Random Musing: Do We Take Our Opinions Too Seriously?

((Have you ever had a question or idea pop into your mind that you'd love to write about, but feel like it might not be strong enough to base an essay/editorial on it? Same here! To deal with that, I'm starting a new series of random posts appropriately called Random Musings. Whenever I think of a question or idea that would be perfect for this series, I'll make a quick post introducing the topic and throwing out an answer/idea or two I head about it. At the end, I'll ask a question for you to answer in the comments. I hope you enjoy and please, keep the discussions in the comments civil.)) 

Last Thursday, I managed to catch an early screening of Man of Steel with a group of friends. While the film had a good cast and decent music, it was brought down by some serious pacing issues, story-structure problems, and a sheer lack of character development.

Since it currently holds a 56% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, I knew I was going to eventually run into people who enjoyed the film and I would have to explain myself when they asked the inevitable question: "Why didn't you like it?"

A few days ago, I had a few people ask me what I thought and asked me the above question when I told them I disliked Man of Steel. After presenting my points, I expected to hear the usual response of, "I can understand where you're coming from, but I still enjoyed the film. To each their own." Sadly, that's not what I received. Instead, I had people telling me that I was A) a cynical asshole who hates everything, B) an idiot who wouldn't know a good movie if it slapped him in the face, C) a nostalgic idiot who hated the movie because it wasn't the original 1978 film or its sequel, D) had no taste, and E) blind and couldn't see how great the film really was.

When did it become okay to verbally attack someone for having a different opinion than you? I'm perfectly fine with other people having an opinion that is different than mine. If we all had the same opinions about the same things, life would be rather dull and boring. While I might ask why you like something, I'm going to do it as politely as possible and try my hardest to see your side of the argument.

With that being said, I'm going to expect the same respect from you when I disagree with you. I'm not going to call you an idiot for liking a piece of entertainment that I don't and I'm going to expect that you do the same. Why do some people see the need to do this? Is insulting a person based on their taste in entertainment really worth it?

If I had to take a guess as to why some people act like this, I would probably say its because they take their opinions on something too seriously. Because of this, they see someone expressing an opinion that doesn't mirror their own as a personal attack on them. Since they see it as a personal attack, they feel the need to attack the supposed "aggressor" and defend themselves. However, this is still just a theory and it could be something else entirely.

So, what do you think is the cause of this problem? Do you think it might be people taking their opinions about media and entertainment too seriously and personally, or is it something else?