July 03, 2003Us and ThemGiven the title, most would expect for me to be including some Pink Floyd lyrics that bemoan how life sucks right now. Nah. Not today. Life does indeed suck eggs, but I can always write about that tomorrow or the next day. Today, over at oxymoronic Faith expressed her annoyance regarding the coverage of the Nathan's hot dog eating contest...Let me just say, WTF? Must we turn absolutely everything into some dysfunctional "us" against "them" deal? It's a hot dog eating contest. No one's life will change for winning or losing. Get over yourselves already.Rant On Maybe it's just me, but here in the U.S. it has always been "us" against "them" and often dysfunctional. Be it at the individual level where neighbors silently compete to put the most expensive cars in the driveway, have the most impressive halloween decorations, and slap the most "I'm a proud parent of an honor roll student..." bumper sticker on their SUVs. It's about some sort of bizarre pecking order.
Be it at a group level where people rave about "their teams", but once there is a contrary view, rioting ensues. And it is not just isolated to professional sports (e.g. Even our legal system is an adversarial process. "plaintiff" .vs. "defendant". How many attorneys are more concerned about winning a case than about pursuing justice? To do the right thing rather than win the battle for their client. Sure, it's their job but that isn't the point. It is an "us" against "them" and winning matters.
We are a competitive people and always have been. We want to be number one even if it is a stupid hot dog eating contest. At least we don't have this competition problem in the blog world eh? Rant Off Ok, and for those that really wanted them, here are the lyrics to Us and Them by Pink Floyd. Enjoy.
Posted by ac at July 3, 2003 01:36 PM
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