Awesome! I hate Lord of the Rings!
You've hit on two great points:
1. People are like dominos, and sometimes even stupider.
2. No one likes to look stupid.
I saw Lord of the Rings on opening night before all the hype from the amazing reviews set in. I hadn't read the books but I thought the previews looked good. Unfortunately, it felt more like an airplane ride than a movie.
As everyone walked out of the theater, no one talked about how great it was. One guy next to me summed up our collective feelings: "God that sucked. It's 1:30 in the morning. I want to go to sleep." We didn't even want to have a drink, or do something fun. We just wanted to go home.
The next day my friends excitedly asked how it was. "Hey how was it? I heard it was awesome!" I told them it sucked hardcore and was a waste of life, but they'd already made up their minds! It took me a few weeks to figure out what the hell was going on.
Apparently, my experience occured nationwide. The unknowing friend asked, "how was it, totally awesome?" And you'd sound like a douche to say no. So you lied. Most people in society consider this not only acceptable, but proper. You avoid looking stupid by agreeing you like something you actually don't. Now THAT sounds stupid to me. I don't mind lying to help myself in difficult situations, but you're a pussy if you can't even disagree with your misguided friend about Lord of the Rings. By telling him to go see it, you only continued the cycle of pain.
Man I hate Lord of the Rings. If you like it you can suck a fat hairy frodo foot.
Tynan, thank you.