Are there any sort of tropes or generally common story choices that make perfect sense but you just don't like?

[Makimaam]

I hate harem. Worse, I hate the “harem + romance” tag. It’s oxymoronic.

 

[LiteraryWho]

I'm pretty sure you're trolling, which is funny. But if you weren't, you probably would of been better off explaining your point from your first message to avoid this long, drawn out rage bait that sadly became less funny.

You’re pretty much slapping two different things together and then telling everyone else they're retarded for being confused.

I'm of the opinion that love involves choice. Long term, nobody sustains a relationship on feelings alone, but there’s also a reason those choices exist in the first place. Because last I checked, real world people don’t just decide out of nowhere: “I’m going to love this person.” There’s usually attraction, attachment, emotional bonding, stuff you don’t consciously choose.

Without that, love is just a weird obligation or habit. So, rather than love not being a feeling, it's a hybrid of a part you can't control in how you feel, then a part you do control when it comes to choice.

When you ignore one component or the other, it stops making sense.

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Also, I hate tropes where characters act older or younger than they are.
I don't like seeing cars driving in the bike lane, much as I don't like seeing bikes driving in the car lanes.

I wasn't trolling, I really didn't think explaining my point to Alice would be worth my time. I probably should have ignored every further response though, to be fair. I don't think she's retarded, or even unusual in her habits, character, or attitude, I'm simply old enough to recognize when someone wants not to understand my point, and I don't need that frustration in my life. I admit there's a certain amusement in watching someone bash their head against a proverbial wall, after telling them, "Hey, watch out, there's a wall there, and you're about to bash your head into it."

Anyway, you've more or less hit the point on the head, though I would argue real world people really did used to just say, "I'm going to love this person," and evidence suggests it worked out okay for them (back when your options were the farmer next door, or the other farmer next to the other door). I do defer to the wisdom of Jane Austen though in that "suitability" is a very important thing to consider, and indeed your emotional reaction to a person is one of the factors to take into account (emotions are a kind of sense, imo, and they should not be ignored). If two people aren't just wholly incompatible, then proximity and shared goals will naturally engender feelings of affection (which may wax and wane for many reasons, some of which can be as silly as not eating enough of the right things, because the human body is stupid, lol).

My primary issue with the "love is a feeling" camp is that all feelings are fleeting. People who expect that initial rush of "love" to last through their relationship can become confused and despondent when the feeling goes away and they start convincing themselves they don't really "love" that person any more. That's one of the factors that causes people to start cheating on each other, because they happen on another person they "love" (i.e. are attracted to) and decide that "love" justifies their betrayal. Infidelity does not have a particularly great track record, so anything which encourages it is probably not a good thing.

Anyway anyway, thanks for the response. It's always nice to be understood.

 

[VanVeleca]

I hate harem. Worse, I hate the “harem + romance” tag. It’s oxymoronic.

I can kinda see what you mean...but I think it's because a lot harems, especially isekai/fantasy power fantasies, skip the romance aspect completely and just go straight to smut Or even worse, once a harem members' arc concludes they completely fade to the back as yet another girl is introduced, and only the super popular members and/or author's favorite get more focus afterwards...