![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
Green Room - Week 16 - Day 3
Sep. 12th, 2013 01:53 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
clauderainsrm.livejournal.comI came across an article this morning about what they were calling “The Green Gator Effect”.
I’d link it, but I know the site has a tendency in get hit with more DDOS attacks than Putin’s best friendenemy’s LJ. So I’ll spare you the hassle and just cover the basics.
Think of an alligator. Maybe you’ve seen one in person. Maybe you’ve only seen it in pictures and video.
(I know I see them all the time, but that’s part of being in Florida)
What color is it?
Give someone a black and white picture and a box of crayons, the vast majority of people will grab the green one.
Because alligators are green.
Except they are not. While wet, they are black. While dry, they are grey. Occasionally there is an albino.
But they aren’t green.
Somewhere that idea got out there, and accepted in the general worldview of “how things are”, and it stuck hard enough that you could probably *show* someone an alligator, right in front of them, and a few minutes later hand them a bunch of crayons, and they would still reach for the green.
I thought this was interesting for a couple of reasons, (1) because it fits with what I’m reading involving color theory in Drunk Tank Pink, and how the little details that you might not consciously register profoundly impact how you take in the world. (2) I had never really thought about it, and I see gators all the time. But if you gave me crayons, I’d probably reach for the green just like everyone else. (3) It fits in with what I’ve been thinking about “drama” lately, and how people don’t see it, until someone thinks they do and mentions it, and suddenly people come out of the woodwork to declare that they saw it the entire time!!!
On that third point, that’s why I tend to cringe when someone starts bringing it up. Because, compared to just about anywhere I’ve ever been, Idol is fairly “drama free”. Yes, there are a bunch of creative people in a space together, with all that energy and ego bundled up under pressure – and yes, sometimes it pops free. But compared to a lot of places??? Our “drama” wouldn’t register. The Yahoo comments section would pat our “drama” on the head and ask it if it would like a cookie.
But then someone brings it up and suddenly it’s green. Everyone knows it’s green, and it’s such an overwhelming shade!!
You get out of Idol what you put in. I hope that the majority of people can come in and see that it’s grey, and that most of the time it’s not going to mess with it unless you mess with it first. It’s a shame when I see people thinking that it’s a green monster that is going to attack you out of nowhere unless you put it down…
***
http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/693486.html is where the poll is, the deadline is tonight.
I’d link it, but I know the site has a tendency in get hit with more DDOS attacks than Putin’s best friendenemy’s LJ. So I’ll spare you the hassle and just cover the basics.
Think of an alligator. Maybe you’ve seen one in person. Maybe you’ve only seen it in pictures and video.
(I know I see them all the time, but that’s part of being in Florida)
What color is it?
Give someone a black and white picture and a box of crayons, the vast majority of people will grab the green one.
Because alligators are green.
Except they are not. While wet, they are black. While dry, they are grey. Occasionally there is an albino.
But they aren’t green.
Somewhere that idea got out there, and accepted in the general worldview of “how things are”, and it stuck hard enough that you could probably *show* someone an alligator, right in front of them, and a few minutes later hand them a bunch of crayons, and they would still reach for the green.
I thought this was interesting for a couple of reasons, (1) because it fits with what I’m reading involving color theory in Drunk Tank Pink, and how the little details that you might not consciously register profoundly impact how you take in the world. (2) I had never really thought about it, and I see gators all the time. But if you gave me crayons, I’d probably reach for the green just like everyone else. (3) It fits in with what I’ve been thinking about “drama” lately, and how people don’t see it, until someone thinks they do and mentions it, and suddenly people come out of the woodwork to declare that they saw it the entire time!!!
On that third point, that’s why I tend to cringe when someone starts bringing it up. Because, compared to just about anywhere I’ve ever been, Idol is fairly “drama free”. Yes, there are a bunch of creative people in a space together, with all that energy and ego bundled up under pressure – and yes, sometimes it pops free. But compared to a lot of places??? Our “drama” wouldn’t register. The Yahoo comments section would pat our “drama” on the head and ask it if it would like a cookie.
But then someone brings it up and suddenly it’s green. Everyone knows it’s green, and it’s such an overwhelming shade!!
You get out of Idol what you put in. I hope that the majority of people can come in and see that it’s grey, and that most of the time it’s not going to mess with it unless you mess with it first. It’s a shame when I see people thinking that it’s a green monster that is going to attack you out of nowhere unless you put it down…
***
http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/693486.html is where the poll is, the deadline is tonight.
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}