Friendly Competition in the Creative World

I recently went back and watched an interview with metal vocalist and political commentator Eric July from early 2015. In a discussion about different demographics of fans, he brought up a point about the one-upmanship that can occur in the creative world. A fan, or claimant of fandom, will sometimes only follow an artist just in an attempt to one-up them. One-upmanship has positive and negative potential.

First, the good. The progression of arts, science, and economic growth all come from competition, friendly or murderous. Just as a business provides a better service at a better rate to drive out its competition, an author will create a more concise and well-worded work to get their words heard in the white noise of publication, populated by every writer and their Instagram of adorable dog pictures. Personally, I'm a cat person. This competition drives critical growth and evolves the poetry of language.

Now, the bad. Too much competition can rot the very creative nature that drives one to make works. One can easily get hung up on the competition, rather than the product that results from it. If a creator loses sight of their vision, they lose the poetry of the words. When the creator takes their primary focus off of their vision, the one-upmanship can become a creative block instead of a kindling for the creative fire.

Use competition to fuel your work. Never lose sight of the product in the race. When you strive to better yourself, your competitors will grow to be better than you and the cycle continues. - Cheers.

Humanity as a Word

Something that I have noticed recently in the English language, and I do not know if it is something only a few other word-nerds would notice, is that when the word 'human' is used as an adjective, the phrase or term it is used in suddenly becomes much more pointed and relatable to the reader. If I were to say, "let's play murder scrabble," it would come off as a morbid attempt at humor, but with no substance. When John Hodgman, however, said, "we'll play the most dangerous game: human-murder-scrabble," the term feels much more real and connected to the entirety of the audience.

I believe it has to do with the inescapable label of 'human' that all readers and audience members subscribe to, by their being. To say something is applied to human's or is in someway related to the human condition means that it is in someway related to all of the audience, a sample of humanity. Humans, being individuals by nature, like to pick and choose their labels. When something is part of being human, particularly when murder is involved, humanity is forced to reconcile the sting of knowing that they are unable to escape the only requirement for mortality. For some, this is the fuel that causes them to rage at the dying of the light and become something more than human by being an extraordinary individual.

This leads me to believe that it is human nature, if not just a personal philosophy, that we should all strive to be something greater than human and individuals who rise above the crowd. - Cheers