Green Room - Week 16 - Day 3

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

I 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.

Comments

[ecosopher.livejournal.com]

I tend to think of it this way: unless I'm told otherwise, I will assume people are just like me. Now, I know that for the most time, they're not always completely like me. But there are so many variations on theme human that I can't possibly imagine every possibility whenever I'm reading someone's posts on the internet. So I just blunder along and then when I get more information, I adjust my perception accordingly. So sure, I assume all the alligators are green. But I'm willing to imagine other colours, if that information is forthcoming. Otherwise, I'm sticking with the green.


Drama is everywhere on the internet. It used to bother me more. Now, I just... well, I have other things to bother about. Not that I'm completely unbothered by it. I'm just bothered a whole lot less. That works better for me.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

Drama is also tiring, too. It's like what I was saying a GR or two ago about bloggers who adopt a consistently outraged voice: It takes a lot of energy to maintain that, and sure, you'll get quite a few hits the first few times around. But as time goes on, readers are apt to tire of it, and the blogger would (or should) adapt themselves in turn if s/he wants to continue cultivating an audience.

BUT...

It's the drama that initially catches the public's interest.

SO...

How does one maintain the bridge between Too Much Drama and Just Enough?

(Mind you, I'm supposed to be showering, dressing, and going out to buy a top to match the pants I'm wearing to FIL's funeral. Instead I'm here.)

[anyonesghost.livejournal.com]

You burn that bridge. All shouting! All the time!

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

*For me*, that bridge is the difference attitude.

You can throw all kinds of stuff into the air, and as long as everyone involved comes at it more from a "Oh man, I didn't see that coming! Whoo hoo! Let's go!" instead of "This sucks more than anything has ever sucked before. I hate everyone" you are going to have less of a negative feel about it.

No one is going to like everyone else. It's just not possible. But, again, there is difference between "They are doing their thing" and "They really suck".

The people involved can really make or break that bridge of keeping things exciting and dragging the whole thing down.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

That was more of an "Idol-centric" answer.

In the case of the bloggers, I think they have to maintain a certain "air of cool" to be able to pull off outrage for any length of time. People want to be accepted, and if they manage to come off as knowledgable and "cool" enough in the process of talking about current events, there are definitely niches for that.

Regardless of what it is actually, they have to be doing something that people want to see, or probably more importantly, to create a demand for what they are doing! :D

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

"Drama" definitely bothers me a lot less now that I'm older. On the other hand, I find that I have less patience for the games involved.

[porn-this-way.livejournal.com]

I'm in a pretty bitchy mood right now (due to work shit, not Idol!) and also on a time crunch, so I'm not gonna mince words here. Not that I ever really do, but whutevs.

People who are determined to whine ad nauseum about OMG TEH DRAMAZ in a place that's hardly got any (Idol ain't the first or last place, but it's a damn good example) can go take a stiff shot of Shut The Fuck Up and chase it down with a big gulp of Get The Hell Over It. In my experience, those people fall into one of two categories: they're drama whores themselves who totally get off on the whole thing and whine about drama as a means of generating even MORE drama so they can jerk off to that too, *or* they're such a fucking paranoid 'fraidy cat they're frightened of their own goddamn shadow and think anyone who so much as sneezes in their presence is actually issuing a covertly coded death threat directly at them, because obviously a sneeze can't really be just a sneeze. Both of the above types of people can go fuck themselves, get off the internet, and possibly consider a career as a movie theater owner because all they know how to do is fucking PROJECT.

Do some people have isolated incidents or bad run-ins that can sour an experience or create an unfortunate first impression? Sure. It happens. But for the most part, if someone's hanging around a relatively low drama environment that tends to be filled with reasonably intelligent adults, yet they feel like there's drama galore and that they're always at ground zero for all of it, maybe they need to try looking in the mirror instead of at their environment when they're looking to issue blame or find the source of the problem.

[porn-this-way.livejournal.com]

Referring to Idol in its current state btw, not seasons long past. I wasn't around so can't speak to the levels and intensity of drama that were or weren't there.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Other than Season 4, the vast majority of the drama in past seasons is exaggerated. It was there, but it didn't overwhelm the season.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

I've been seeing an increase of "drama talk" which has also seen an increase of "people coming out of the woodwork of Idol past to say how much they dislike the drama in Idol"... despite the fact that almost all of them *were involved* in the "drama" during their season.

That said, I definitely *don't* want people to just go away to get over themselves, I would much prefer if they saw that they need to (borrowing your tone) Settle The Fuck Down (/borrowing your tone).

