As teenagers and adults, pretending simply wasn't a permissible form of entertainment, which was exactly what the fantasy world demanded that we do. It wasn't until we were adults that we could finally stand up and say, "Yeah, sorry, but I work my ass off. I pay my taxes. And I'm as responsible as anyone you know. I'm buying tickets to go see Lord of the Rings because I read that shit when I was a kid, and it was fucking awesome." During that transition is when those walls started to break down, and when we saw the insane numbers being talked about in ticket sales, we realized that the world was full of people just like us. All hiding our nerdy interests out of fear of ridicule.

Getty

Continue Reading Below Advertisement

"Wait a minute. Show of hands -- who's been pretending their whole life that they didn't love this shit?"

It paid off for our kids, too, because they're now growing up in a world that is much more accepting of their likes and dislikes. Now don't get me wrong here. I'm not saying that nerd persecution is over with. Start talking about your love of My Little Pony in real life, and there's a good chance I'm going to cram your head into a toilet and wedgie you so hard, you'll need asshole surgery to remove the underwear.

What I'm saying is that these things have a way of leveling out over time. And that even the most annoying, fucked up people on the planet (again, furries) have a chance of being accepted as normal on a long enough timescale. But until then, like what you want to like. It's your love of unconventional shit that makes awesome things happen when you're finally powerful enough to give bullies the finger and tell them to lick your asshole, and there isn't a goddamn thing they can do about it.

John has a Twitter. So fuck you.

For more Cheese, check out 5 Terrible Things You Can't Stop Your Children From Doing and 4 Awful Ways The Internet Is Tainting Everything Else.