In a rapidly polarizing world, there is no tolerance for centrists, they say. Apparently that polarity has hit opinions and experiences too. We classify as all our experiences, all that we consume as either amazing or incredibly disappointing. Because we go in with no or low expectations or heightened expectations. Nothing is good enough (not that it ever was). Like a stereotypical Asian parent judging their child's achievements, what could be okay is disappointing. And what has been deemed acceptable by aggregate keeps sliding down the disappointment scale as time passes. We may be the sum total of all our experiences, but the sum average of all our experiences comes up shorter than its parts (there is a sumif, some/if, if/average ifaverage excel joke in there, but I can't be bothered right now).
Good gets moved to a different category. If a movie is just good, it will be streamed or viewed while doing chores. Theater is only for greatness - how dare the anticipation of greatness disappoint. But hype follows Netflix too. So now there is disappointment in the good to decent even there.
They say good art or anything memorable generates discussion. Discussion has been replaced by debate. And for debate, we assume there needs to be polarity. Especially if there is polarity towards one end, our middling experience compel us to pull the polarity down the other end. Ironically, the net average of the polarities would bring it right back to where it originally belonged (good to decent. I didn't do the math - I never do the math). But decent for everyone is not the same as averaging out to decent.
It is like we cannot let something wither away in average-ness or mediocrity. We will either immortalize them, or turn them into rotting zombies of what they are. Merely good has no place in this hyped up, amped up world, always waiting to be blown away or shocked and repulsed. Another aspect, is our inability to compartmentalize. We cannot absorb the bad and enjoy the good. We feel compelled to make an overall judgement, ignoring the individual aspects. It causes a dissonance in our collective memory. If society is a collective organism, it is suffering from extreme cognitive dissonance.
Good gets moved to a different category. If a movie is just good, it will be streamed or viewed while doing chores. Theater is only for greatness - how dare the anticipation of greatness disappoint. But hype follows Netflix too. So now there is disappointment in the good to decent even there.
They say good art or anything memorable generates discussion. Discussion has been replaced by debate. And for debate, we assume there needs to be polarity. Especially if there is polarity towards one end, our middling experience compel us to pull the polarity down the other end. Ironically, the net average of the polarities would bring it right back to where it originally belonged (good to decent. I didn't do the math - I never do the math). But decent for everyone is not the same as averaging out to decent.
It is like we cannot let something wither away in average-ness or mediocrity. We will either immortalize them, or turn them into rotting zombies of what they are. Merely good has no place in this hyped up, amped up world, always waiting to be blown away or shocked and repulsed. Another aspect, is our inability to compartmentalize. We cannot absorb the bad and enjoy the good. We feel compelled to make an overall judgement, ignoring the individual aspects. It causes a dissonance in our collective memory. If society is a collective organism, it is suffering from extreme cognitive dissonance.
