior. Why? Because it's easy.

The amazing thing is that if people fully understood this phenomenon and directed it to things that needed changing in their own lives, they could achieve amazing results. They would be able to cure themselves of all sorts of problems. But instead of doing this people would rather be a spectator to someone else's life. The person who assumes the role of the detested object is easy to grasp in a simple way. An oversimplified thing, reduced to its basic unattractiveness. We prefer to do that rather than delve into ourselves because we see how complicated we are and this overhaul that we need to do is beyond an easy fix. What's easier to do: fix a broken refrigerator (complex positive action) or slam your fist at it and yell at the top of your lungs (simple negative action)?

most people just like pissing people off or they do it out of extreme boredom. some hate these celebrities because it's a way of boosting their self esteem/ego (I used to hate Miley Cyrus for this reason. I used to have a dangerously low self esteem and I thought it would make me feel better about myself to hate her)

some people have anger management issues.

others are like a club, they want to discuss their hatred and see if others agree

many people want to push their opinions onto people, and convert the fans into haters. (it's kinda like what overly religious people do) I'm throughly convinced of this because many times they will start off saying something like "how can you like this?" or "why do people like ____? I don't understand it at all...." and then they go on to say "they suck...etc etc"

I agree.

We shouldn't keep the things that peeve us as pets.

I myself have been guilty of doing this before.

I think for some strange reason humans just love to feel anger.

It gives us this thrill, and it comes much easier to some people compared to the thrill from joy.

They're also just looking for that person who gets defensive, so they can argue the point back and forth until someone finally realizes the argument will never resolve.

That's a very good question. I know I do that all the time, not just on Y!A, and it's incredibly pointless and a waste of energy. We obsess over something we love and try to get others to obsess over it too. I guess we obsess over something we hate for the opposite reason. To try to get others to hate it and get rid of it. I know I especially hate on Twilight & Co when I'm pissed so it could be that too.

It basically goes like this:

1: Putting things down makes people feel superior

2: People like feeling superior

3: People will toot their own horn and smack down things to feel superior.

It is justified by the fact that:

1: These people genuinely believe the things they are hating on are worthy of scorn.

It helps if the thing they hate is popular; then they can feel extra special about themselves. It's like saying your tastes are more refined, more sophisticated than the masses. "Oh? Everyone likes Twilight? Well, not me because it's sooo poorly written"

*Inside* I'm a smarter writer than SMeyer!

"you'd have to be a squeeing fangirl to appreciate *that*"

*Inside* I'm soooo avant garde.

And then repeat. People begin to like the high they get from beating down others' opinions, so they keep doing it.

It is! Well, I don't know if I can say what it is here, but it starts with a 'M' and rhymes with 'Gasturbation'. People getting themselves off to thoughts of their own superiority. And it's why they will continue to come back to the media they profess to hate. They don't do it because they want the world to share their refined tastes, but because it feels good.

This, of course, is not the conscious reasoning behind these actions, but the subconscious.

On the conscious level, people get all cognitive dissonance-like:

They begin to rationalise it as a crusade for good taste. They view themselves as the literary/musical/political police.

"My name is Bob, and I've come to save you from listening to bad music..."

Sure, Bob.

Human nature