140triguy wrote:
Me and MANY other alumni have this "mental issue." It's not a disorder. And I'd say it's probably much less fanatical than people who are the "Number 1 Fan!" of any college or pro sports team, with all that entails. Consider those who risk life and limb to watch pro football in outdoor stadiums in January snow storms. Emory competes in Division III athletics, and other than being ambivalent to WashU, Kenyon, or Williams sports teams, that's all we've got. Who cares about the Bears, the Lords and Ladies, or the Ephs, when we've got Pepsi to hate?
I don't even drink much soda any more. I just definitely wouldn't touch a Pepsi under all conceivable circumstances. Being stranded in the desert, I'd have to be ASSURED that I'd live after drinking a Pepsi, just so I could spend the rest of my life doing my penance.
I forgot to mention that I'd rather pass out and have to be taken to medical before I'd drink pickle juice. 140triwife is of the same opinion.
If you're serious, and it sort of seems like you might be, difficult as that is to believe - you are deranged to such an extent that you're the sort of guy who is potentially dangerous given the wrong ideas. Anyone who would rather die than drink a specific brand of cola without even a half coherent reason, makes religious fanatics seem reasonable. And yes, it is essentially the same thing.
You take pride in adherence to a rule that makes zero logical sense, except that you've identified it as criteria for membership of a gang. Not only that but your description makes it clear you consider this institutional hate. Any other illogical, hate based, tribal gangs you've joined? You haven't even given any reason for hating this company. You just said guys from a competing company once gave some money to a university you went to. That constitutes a reason to define yourself by your hate for a drinks company? At best your hate has been bought, and you're proud of it, but there's a much more worrying element to this.