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Bill Nye The Science Guy

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This is an editorial or a think-piece without a particular designation, please think of it as you would a “Consider the Following” segment on Bill Nye the Science Guy. It is going to present some information and opinions and you can do with them what you will, should you choose to read it! I have a desire to talk about entertainment and the attitudes surrounding it, somewhere along the lines of a “what is art?” sort of conversation, but less lofty and more specific to a particular range of ideas and opinions. I also want to talk about binaries, our collective fascination with them here in America, and in particular the one concerning work and play. I want to talk about self-expression and catharsis and how we like to believe and enforce that …show more content…

Returning to the mention of binaries, our focus on outward presentation calls upon our idea of what is considered professional or socially acceptable and what is considered flighty and eccentric. By and large, there exists a notion that the more reserved somebody presents themselves, the more professional they are. Conversely, the more emotional or open their outward presentation, the more eccentric and less well-adjusted they are considered. Personal matters are considered private, though attitudes about this are changing with the onset of social networking, but that’s something I don’t think I want to try and unpack here. Back to entertainment! If we, as a society, struggle to find healthy and socially accepted avenues to figure out who we are by means of self expression, we need some sort of convenient conduit or vessel to do so. This comes gift-wrapped in the form of entertainment, which gives us digestable presentations of familiar, relatable content. We see characters behave poorly or hurt others and it reinforces how we ourselves seek to act, for instance. We see a pair of romantic partners overcome obstacles to make their relationship work and it causes us to consider what we place value on in our own …show more content…

This is why it’s been so pervasive throughout human history, for about as long as we have existed we’ve had entertainment. Delving deep, we can readily say stories have informed and characterized how we explain our surroundings and identities from almost as far back as we can uncover. There are values and teachings written into myths, but they primarily serve as narratives, complete with colorful characters, unexpected twists, and in many cases elaborate performances. Often, the more ancient these sources the more the evidence for their enjoyment of entertainment is discredited. We have a tendency to assume that all ancient texts and narratives are religious in nature and thusly strict, rigid, and not intended for enjoyment or leisure. The presence of humor in many of these stories would seem to contradict this sentiment, so perhaps it’s the same bias against entertainment’s value that colors how these discoveries are considered, interpreted, and presented. This bias comes from that work-play binary I mentioned prior. Leisure activities like entertainment are classed as play, something frivolous or shallow. But in reality, entertainment is an important part of how we come to terms with our understanding of who we are and how we behave in important situations. So then, is it really just mindless

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