Why I Hate "Top Tens"

Top Ten lists are okay for others; just not for me.

I have always hated things that I’m told I should like.

It doesn’t suit the contrarian in me.

“Les, you should like this, it’s a top ten choice.”

My response, “Screw it! I don’t need to be told. If it’s a top ten choice, I will figure it out on my own….”


But there’s more to my disdain than that.

Let me explain, I never went to a Top Ten school; I never rooted for a Top Ten team.

I never went to a movie because it was ranked among the Top Ten.

And I would never read a book that was said to be a Top Ten book.

I don’t watch Top Ten TV—and never will.

It’s not just because I’m a contrarian, it’s because that’s a yardstick imposed upon you to help make your mind up.

I don’t need somebody to make up my mind for me.

Because I don’t consider myself governed by the same guiding notions held by most people I know.

I would never watch American Idol, Survivor or Lost….

The concepts don’t appeal to me.

I mean if you are lost, how come there’s a camera following you. And American Idol seems too much of a set-up, like Jerry Springer Show….

In fact, if it makes the “Top Ten” I’m sure I will hate it.

It’s all too homogenized for me. I want the cream at the top; not the same bland product through out.

But I am not through yet. Here’s some more of my thinking:

I hated one of the top ten buildings before it was knocked down.

I never bought a top ten record.

I didn’t subscribe to the Top Ten list of anything—from cowboy stars to film fatales.


Why do I feel that way?

You want to know?

It’s because I truly feel we are being sold a bill of goods. I believe that the Top Ten ratings assure an attempt at homogeneity among a people who consider themselves individualistic.

That’s another reason I don’t describe to the Top Ten religions.

If I were to have a religion, it would probably be Zoroaster’s religion.

Because that makes more sense to me.

It had all the benefits of the others but it came before.

The fact is that Top Ten’s are like Big Brother looking over your shoulder.

Moreover, because it’s your top ten doesn’t mean it will be among my ‘top ten.’

And why should it be?.

I can see having a Top Ten in Russia. That makes sense because everyone is supposed to think the same.

But in the US?

Forget about it.

Who decides what is top ten anyway?

Usually, it tends to be because it sells in the “top ten.”

Put another way, it’s an insulting marketing device. It tells you that if you don’t own it, then you are missing out on something ranked by all your peers. And you should rush out and get it right away.

See what I mean, friend. They are making the choice for you.

Do you really like that?

Like the top ten burger: A Mac of course.

I have never had a Mac, believe it or not, and have no intention of ever getting one . Why? Because so many others have.

I am not made that way.

Top Ten lists are offensive anyway.

They seem to talk down to you; to be patently offensive..

And it has very little to do with why something should be ranked at the top of its class. To me, something is ranked highly because of its intrinsic quality not because it sells better than something else.
Sadly, however, the country seems to be going in the other direction.

Most of us are inclined to think that if the others accord it top ranking status it has to be good whether that’s true or not.

If you go by that criterion, I would be buying what the bulk of the youth group prefers.

I would buy TV games because they rank in the top ten.

Sorry, I don’t even have a game player because I don’t identify with that ethos.

So, therefore, I could never see myself spending time doing something that is incompatible with my nature, even though it may be the top ten in its category.

My answer to most things like that is SO WHAT?

If it doesn’t fulfill my own personal criteria, I don’t care if its number one.

That means absolutely nothing to me.

That is something totally different; totally extraneous.

To me, the Top Ten in anything caters to the lowest common denominator.

This perspective may make a person difficult to indoctrinate. And our bosses do a lot of that, or attempt to.

In the lexicon of some of my bosses, I was deemed difficult; the person you don’t want to have amongst your team of “team players.”

The ideal team player is a conformist; he or she does thinks without questioning them. You say it’s top ten, fine. We’ll do it your way.

But your way is not my way.

While everyone claims to want Young Turks, the truth is that nobody wants anyone who is going to rock the boat.

I believe that if there is a boat, it deserves to be rocked.

That’s the difference….



Need an example of how irrelevant the top ten rating really is.

Consider the last debate for example was one of the top ten most viewed debates.

It was awful.

But it doesn’t seem to end there.

There are Top Ten destinations. Go there and the next year, they become the ten worst destinations.

The fact of mentioning something is top ten is to speed its descent.

The only way to assure that the Top Ten means anything is to base it on quality.

And then who should judge whether it fulfills that category?

You would probably need a Top Ten list of scholars to do that.

And you see the level of complexity rises each time we commit to putting something in those higher rated echelons.

And that would mean we would have to elect a top panel of “electors” to decide who should participate in the top ten list of scholars so that they can pick out the top ten quality of whatever….

The more we go in this direction, the more we find ourselves of subjectivity.

I mean what top ten group is going to pick the electors.

You see it’s that Russian doll that inside of it is another Russian doll and so on.

So why don’t we just get rid of the Top Ten that nobody I know pays attention to and go through the hard work ourselves of finding out what satisfies our own personal criteria.

I think in the end, that’s what America is all about.

Free choice….

Now, do you know what top ten examples best illustrate that principal?

Just kidding!


Les Aaron