So a week or so ago, there was an extended discussion on a friend\u2019s facebook page about whether it\u2019s wholly inappropriate for grown men to pursue Star Wars fandom (rewatching the movies, reading the fanfiction novels, discussing the movies online, going to conventions, etc.) as a hobby. \u00a0Someone linked to an article which started with \u201cStar Wars fans are weird\u201d but basically argued that, well, Star Wars-ing and video gaming and similar activities are unproductive<\/i>. \u00a0\u201cMy dad didn\u2019t do any such thing; he worked, he played with the kids, he fixed leaky faucets and did other useful things.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Sorry, I can\u2019t find the article any longer.)<\/p>\n
You know what? \u00a0My dad\u2019s main hobby was sailing \u2014 every summer weekend growing up, we sailed. \u00a0But during the week and during the winter, did he do something marvelously productive after dinner? \u00a0Not really. \u00a0He watched TV. <\/p>\n
But tonight my husband has the TV tuned to the NFL draft, and the reality is that as much as there\u2019s a gut reaction to mock geeks and video gamers, the Men With Time-Wasting Hobbies are largely the ones whose eyeballs are currently glued to the TV, looking to see who their favorite teams have picked. \u00a0And I would guess the amount of time that men spend on spectator sports has escalated, with the mushrooming of televised sports (how many sports channels are there, anyway?) and the amount of time some men spend following their teams, not to mention the increasing number of teams in the first place (though the large expansions of the major league teams is a bit old by now, I guess). \u00a0Which in one respect is a boost for the economy, right?<\/p>\n
What impact does Star Wars fandom, or sports-obsessing, have on the rest of us? \u00a0Is this really nothing new, and just something some men simply choose to do in their off-time? \u00a0Or are these men being irresponsible, failing in their fathering obligations? \u00a0Are these men deferring marriage in order to pursue their hobbies? \u00a0Or is the cause and effect reversed, and are they pursuing their hobbies because they don\u2019t have relationships (because, after all, Star Wars fans and gamers are geeky, and if they\u2019re disproportionately male, it gets to be a bit difficult to meet a woman in the first place)? \u00a0And, not to go all \u201cMen on Strike\u201d on you, but do men have an obligation to society to do something Useful and Productive, whether it\u2019s marrying and starting a family, or Getting Involved in the Community in some other way?<\/p>\n
And, really, the economy of the future seems to be reliant on the growth of Time-Wasting. \u00a0Video games (from World of Warcraft to Bingo Blitz). \u00a0Spectator sports. \u00a0I can\u2019t tell you how many yoga studios are opening up around town. \u00a0Kids\u2019 sports, and the growth of travel teams.<\/p>\n
What do you think?<\/p>\n
UPDATE: \u00a0When it comes down to it, this is fairly connected to the question of pot legalization. \u00a0There are a lot of issues with pot where it\u2019s difficult to separate cause and effect. \u00a0For instance, does pot cause schizophrenia, or are people headed towards mental illness more drawn to pot than others? \u00a0 And, more generally, does pot take away ones motivation to achieve something in life, or are slackers (or executive function-impaired people) more likely to smoke pot in the first place?<\/p>\n
In any event, banning pot is justified by a legal principle that says \u201cwe ban substances which, by their ingestion, cause altered states of mind. \u00a0We don\u2019t want otherwise competent people unable to handle emergencies of whatever kind because they have voluntarily incapcitated themselves.\u201d \u00a0(We don\u2019t ban alcohol because one can drink in moderation.)<\/p>\n
But I think it\u2019s reasonable, in addition, to say that a lot of the reason for opposing pot is, in the end, this presumed pot \u2013> laziness causation, and the fear that, if pot-smoking becomes legal, and normalized, that large numbers of young people will become more content to work whatever job is sufficient to buy their day\u2019s ration of pot, without attempting to further their education and gain promotions, nor to marry, start a family, and save for the future, let alone get involved in their communities (churches, charitable groups, etc.)<\/p>\n
And of course, our society can\u2019t function with nothing other than slackers, and one of our core values, as Americans, is the idea of pushing yourself to achieve great things, whether it\u2019s heading out to the frontier or Thomas Edison\u2019s \u201cinvention is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration\u201d dictum. \u00a0To be sure, I find it hard to say that any individual young person has a duty to go out there and make something of themselves, or has a duty to start a family and raise the children responsibly \u2014 but it does become a \u201ctragedy of the commons\u201d issue, as one aspect of the overall issue of voluntary childlessness. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So a week or so ago, there was an extended discussion on a friend\u2019s facebook page about whether it\u2019s wholly inappropriate for grown men to pursue Star Wars fandom (rewatching the movies, reading the fanfiction novels, discussing the movies online, going to conventions, etc.) as a hobby. \u00a0Someone linked to an article which started with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n