Around the time of my generation’s burgeoning maturity, in the early 2010s, the acceptability of the mild opinion on matters of popular culture met its demise. In its place rose the obsession, at least among adolescents. Our very language reflected and perpetuated this polarization. It was no longer “I like this” or “I dig that” or “that’s my bag” or whatever the boomers used to say. Young millennials like myself were “OBSESSED” with whichever cultural artifact we even remotely enjoyed. This hyperbolic vocabulary seems, in retrospect, to present a microcosm of the growing tribalism of my generation, engendered by the Team Edward vs. Team Jacob mentality. 
 
I suspect many millennials my age can recall the actual shouting matches that resulted from disputes over the relative merits of Edward and Jacob, or different Marvel movies, or iterations of Taylor Swift’s genre metamorphoses. Even today friends of mine get personally offended when I tell them I think a show they like is bad. Everyone, it seemed, had not merely interests, passions, or avocations — they had obsessions.
 
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Author Bio: James Erwin is Federal Affairs Manager for Telecommunications at Americans for Tax Reform and the Executive Director of Digital Liberty. A native of Yarmouth, Maine, Erwin holds a B.A. from Bates College. He currently resides in Washington, DC, and his work has appeared in The Hill, National Review, and Townhall. Follow James @erwin1854 on X.