I have a sneaky suspicion you may be grouping things that you don't like and aren't interested in, and calling them 'mainstream'
You could be right. I do have a fair amount of defensiveness about such things. I seem to have interests that are not only "minority", but are derided by the "majority." Morris dancing, for example, is hardly ever mentioned on the radio, on TV or in the papers without a snide little joke about how sad it is. The dog-loving community you describe is perhaps a thriving minority culture, but it's probably not laughed at in the press the same way Morris dancing is. Being laughed at all the time by "them" does tend to create a sense that you are part of a tiny, valiant minority, swimming against the bland current of the mainstream.
I'm thinking now of the "guest publication" thing on Have I Got News For You, that every week mocks mercilessly someone's own minority enthusiasm. (Folk music got the treatment a few weeks ago.) Some interests are fair game for mockery on television, because it's assumed that "everyone" knows they're silly. Other interests aren't, since it's assumed that "everyone" knows they're "cool" or socially acceptable. From this, I get "minority" and "mainstream."
no subject
You could be right. I do have a fair amount of defensiveness about such things. I seem to have interests that are not only "minority", but are derided by the "majority." Morris dancing, for example, is hardly ever mentioned on the radio, on TV or in the papers without a snide little joke about how sad it is. The dog-loving community you describe is perhaps a thriving minority culture, but it's probably not laughed at in the press the same way Morris dancing is. Being laughed at all the time by "them" does tend to create a sense that you are part of a tiny, valiant minority, swimming against the bland current of the mainstream.
I'm thinking now of the "guest publication" thing on Have I Got News For You, that every week mocks mercilessly someone's own minority enthusiasm. (Folk music got the treatment a few weeks ago.) Some interests are fair game for mockery on television, because it's assumed that "everyone" knows they're silly. Other interests aren't, since it's assumed that "everyone" knows they're "cool" or socially acceptable. From this, I get "minority" and "mainstream."