Thanksgiving
and Black Friday are ironically juxtaposed just hours after one another. This
year, as pumpkin pie settled pleasantly in my stomach, I could not help but
examine what time of extreme, thankfulness versus materialism, is the better
life. Now I know automatically I should say thankfulness. No one has ever been
died at a thanksgiving dinner table, while a Walmart on Black Friday cannot
claim the same.
Here's proof:
When I watch the local news cameras interviewing the tented
shoppers outside of Best Buy, I think why go to this extreme? Then I remember Bernard
Suits and the grasshopper explanation of games. The sleep deprived, aggression
shoppers that fought the department stores this past Friday found their own
game, and sitting back loving and feeling thankful for what they had was not
it. These people needed to strive for something, to work towards a goal to be
happy. The Best Buy shoppers are the John Strivers and Willliam Seekers of our
world. Going back in to Death of the Grasshopper
I could see that we could live in Utopia. Skepticus said that once we found out we are
living in Utopia, merely playing games we “would believe themselves to be
nothing at all.” I did not have this reaction, but rather see Utopia putting
more significance into our existence.
The
Grasshopper is very confident in his identity and what it means to be a
grasshopper. The grasshopper does not work, and is committed to a life of play.
Rather, play is the only means to define a grasshopper, and once the
grasshopper is working, he is not a grasshopper anymore. This is why the
grasshopper poses death as a paralleled option of working. He becomes a
grasshopper Jesus Christ dying for to maintain the significance of the
grasshopper. But upon further explanation we read that this life of play is
more than mindless activity. A game becomes everything we do in life; school,
work, relationships, etc. In the grasshopper’s dream people seize to
exist once they find out we are all just playing elaborate games. Why is this? Why
can’t we handle the idea that everything we do is just a game? Do we really think are actions are that noble and important for them to be a part of a game? I think that
knowing were a part of a game sets you free in a way. Maybe this is where everyone is going, to
freedom. Because once you accept that it’s all a game, I think you can focus on
winning it.
Now that were focused on winning the game, we can look at how Utopia is actually our life, and whether we really want it to be life. There are essentially no problems and no jobs to do, and Skepticus brings up the argument that humans get joy out of doing their jobs. Grasshoppers returns his argument saying that "what has been banished is simply all activity which is not valued intrinsically." This way if a carpenter still wanted to build a house he would. It would be his own game. This is its own way of saying the "love what you do, do what you love" mentality. But is this enough? I believe that humans have to experience adversity to fully appreciate the good. Without hardships in work, school, and relationships can we really value the happy moments Utopia will give us. I feel like we would end up in a mediocre state of unemotional experiences because we cannot distinguish between the good and the bad.
If we accept that we live in Utopia we can go back and analyze our Thanksgiving and
Black Friday Characters. Let’s think back to our Black Friday shoppers: they
strategies to win. They have accepted the “gameness” of their situation and
plan accordingly. For example, here are some black friday shopping tips:
These characters need to have the option of failure to motivate them. They also shop
because of the addreline rush and the release after buying a bargain. In a Utopia they would need jobs, while the Thanksgiving lovers would be happy enjoying the jobless bliss of play. The Grasshopper, while recognizing them both, would be blissfully playing in his holiday Utopia.
I definitely share the same sentiment as you regarding the fact that human needs to experience adversity to fully appreciate the good things in life. What we usually hear from people is how they wish they will not have any problems, or far from any adversities. The widely-accepted view is that with this, they will then be happy. I always feel the need to tell them that this mindset is not necessarily true. I think what makes life worthwhile is the fact that it is full with so many unexpected twists and turns that make us stronger every single time. Without all these challenges in life, I think we will just be going through day by day without any feeling of fulfillment. Our lives will be pretty monotonous and mundane to the extent that we may not be able to appreciate the good things that we have. Although in those challenging times we may question why such things happened to us, we often fail to notice that these are the things that make us even more appreciative of the things that we DO have when things return to normal. All in all, I think your post is really good and I enjoyed reading it!
ReplyDeleteThis post brought up some interesting arguments regarding the psychology behind black friday shopping, and how it may be considered a game to shoppers. What I think is necessary to point out though, is that the aspects of need, greed, and responsibility also play a huge roll in these circumstances. Greed comes into play with the more affluent shoppers, and I think this is something that drives the motivation to "win the game," so to speak. I also believe, however, that need and responsibility play a role in the less well-off shoppers, as black friday can also be thought of as an opportunity to buy certain necessities as a price more reasonable for lower income families. For example, we see deaths occurring at Walmarts, not at higher-end stores, and this could be an indication that black friday madness occurs at different levels within the realm of varying economic standards. It seems that the idea that it is a game should not be a generalization for all black friday shoppers; rather, it should be a suggestion for certain types of shoppers. What I really found enlightening was the idea that if we were to live in a utopia, we would not appreciate it at all because we would not have the references of bad times to appreciate the good ones. I think that any state of living is better than a mediocre state, and so maybe our society is underrated in that sense; maybe our society today would be preferable to that of a utopia.
ReplyDeleteNice post. I think that using the Grasshopper reading as a lens through which to view the divide between traditional Thanksgiving and (the absolute insanity that is) Black Friday was really interesting. I've always found the dichotomy of Thanksgiving weekend to be pretty ironic, what with the day of gratitude immediately followed by the day of greed. I like thinking of Black Friday shoppers as game players, but I can't help but think that not everyone who goes out shopping on Black Friday is having a thrilling good time. I wonder what the grasshopper would have to say about those who play a game without enjoying it.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post. This year was the first year I had ever gone Black Friday shopping, and I didn't have the "playing a game" mentality in the midst of shopping, but now that you bring that mentality to light, it does make sense. Many customers take pride in getting bargains, saving money. That's why not only is Black Friday each and every year, but coupon-ing as well. I've heard there are even television shows to follow the lives of these "couponers."
ReplyDeleteHowever, what I thought was most interesting was when you said "A game becomes everything we do in life; school, work, relationships, etc. In the grasshopper’s dream people seize to exist once they find out we are all just playing elaborate games. Why is this? Why can’t we handle the idea that everything we do is just a game? Do we really think are actions are that noble and important for them to be a part of a game?" In a sense, I feel like you are only trying to reach a small majority of people. I truly believe that each and every person is competitive if they're given a chance to be. If they don't engage in activities which would elicit this type of behavior, then they just wouldn't have a reason to be competitive. However, those who engage in activities such as sports, get the competitiveness engrained into their brains. For them, everything is about winning. Although I don't think this is bad, I believe it would be if our whole society had this mindset. Even though if we were all the best, and we were all competitive, we would competete to make each other better, I would be weary of a society of only football jocks, for example. Maybe what we need to instill in the minds of children is not so much to be competitive with others, but to be competitive with yourself. I've always been told that I'm my biggest enemy, and it's true. If you compete with yourself and continually try to improve yourself to do better and better, you'll be unstoppable.