Sunday 23 January 2022

Nerd Church - Simply the Best? It's More Complicated Than That


Simply the Best? It's More Complicated Than That



One of the many things that makes me tired in this beautiful trash-fire of a world is that some people think that everything - everything - has to be a superlative.

What's a superlative? Well there's a couple of meanings to the word, but I'm talking about this one:


'In grammar, the superlative form of an adjective or adverb is the form that indicates that something has more of a quality than anything else in a group. For example, ' biggest' is the superlative form of 'big'.'

- COBUILD Collins English Dictionary Online 


And the world? The world isn't actually comprised solely of superlatives and extremes.



Good Lord, she's gonna talk about nuance on the Internet! Someone stop her!

(Note: don't stop me. 😜😎) 



Not everything in life has to be the bestest, the mostest, the worstest, the leastest.

You can just enjoy things for what they are - weird, I know.

Most things are complex - a mixture of factors that are not easily defined or quantified.



For example - a dog.

Yes, it's a dog. But that doesn't mean it'll like to chase its tail - a lot of dogs do, but not all dogs do. 

That doesn't mean it's any better or worse than any other dog. It has its own little doggy personality and quirks.

The only time it would be somehow deficient as a dog on account of not wanting to chase its tail is if, for whatever weird reason, you really needed it to chase its tail.

You get me?

(Don't worry if you don't understand - that was, admittedly, quite a random analogy 😅)



A lot of people like the simplicity of a yes/no, right/wrong world.

Things are either amazing or terrible. They are the best or the worst. And you can probably see the appeal of that kind of thinking.

...But they're not.

The world is not comprised purely of dichotomies (opposites; an either/or scenario.) The world is messy. Because people are messy.



Yes, I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again: people are messy.

And people are messy because people are people. Complex li'l so-and-so's. #SorryNotSorry

So it really doesn't make much sense to reduce those beautiful, messy, terrible, people to 'best' or 'worst,' or to 'good' or 'bad,' even.

People are people.



And because our world is largely a result of humanity's creations, destructions, and general interactions, it too is messy.

In the long run it's gonna be easier if we stop trying to reconcile all the different and conflicting absolutes and just let things... exist.

So that TV show? That film? That book? That method of spinning straw into gold*?

It doesn't have to be the best. It doesn't have to be the worst. It is what it is.

And that's alright by me.


*If you know how to spin straw into gold, maybe toss some cash my way in the form of a cup of coffee? Lol ðŸ˜…😎😘




What do you think?

Is this the best idea, or the worst? 😉😅

Talk to me! 😊💬







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4 comments:

  1. Um! I'n not sure how to reply, but I did read your post - all the way through! I blog about ... books. I may write the off 'Top... book post, but when it comes to following book reading trends, I usually have my nose tucked into another book elsewhere. If a book is good, in my humble opinion, I will tell others, but equally so I will say that a book is mediocre and just okay. Not the best, not the worst. Is that a good enough answer?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha, it's not a test - I promise! Your answer is your own, and that's A-OK.

      I've just got very tired of things *having* to be the most, least, etc. - in media, online, whatever. It doesn't leave a lot of room for just... appreciating things, y'know? If everything's either brilliant or horrible - full stop, end of discussion - then things aren't really experienced as much as they could be (imho).

      Delete
  2. I really get this post, Cee, and I can relate it to an essay topic I'm dealing with right now that is frustrating a lot of us students: the professor has asked us to look at binaries used to describe the city of London and write an essay on one of those binaries, so for example: rich/poor, dirty/clean, etc. But, binaries in my opinion, is such an outdated way of looking at things. There are grey areas, people!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are def. grey areas! Are you allowed to say that in your essay? Like, mention that binaries over-simplify the myriad of complexities surrounding the city yadda-yadda-yadda fancy-words? (You could always try the binary of binaries vs spectrum, lol.)

      Remember that UK culture in general is an uneasy balance of class and clashing cultures - don't underestimate the class thing either, it's still pretty entrenched here. And if all else fails, just use old vs new, lol.

      Good luck, I'm sure you'll do awesome!

      Delete

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