I think this original post is actually all about social influence.
Feel like you use the term dogma with the concept that a certain idea has become "consensually true" because a big part of the public opinion agrees on it when most of them didn't even "thought deeply about it" and then it's hard to hold on different views. But that's absolutely necessary. It's how the human mind is used to work. It's called heuristic.
Our mind can't work without short cuts as well as has a hard time dealing with social disapproval. But what definitely our mind can't stand is acknowledging its own holes.
For some reason, our mind has to create an opinion about everything it finds. To do this and in order to fit in the group, our mind will unconsciously disrupt the way we perceive a certain thing when we know how the group perceives this same thing.
For example, Justin Bieber used to be a laughing stock back in 2012 or so, people ranted about him because they saw other people slandering him, so they thought it was socially acceptable to go off on him. This was funny tho because also so many people used to publicly express their parasocial relationship with Bieber, and lots of people became his fan because they saw that it was reasonable to love him to the bone. Very polarizing environment amongst teenagers back then. Most people picked a side, kind of had to pick a side.
Just like if someone shows you two songs you never heard before but that person tells you that the first one you're gonna listen has 1B more views on Youtube. You're more likely to like a song that you know has more social praise.
Influencing your perception is what your mind unconsciously wants in order to adapt better to the mass.
A lot of people fell in love with The Simpsons in the first seasons. It was something incredibly charming, fresh, funny and entertaining. I'm pretty sure that not few people consider it the best TV content they have ever seen.
So public opinion has created an aura making those episodes look magical. Something almost everyone agrees on.
Exactly the same happens with the newest seasons. They are considered bad and people let this social bias carry their opinion. "If everyone thinks this is bad, it probably has to be."
But going against the "dogma" just for the sake of it, in an attempt to be countercultural, is... nonsensical. We social human beings are influenciable and that's totally normal, reasonable and acceptable, and trying to attack or defy this is challenging human nature. And you will lose and feel frustrated because you're in a battle you can't win.
People don't like their opinions to be criticized and it's okay. Because everyone has their own opinion and their own biases... similar mental processes acting in different ways.
Whoever insults and discredits you for thinking different is letting their emotions carry them and is a disrespectful person, probably influenced by the fact that he's aware he's in the "majority" side. The movie Twelve angry men does an amazing job showing how being on the "socially accepted" side affects your perception of others and your behaviour towards others, how our mind divides the world into ingroup and outgroup.
Having an opinion (not matter if it differs with the "social dogma" or fully agrees with it) is fair, undertandable and healthy until you start questioning others' feelings.
You have to focus on what you like and on how you perceive things. Not on what others like or how others perceive those same things.
I have every right to criticize dogma!
Art/fiction dogma is cancer! I detest it immensely!
You can't force people to like something or think something is good just because "everyone else" does! That has to come naturally; that's up to the person to decide; either they like (good) a particular or don't like it (bad).
Yes, I'm aware there is general consensus on a lot of things besides art/fiction but it doesn't mean you should be snobbish and tell others that they're "objectively wrong" for not liking a particular work of fiction such as The Simpsons. That is a very bigoted and condescending mentality to have! That's exactly what I mean by dogma!
The Simpsons is good because I like it, not because it's a "fact" that many people claim to be. It's not! It's my opinion which I humbly claim, never arrogantly!
But not everyone likes The Simpsons...so...if some people don't like it, which there are, it's bad to them. And who are you to tell them that they are "objectively wrong" for being against it?
Call me a traitor but as a Simpsons fan, I defend Simpsons haters because I advocate for free speech, not censorship. Do I agree with their points of contention? No, at least not entirely. But one criticism I totally understand is that thanks to the dogmatic elitist Simpsons fans out there who are notorious for imposing their snobbery on Simpsons haters, it's no wonder why they detest The Simpsons in the first place.
Again let people like whatever they want! I always choose who and what I like. But I don't choose to like something or someone. Choice, as in liking, comes, or should come, naturally; never forced by others.
Yes, admittedly, I do have a love/hate relationship with The Simpsons personally, but I like it way more than I don't like it. Like I said The Simpsons is awesome in its own right but it gets too much praise, especially the earlier episodes. The main issue I have with Simpsons is the dogma and high-and-mighty fans, not the Simpsons itself. I would say the same thing about the Beatles.
Of course, it is true that older works do become popular over time. Some people may have not liked The Simpsons back in 1992 but they might like it now. Episodes today are seemingly disliked by most of today's fans, but maybe 15 years or so down the road, they may like it. Time has the final say.
But if you are one of those snobbish elitist Simpsons fans or or snobbish elitist art/fiction "authorities" in art/fiction that I'm talking about in my post, you better screw off and take your fucking bullshit elsewhere. I don't need or want anyone to tell me what I'm "supposed to" like in art/fiction. I like what I like and I don't what I don't.
You're "good" art/fiction may be my "bad" art/fiction.
I'm a goddamn contrarian and I am not ashamed!
I can list a whole bunch of shows/movies/bands/artists, etc. I think are awful even if the elite says otherwise. Well, screw them! I won't list them until the snobbish bigots are mature enough not to get all butthurt over it and tell me crap like "dude, you've got bad taste or this is an "morally incorrect" list. Well, so do you, buddy!
I'm not gonna censor myself anymore. I will one day write a list of "bad" media (movies, shows, singers, bands, etc. I hate) and don't give me that whole "just because you hate it doesn't mean it sucks" bullshit! Badness and hatred are inherently inseparable, at least to me.
I am not gonna stand by being kicked around just because I hold unpopular opinions I want the world to know.