week 8 dq post 1

Happiness is a concept a lot of cultures of the world have different understandings of (Ackerman, 2019).

Being a person who cannot stand most of the activities that the cultures I was born into find appealing; this is actually an interesting topic for me.

As Will Smith character in the movie “Independence Day” stated “I could have been at a Barbeque” (Gee, 1996). For me a barbeque is a multi-hour waste of time. Not much of the events of that type of gathering am I interested in (Lomas, 2016).

I am a scholar, fun afternoons activities includes working on any number of different ideas I am writing down, drawing using my digital drawing programs, or studying to fill in gaps in my research. To me that is extremely fun. Going to hear music is not fun, going to a sporting event is on the extreme side of not fun, etc.

The cultures I choose are the scholars who are not interested at all in any type of normal social outing, we do things that we love to do but others find tortuous. While at the same time, others who would find the activities we love to do themselves would find torturous.

That is not to say I do not have friends, just my friends do not live close to me. It is like Comicon, we gather occasionally when we can, we live too distantly away from each other to meet up regularly.

What we consider fun other American cultures not only do not, but other cultures consider what we do to be not only not fun but a trip to the dentist.

For us a solid and well created TV show or movie is something to pour over and learn from. That is fun for us, hence the application of Star Trek conventions, and associated cyber discussion groups.

The two are very similar, a group gathering to watch and discuss say the next Star Trek episode and a group gathering to watch a sporting event is not all that different. Both groups are very happy, but the differences between the groups is what needs to be focused on, the aspects of what is different are what separates the joy from pain. Screaming, loud music, etc. in a sporting event turn academics off (Russell, Schaefer, & Reilly, 2018).

I saw an article a bit back regarding the movie “Revenge of the Nerds” (Harris., 2009).

The fun of the different social groups in the movie “Revenge of the Nerds”; fictional characters, Lewis, Stan, Betty. Despite being fictional, Stan is a characterization of a stereotypical jock in this case QB1, Lewis being a stereotypical Nerd, Dork, Dweeb, etc., Betty the object of affection who had to decide if the fun and enjoyment with a life with Stan or a life with Lewis is better for her life path. Dozens of fun actions are demonstrated (stereotypical of the American culture) are represented, how the nerds have fun, how the jocks and social cultures define fun are repeatedly represented. Just because it is presented as fiction, does not mean said events depicted are not realistic aspects of real life.

This correctly pointed out that the main character of Lewis in reality raped the girl friend of the antagonist. She thought she was with her boyfriend; minus a couple dozen lbs. difference in weight, and how radically different way either man would touch her. Betty “oh, Stan, what happened, you have never touched me like that before.” The interaction was not consensual, on her end, till she figured out in a few seconds how much better of a man Lewis was. Which brings up a question, if the fictional character of Betty would have been paying attention, she would have known {her subconscious did know} that the person touching her was not her socially acceptable fun acknowledged bf. How much time did she spend in a disassociate state to allow herself to be with fun Stan, to perform the actions (fun) needed to fit into that society. In those seconds after Lewis revealed himself, her brain went “wait a second, Stan is an ok arm candy (what the community would consider Fun/good) socially acceptable boyfriend who would protect me from unwanted attention from other not ok men. But Lewis his career will bring in many times more income, he does not have the rage or violence background the fictional character of Stan has repeatedly shown. Stan has done enumerable violent and sociopathic actions (including arson. Arson has been proven to be a potential gateway action to more sociopathic/psychopathic and other worse behavior patterns (Simon, 2015).), using his political influence to get out of trouble. However, Lewis would be a far better friend to me and father to my children. I need to reevaluate to adult thinking right here and right immediately now. I am no longer a kid; this is time for adult decisions.” Betty’s evaluation of fun instantly changed from sports and being a cheerleader to being an adult, future wife, and mother. Fun instantly turned away from inappropriate behavior (arson, assaults, and terroristic behavior. change the word Nerd to Jew, or the N word, etc. The broken windows and other vandalism. People are sitting in jail right now for the same exact behavior the only difference remove the word nerd insert culturally acceptable terroristic words, as mentioned Jew, N, etc..), to fun being adult oriented. The jocks take Gilbert off to the side and beat him up, what would have made them stop assaulting him other than the script stated only to x amount of assaulting him. 20 very strong men nothing would have stopped them from beating him unconscious. The same group were actively assaulting both the Dean and Gilbert again a bit later on. The group of jocks considered this fun. Again, this is fiction, but I can think of at least a dozen events where similar occurred to either me or people I know. Fun is extremely relative; fun is also a base concept tool Wundt found in the Iliad. The army of Agamemnon’s men found it on the extreme side of fun to perform acts after the walls were breached. The Romans found gladiatorial contests to be extremely fun (Dodge, 2011). I guarantee to you, the Jews in the arena did not find it fun. The Trojans left in the city did not find it fun (Bernardini, 2018).

In a scripted tv/movie the outcome was decided months if not years before, depending on when the production took place. It is more of an exploration of the sciences and mathematics involved with the plot and string theory. In sports the outcome for the most part is unknown, the rivalry with the other team is a huge part of the event. We are better than you, type of deal. For sports people, the superiority of the system is a primary part of the reason for the gathering. Scholars are more interested in battling between ignorance and knowledge.

Another aspect of happiness that the above directly reflect within economics.

In the business and/or commercial world, similar activities bring pleasure. To work in a project that brings solid achievements is the goal (scholars are drawn to). While the other cultures are drawn to the we are better than the other competition aspects of business and commerce.

To defeat sales goals, or to have various and assorted other types of competitions, sports and barbeques applied in the economic realm, the same pleasures or at least similar pleasures applies on the weekends applied in the job. Many businesses gear employee projects towards the fun of the weekends, to get and keep employees motivated.

Whereas scholars are drawn to the organizational structures of the back office, where they work on improving the structure of how things are operated. Fun of the weekend fun of the job, applied similarly.

References

Ackerman; C. (2019). What Is Happiness and Why Is It Important? Retrieved from: https://positive psychology.com/what-is-happiness

Bernardini, Paolo. (2018). Sardinia at the tme of the Trojan War: Heroes and weapons. Medea, (1). https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.13125/medea-34703

Dodge, H. (2011). Gladiators: Violence and Spectacle in Ancient Rome. American Historical Review, (3), 854. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgea&AN=edsgcl.261131066&site=eds-live&scope=site

Gee, H. (1996). Surfing with the aliens. Nature, 382(6593), 681. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=9608277702&site=eds-live&scope=site

Harris, John P. (2009). Revenge of the nerds: Xenophanes, Euripides, and Socrates vs. Olympic victors, (2), 157. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1353/ajp.0.0052

Lomas, T. (2016). Towards a positive cross-cultural lexicography: Enriching our emotional landscape through 216 ‘intranslatable’ words pertaining to well-being. Journal of Positive Psychology, 11(5), 546–588.

Russell, A., Schaefer, G., & Reilly, E. (2018). Sexualization of prepubescent girls in dance competition: Innocent fun or “sexploitation”? Strategies: A Journal for Physical and Sport Educators, 31(5), 3–7. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1191039&site=eds-live&scope=site

Simon, Ü. G. (2015). The traits and the thrill of serial killers. Internal Security, 7(2), 33–42. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.5604/20805268.1212110