Most of what is enjoyable in modern society is not always enjoyable at the start. It has to be learned to be enjoyable. This entire idea is explained in the context of smoking marijuana by Howard Becker. The basis of Becker’s argument is the appeal to smoking marijuana has to be learned. He shows how the user needs to first learn how to smoke it, and then learn to recognize what is considered getting high. The same thing needs to be learned for almost any activity, however, to a lesser degree. When first attending a sporting event, one has to learn the points of the game to know what is going on. Next an attendee needs to know what team to cheer for. Spectators at events need to learn the cheers and protocol of the game also. With all this learned the event can be enjoyable. Without knowing what is going on, a sporting event would just be a bunch of loud and obnoxious people yelling at people playing a pointless game for no reason. This weighs in on the cultural discussion of nature vs. nurture. Actives that have a learning prerequisite to be enjoyable fall solely on the nurture side of the debate. The nature of smoking marijuana is that you light a plant on fire and then breath in burning hot gas. That doesn’t sound too appealing. The physical effects such as feeling high might be part of the nature of the activity, but it can be known that anything that needs conditioning to enjoy falls on the nurture side. But when learned to be enjoyed, the act of smoking marijuana a can be an enjoyable activity for recreational pot users.
I saw your title and I was immediately drawn to it because I wanted to know how you thought these two related! Your ideas were very interesting. There are some people out there who honestly have no idea what is going on in games. After reading the Becker article I would have never put those two together. That was very clever and original. It helped me better understand what he was trying to say because when I first read it I didn't really get what he meant by it. I also liked what you said about nature vs. nurture.
ReplyDeleteI think the comparison was a very true one, and very creative as well. 90% of my friends have no idea what is going on during sporting events, they just go for the hype when others are going to support the team, which was learned in the first place. It's interesting to think about the fact that simple things like watching a hockey and football game, too need to be learned to be enjoyed. It helped me pick apart the reading and understand more about what the author was talking about in general, rather in just terms of marijuana.
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