I like to think that there's room for everyone and everything in Idol. It's just a matter of the people involved *wanting* to make it work.

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

In my experience, those people fall into one of two categories: they're drama whores themselves who totally get off on the whole thing and whine about drama as a means of generating even MORE drama so they can jerk off to that too, *or* they're such a fucking paranoid 'fraidy cat they're frightened of their own goddamn shadow and think anyone who so much as sneezes in their presence is actually issuing a covertly coded death threat directly at them, because obviously a sneeze can't really be just a sneeze.

I love your unminced words. :)

[theun4givables.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I wonder what would happen if the GR really did implode with drama. Like the real, down and dirty type. I would probably get in the fray of it, somehow.

In other news, I wrote 2k in approximately one hour just letting my fingers fly and my characters doing the talking for me. It's been a while since I felt exceptionally productive, lol. Those 2ish hours a day where I am without a child are pretty damn nice. :)

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

Woot, go YOU!

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

OK, now -- NOW -- I'm going to out out and find that top and those shoes. I'll be back later, gators ;)

[lrig-rorrim.livejournal.com]

I don't know... this is going to sound strange coming from a conflict-averse person like myself, but I actually think that a certain amount of conflict (which is what a lot of "drama" boils down to in the end) is a sign of a healthy and active community. If you've got a lot of people together and interacting, some of them aren't going to get along. Some of them aren't going to get along in really obvious ways, and other times it will be subtle.

That's ok. That's what people do. It's how they work out their differences (or avoid them, or whatever) that makes it a tolerable place to be or not. Can folks communicate, either in public or in private to work it out? Are there level heads that can prevail or is the sky falling all the time and are the doomsayers ringing bells on the corner? How generally kind are people to one another? In my experience, Idol has been a mostly kind environment, and I have made some amazing friendships.

I also think that a lot of "drama" does come from the green alligator thing - it arises from misunderstandings where folks assume malice instead of incompetence or indifference. When reading stuff online my alligator color detection is usually set to gray ("it's nothing to do with me") or black ("there are many ways to take that statement - let's go with the most innocuous one rather than the insidious one") but we all have days when green seems like the right color and you're seeing sharp pointy teeth where there aren't any.

This particular community does not seem to me to be hazardous and filled with pointy teeth, but I can totally understand how navigating murky waters with people you don't know well can make it more difficult to discern a floating log from a gator. (I am mixing my metaphors all over the place today. Which means I should shut up and go run my errands already. Heh.)

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

I definitely agree that a certain amount of conflict is good. If I didn't, well, we wouldn't be here right now!

[anyonesghost.livejournal.com]

Coal is only turned into diamonds via the application of pressure. (And time.) Pressure is a good thing. Fire is bad. Of course, when you're in the thick of it, it can be hard to tell the difference. :-)

[medleymisty.livejournal.com]

Especially if you have experience with gators with very sharp and pointy teeth that left deep marks in you, and you're reminded of them every time you come to check on what's up here, so yeah.

Guess I should go buy a movie theater.

[agirlnamedluna.livejournal.com]

Gods, I avoid comment sections for that very reason. They make me weep for humanity and not in the happy tears way.


In other news, I just went to IKEA, didn't find what I wanted/needed, and still came home with a bag full of stuff. Yay. I hate/love that place.

[favoritebean.livejournal.com]

How many Allen wrenches came with your bag of goodies?

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

I live in Louisiana.

I'm going to start calling this the Greyish-brown Room. :P

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

I spent about 2/3rds of the time while reading the GR post trying to envision a way in which the whole idea was mistaken, and where the dark color of alligators was actually a really dark green! And not black!

Because I really was that convinced of the greenness. Now I'm disturbed by the strength of that cognitive dissonance. o_O

[ashgaelsonaria.livejournal.com]

Alligators are a greenish gray.
So are crocodiles.
Biggist difrince is alligators like fresh meat and crocodiles like aged meat.
In otherwords if an alligator grabs you its going to tear you up into bites. If a crocodile grabs you it rolls until you stop moving and then sticks you into storage.
This means you have a better chance of surviving a crocodile attack.

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

Whatever color alligators are, ticklish penguins are black and white. I have watched this video several times, and I've laughed til my eyes were wet.

Enjoy.

[favoritebean.livejournal.com]

There was a twelve foot long alligator hanging out near my mother in law's house. I was convinced that it was grey with tan stripes. My MIL was convinced it was twenty feet long. Of course, they live near a lake.

Unrelated, but I hope Idol folk in Colorado are safe. The news about the flooding is terrifying.