These examples illustrate that we are captivated by the idea of looking beyond our friends" (perhaps unpalatable) views and interests, and loving the person behind them. It"s certainly true that the best friendships don"t stand or fall with shared interests. If you initially connected with your oldest friend over your shared love of 90s American boy bands but parted ways when one of you lost interest in Boyz II Men, it would be hard not to conclude that your friendship didn"t run very deep. But this doesn"t entail that there is anything wrong with seeking out connections based on shared interests. A deep, loving, supportive friendship of many years is not made any less deep, loving, and supportive because the friends in question initially connected through their boy band obsession.