Popularity Contests

A couple of days ago I entered a contest. I don't usually do things like this, but I had read about it at the bottom of a newspaper and thought it was a good one and winning it didn't seem that hard. Besides, I had been planting the whole previous week and thought I could really use the prize.

The idea was to take a picture of your favorite container planting. The only rule was that it had to be in a container, not bought as such; have at least one plant and the picture submitted had to have been taken by you. The most creative container would win $500 in gardening/ pot supplies.

The idea of winning it was so appealing!! Not too long ago I had decided to start planting my own food. I don't even know why or where it came from since I've never been much into gardening and I don't care how green and pretty my front lawn looks.  But the feeling of being independent on that regard sounded quite attractive and there is something precious about using vegetables and condiments that you have helped grow.  Eating something, throwing a seed and watching it sprout and grow has something special on itself.

Where I live, not only the soil seems more like grinded cement, but it's a rented space. If I move, I want to be able to move my garden with me. So where to plant them becomes an issue, and for some reason pots are expensive….too expensive and certainly over my budget.  So when I read about this contest, it almost seemed like a blessing.

As a side note, I can't help the bill S510 from coming to mind. I'm not that informed about it (and I believe this is the big issue... most of us aren't and "it's better this way", certainly not for “us” but it’s sure “better for someone”). But,  for what I know, there is a bill that is about to pass or has already passed that makes it illegal to grow your own food, and every farm (which could be a  house or  individual ) has to use and purchase government approved chemicals, additives and pesticides. The explanation we are supposed to believe is that "it's for our own safety".

Hopefully everyone reading this is smart enough to know better. I smell Monsanto cologne, but that would be too simple, I'm sure there's something else. But as I said, I'm not fully informed about it. All I know is that soon it might be illegal to plant your own food, save seeds, trade, etc. and you'll need a permit to plant basil in your backyard.

But the subject of this post was about the contest and not about this law. I just wanted to put it out there, because I'm sure it's already waking up enough intrigue that you'll spend, at least a few minutes (that’s all we always have for things like this)  looking it up. My job for now is done.

So, going back to the contest, I thought it was really cool. I looked at previous submissions and most of them seemed interesting, smart and fun.  When you look at any form of creative output it’s almost like you can read the person that did it and i read so many different people…!! I loved it, and therefore submitted mine without a second thought. After it was done, I realized that I had to "buy" my votes, and it had nothing to do with creativity but everything to do with popularity.

So it doesn't really matter what you did as long as you have enough friends. And if you think about it everything else works under the same premise. I'm not writing from a "frustrated" point of view, because at the moment I started writing this I was leading the votes, while bugging every person I know to go to the website and click for me.    

While I was looking at it, I saw an "add" for another "creative/ quality" contest:  Submit your song and the "best" band gets to open for Cheap Trick. “Sounds great!  How is the "best band" chosen?. By "popular vote", this in other words means:  the band with the most friends wins. The same thing goes for venues, for art, for food, for music, for writing, for photography, for anything that you can think of, or that I can think of now.  For the most, it's not about quality or creativity or originality or a certain feeling or any of the magic or progress that the "object of creation" generates, but  only and nothing else than for how many friends this person/ group has or how many other people are doing, talking about it, using it, etc.  I didn't grow up here, so we didn't have "class presidents" at school... but I don't think any class president was chosen because of the great proposals he/she had for education and recreation, but because of how popular he/she was. 

So, I don't know what my conclusion to all this is. I've always been slightly handicapped on social networking and I can't force what's not true to me. Therefore I can't get close to people based on a purely rational, logical, strategically based reason, which is basically what pure networking is.

I think that most people are fine with that because when they sit on the social table, they all know what the trade is and it makes it a “fair trade” (quite a common word these days!!), and honest in its own right.  I can't do it. It's not in my nature and I refuse to force myself to push in me what doesn't come natural.

I accept it on those who are able to do it, because it's another way of being that is as valid as mine is and they'll probably be way more successful than I will ever be whatever "success" means.  And as long as someone is happy without purposely hurting others, no one else should even have the right to judge it and I definitively don’t have that right or intend here.

But I think the problem with all this, is that we are taught and we see it all around us as a validation of these teachings, that creating great things doesn't matter and that we shouldn't "waste our time", our "alone" time on thinking about new ways…new ways  in art, in science, in medicine, cures, progress, solutions, ... on nothing, because if you "don't have enough friends", whatever you are doing won't matter or won’t go far enough to matter.   

 And this really pisses me off, because everyone puts their true potential to sleep, to go to brunch.

However, on the positive side, contests, might work as motivation for production and ways of showing and being inspired and inspiring others, or simply giving you and excuse to get up and “do something”. So, on that sense I revere them.  Everything that gets you moving and doing is valuable.

So, I'm done with friendship contests, but I'm not done with thinking and I'm certainly not done with creating.  And I’m sorry for giving such a light use of the word friendship. By friendship I mean popularity.  Friendship is a much greater thing!!