Happy Medium?
I'm a man of extremes. I tend to vacilate between one end of a spectrum and another. It's just my way. Unfortunately, the older I get, the more I realize how freaking cool the Happy Medium is. You know, the Middle Ground. Luke Warm. Relaxed, but not comatose. The problem is, I can't achieve the Happy Medium because of my inherent nature. The really wierd part is how much we disdain the Happy Medium in American culture. You've gotta by Conservative or Liberal. Republican or Democrat. Patriotic or Anti-American. Gay or Straight. Pro-Choice or Pro-Life. Pro-Gun or Anti-Gun. This or That. God forbid anyone actually form an opinion on something that incorporates the philosophies of two separate groups. (Actually, in this respect I come pretty close to the Happy Medium, because although I usually lean heavily towards one set of philosophies, I generally can accept a tenet or two of another. For example, I would prefer that there were tighter restrictions on gun control, but I fully realize that gun control only hurts law abiding citizens, therefore making gun control something of a joke.) "Moderation is Masturbation" is the lyrics to an old Stone Temple Pilots tune. We look down on Switzerland cause they're neutral (well, that and they refuse to give back the Gold the Nazis stole from the Jews...). "The Middle of the Road is the most dangerous place to be" is a quote from some movie I probably own. Hell, most stories about the War in Heaven paint the Angels that remained Neutral as being worse than the ones who Rebelled.
(On the other hand, one of my favorite episodes of Futurama involves blowhard Zap Branigan repeatedly declaring war on the people of the Neutral Planet...)
Regardless, I find that the Happy Medium's a pretty good place to be. And I've found I can get there by using my own natural tendancies in a specific way. For example, when it comes to the comic, I've found if I get too comfortable and start going, "Woo! You're doing great! The book rules!" then I get complacent. My work starts to suffer, and I get lazy. On the other hand, if I start beating myself up all the time, like, "You suck! Your book sucks and no one will ever like it!" then I get depressed. My work starts to suffer, and I can't bring myself to work on it cause I become too afraid of failure. The trick I've found, is to run a little hot water, then run a little cold water. I go, "You're doing good. This issue is going well, and I think people will dig it." But then I follow it up with, "But don't go getting cocky. You ain't no genius, and you sure as shootin' ain't in the same league as the guys you look up to, like Kirby." This Balance keeps me motivated and excited at the same time, which keeps me on task.
(On the other hand, one of my favorite episodes of Futurama involves blowhard Zap Branigan repeatedly declaring war on the people of the Neutral Planet...)
Regardless, I find that the Happy Medium's a pretty good place to be. And I've found I can get there by using my own natural tendancies in a specific way. For example, when it comes to the comic, I've found if I get too comfortable and start going, "Woo! You're doing great! The book rules!" then I get complacent. My work starts to suffer, and I get lazy. On the other hand, if I start beating myself up all the time, like, "You suck! Your book sucks and no one will ever like it!" then I get depressed. My work starts to suffer, and I can't bring myself to work on it cause I become too afraid of failure. The trick I've found, is to run a little hot water, then run a little cold water. I go, "You're doing good. This issue is going well, and I think people will dig it." But then I follow it up with, "But don't go getting cocky. You ain't no genius, and you sure as shootin' ain't in the same league as the guys you look up to, like Kirby." This Balance keeps me motivated and excited at the same time, which keeps me on task.
1 Comments:
I think the trouble is that the middle doesn't sell commercials. The only news outlet I've experienced that presents both sides of the story consistantly is public radio, which is paid for by the listeners.
However, another aspect is that pop culture isn't always a valid representation of society. Is life like Desperate Housewives or the Sopranos? Not for most of the U.S. From my experience, most people have a one or two key issues they have a strong personal opinion on one way or another (by personal, I mean they've decided themselves). They're well informed there and it's a good decision for them. In the middle, you have the things they don't care about, things that don't get an emotional reaction, etc. But then there are things that they either A) can't understand or B) don't really care about but some other person near them has passionate feeling about or C)some other reason but it's too early (hehe), and things tend to be reacted to in a follow the herd sort of way.
On an interesting tangent, I saw a study that showed (through MRIs, etc) that the part of the brain in charge of reasoning and logic almost shuts down when you're dealing with a subject you have a strong emotional feeling about one way or another. Politicians are particularly affected by this tribal form of thinking.....
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