There’s a rather disgusting offshoot of the first place culture. I don’t have a clever name for it yet, but it’s the behavior in which fans of a particular medium, service, or product decry the competition to the point where they actually want the entire competing entity to go out of business.

For starters, look at the rivalry between social networking sites MySpace and Facebook. MySpace was the hot shit a few years ago, but now, Facebook is more popular. No big deal, right? That’s what competition is supposed to be about; plus, it’s obvious that the two sites offer plenty of different functions (e.g., MySpace has the massive music section, and Facebook has applications). However, what I see far too often is Facebook aficionados ruthlessly attacking MySpace as a relic from the past, in hopes that the site will crumble. What did MySpace ever do to them? It’s just a website, not some evil entity that devoured their children.

If MySpace fell apart, we’re looking at the loss of a lot of revenue for its owners. And what does that mean? A ton of people will lose their jobs. We’re not talking CEOs here, either; the average joes who maintain MySpace from day to day will get the boot. In addition, all of the artists who maintain their musical profiles there will suddenly have an entire avenue of advertising cut off. Facebook evangelists would do well to remember that when they drop their trousers to piss on MySpace’s continued existence.

In the gaming sphere, we’ve got the whole Xbox 360 versus PlayStation 3 mess. While the fans of both systems rabidly piss on each other, this particular rivalry is notable due to the fact that one of the console manufacturers has gotten in on the mudslinging. It’s no secret that Microsoft wants their competition to fail in a most spectacular manner. They’ve attacked Sony and its various consoles since the launch of the original Xbox, and it’s only gotten more vicious since the release of the Xbox 360. Microsoft does not just want the PlayStation 3 to fail; they want Sony as a company to fail.

Before you go accusing me of being nothing but a Sony apologist, let’s lay out a few historical facts here. Microsoft is no stranger to anti-competitive behavior; they’ve gotten into considerable legal trouble both in the US and abroad for that exact reason. There’s been countless times where Microsoft has forced out or bought out competitors, so they’d have free rein to market their product and their product only. Microsoft supported HD-DVD and created an Xbox 360 add-on for it specifically because Sony championed Blu-ray, even though Microsoft was pushing the Xbox 360 as a gaming system at the time, not a multimedia system. Lastly, Microsoft has on numerous occasions paid off developers to create games exclusively for their platform. That’s the same kind of anticompetitive nonsense that Nintendo used to pull back in the NES days, and for the exact same reason: to push competitors out of business.

Calm down, I’ll be fair: PlayStation 3 fans who relentlessly bash the Xbox 360 in hopes that Microsoft will collapse are just as deluded, if not more so. Microsoft is an absolutely massive corporation that will never go away, so get over it. The difference is that while Microsoft certainly wants Sony to fail, Sony does not want Microsoft to fail. Need I remind everyone that Sony has a rather large laptop computer division? What operating system do you think is installed by default on those computers?

But enough about games, since that’s just an invitation for more bitching and complaining. Let’s look at our last blood feud of the day: General Motors versus Ford Motor Company. The rivalry between these two stretches back for decades. We all know both companies have fucked up royally over the past decade or so; they put profits way ahead of making reliable cars, and as a result, import models outclassed and outsold them. Once the economy tanked last fall, American automakers had to beg the government for help! However, once the bailouts came around, things changed a bit. Ford refused any help, claiming they’d fix their problems themselves. GM wasn’t so lucky; they had to accept government money, and eventually file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Now, the federal government owns a majority of the company…and I’ve seen Ford fanatics practically rejoicing in the streets.

I don’t think they realize that the loss of an American automaker actually makes it that much harder for Ford. Too many gearheads fall into the trap of “If our rival goes out of business, then we win!” Well, not quite: that’s just one less American automaker in a sea of more popular and reliable imports. Chrysler already went down the tubes; if GM eventually follows suit, Ford will be all alone in its fight against the imports. Those aren’t good odds, no matter how you’d want to spin it. You don’t want to be the biggest fish in the smallest pond!

I think I’ve made my point. When you want a company to completely fall apart simply because you don’t like it, that makes you a horrible human being. If you don’t like a business, then just don’t support it. No need to be a dick.