When discussing art, there is to think of merely one kind of art. We think of art merely as paintings and sculptures, even though we know that music, architecture, literature, fashion, and countless other things also qualify as art.
I lead with this, because art itself is generally a part of something with an even more broad definition: entertainment. If something is artistic, it also generally qualifies as entertainment. But just because something is entertaining, does not necessarily make it an art form. Hiking through the forest is a form of entertainment that, though there may be an art to it per se, it is not in an of itself an artistic act. With all that being said, I want to discuss how artistic forms of entertainment participate in a cycle of degradation. I'll use music and TV as examples. These forms of entertainment naturally tend to connect with everyday life. They are relatable. Musicians sing about partying and falling in love, TV shows - or more specifically, sitcoms - literally depict the lives of "ordinary people." One of things that determines whether we like a song or not, or whether we like a TV show or not, is how much we feel like it relates to our own experiences. That's why I at least, and most people, don't like love songs when I'm in the midst of a breakup. Because I can't relate to it. But just because a song or show is relatable doesn't make it good. It also has to be extraordinary. I don't mean it has to include super heroes with lasers coming out their fingers defending the earth from mega squid robots. I just mean that, a show can't be exactly the same as our own lives. A show about a guy who gets up at 7:30, drinks his coffee, commutes to work and sits quietly at a desk all day would not be interesting. Something special, something weird, something extraordinary has to happen. That's why when you listen to a love song, it's always the deepest, truest, most sincere and passionate love that they sing about. That's why on the sitcoms, they do the same things we do, only more brash, more courageous, more ridiculous. In short, it's kind of like our own lives, but on steroids. And that's where the problem is! Entertainment depicts everyday life, in an extreme way. But, on some level, we interpret that extreme as the norm. Or at least, we internalize that extreme as acceptable, or use it as the bar which we compare ourselves against. We rate the romance in our own lives against the romance we see on tv, or hear in love songs. And this is how it becomes an entropic cycle. Society sets a standard, something that we all live out our lives more or less following. Entertainment comes along and builds a story based off of the norms we are used to. But in order to make it extraordinary, they often raise the stakes; in order to make it enjoyable, they change the standard. So it's a vicious cycle of creating boundaries for ourselves, having them crossed in the various forms of entertainment, then accepting their boundaries as our own before it starts all over again. I'm not saying that music is bad or that tv is bad. I'm only saying that we've allowed it to desensitize us without our even being aware. Sometimes desensitization is okay. We can't watch children's shows our whole life. There's a certain amount of maturing that takes place. But where does maturation end, and moral degradation start? I'm betting it's not where society would have us believe.
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Okay. Dumb Title, I know. But let me explain.
I'm writing about something that people don't think has much value; namely, the art of silliness. Typically, we view silliness as no more than a person's sometimes amusing, sometimes annoying quirk. But I think it can indicate a lot more. Silliness indicates any combination of four things. The first two aren't in the title because I don't want to focus on them now, but the other two are. Insecurity. The human mind is a black box; think of us as machines that get inputs and give outputs. What goes on in our minds, in between the input and output is the black box; we don't know what goes on in there (except maybe in our own sometimes). I say all this only to point out that for some people who act silly, it's because insecurity is what's going on in the black box. They receive and input, it makes them uncomfortable or insecure for whatever reason, and the voluntary or involuntary output is silliness. this isn't a bad thing at all. But it's worth knowing because when people are silly for this reason, it might be an opportunity to reach out to them. Joy. Joy is wonderful! It's awesome. Sometimes what's going on in the black box is happiness, and its manifestation of joy. That shouldn't be too hard to believe. Joy often takes the form of irrational behavior. When a baseball player hits a home run the fans jump and cheer. That's not a sensible thing to do. It's kind of weird if you think about it: some stranger hits a clump of yarn covered in leather with a wooden stick and it somehow causes us to jump and clap and scream? Hence, joy is a perfectly ordinary reason for silliness. Sanity. Now we get to the parts I'm excited about! Silliness, at first glance would appear to be an indicator of insanity. "Why is that fellow dancing about like a chimpanzee? Is he crazy?" That's a natural response to seeing an overly excited stranger in a grocery store. But insanity, craziness, typically does not manifest itself positively. And silliness is something which is inherently positive; it's impossible to be sorrowful and silly. Insanity manifests itself negatively: unhappy, sorrowful, etc. And again, if we knew the man, we might discover that his wife just told him that after years of trying, a child is on the way. In such a case, anything less than giddy jubilation would be the unnatural response. And as for Intelligence? Well, here's the thing: part and parcel to intelligence is the ability to think independently. Not only are people of intelligence able to retain information and process it, but they are able to derive their own conclusions, and decide their own responses. Typically, a big reason why people avoid silliness is because they are afraid; afraid of how other people will react. It's okay to factor what other people will think, and I get that. But the danger is in allowing that to bear too much weight in the decision making process, to the degree that it overwhelms any other factors. Silliness is an indication of intelligence because truly intelligent people understand the importance (and unimportance) of other people's opinions. They are able to gauge the action, gauge the impact it will have on others and on themselves, and determine whether it is a worthwhile endeavor. So they are silly because they understand silliness as a natural, joyful act, and they do not worry about the odd glances from strangers. I fear the that this brief treatise on silliness has been anything but silly. I hope that, in my attempt illustrate the importance and primacy of silliness, that I have not bored the reader to sleep. Still, we can see that silliness is good. In moderation of course, because all things have an appropriate time and place. To choose silliness is to choose freedom. Let your inclinations be tempered; always by prudence, sometimes by others, never by fear. So, the election is coming up. Some people have voted already, but most people, me included, will vote on Tuesday.
I'm not here to tell anyone who to vote for or to change anyone's political views. I just have one piece of advice that I think applies to everyone, regardless of their ideology. I want to propose a change in the way we think. I want to propose a paradigm shift. Don't find candidates you agree with, find candidates who agree with you. What's the difference? Well, it's pretty important. When we find candidates we agree with, when we find parties to align ourselves with, we are giving away a freedom, a right that no politician or party has a claim to. I'm talking about our ability to decide what's right and wrong. When we think in terms of aligning ourselves to someone else's political ideology, we are admitting that they are the one's who are right, and we just happen to be aware of it. When it comes to politics, just the opposite is true. We, as free-thinking individuals, are the ones who decide what is right. Think about it. We choose who we align with based on a sense of right and wrong that we already have within us. So why not shift the paradigm to fit that? Furthermore, when we align with candidates and parties, we're thinking of ourselves as helping them to get in office so they can do the things that they want to do, which we happen to agree with. BUT. When we think of voting as finding the candidates that align with us, we are recognizing politicians as what they are truly meant to be: servants. We don't exist to support politicians in their efforts to make our country the way they want it. No, they exist to serve us by bringing about our vision for America. I know it's simple. It may seem so minor and silly that this article feels like a waste of time. But I promise, it's not. The whole reason our great nation holds elections is to give the power to us, to make the leaders of our nation accountable to us for what they do. We are a nation of royalty, kings and queens. And elections are simply the time of year when we decide who we think will serve us best. |
Nick MartinMy name is Nick Martin. I write sometimes. These are my thoughts. Archives
July 2021
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