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First!
9 years ago
General
Ive never understood this strange obsession people have with being first. Now coming in first in a race, or contest that I can understand. But what I don't is this whole 'Im the first person' rush. Being the first to post a comment. Being the first to try something. Now if you are the first to invent it that's different, first person to make a plane, to build a phone, to make a nanite. Those are commendable, but being the first one to own an Iphone27, First to ride the roller-coaster 5000, first to eat a new food or first one to run to the top of a tower. I find these "titles" and "achievements" so empty and boring.
Imagine this at a dinner party:
"Oh hey, Nice to meet you, did you know I was the first one to touch the top of the Eiffel tower?" "oh, that's nice, I built a scale model of the Eiffel tower using Popsicle sticks." Which person do you think sounds more interesting?
Yes perhaps one beat the other in elevation reached, but one has accomplished something and has something to show for it.
I think this first obsession perhaps stems from people just wanting some self importance and cant think of any better way to attain it.
Imagine this at a dinner party:
"Oh hey, Nice to meet you, did you know I was the first one to touch the top of the Eiffel tower?" "oh, that's nice, I built a scale model of the Eiffel tower using Popsicle sticks." Which person do you think sounds more interesting?
Yes perhaps one beat the other in elevation reached, but one has accomplished something and has something to show for it.
I think this first obsession perhaps stems from people just wanting some self importance and cant think of any better way to attain it.
What's far more distressing is the ridiculous and rather violent reaction so many people have towards it.
...Almost as if they were jealous thy weren't first or something.
I've certainly seen people rage over it, but then I've seen them get really angry even when it was the first time it was done. It can be anything really. Some people hate it when others RP. Some hate when people make certain kinds of submissions and want them to make others. Some hate it when people make journals.
The way I see it, the people that do it aren't intending to be annoying. Not always. They're just being silly and playful. Maybe a little humorous. And even though it'd get repetitive if they did it on every single thing all the time, there needs to be more sillyness and humor in the world in my opinion.
At the very least, if not that, then I would certainly take it over the alternative.
Thinking about it, I've made a journal about the concept of FIRST! as well, and even linked it to a YouTube video of someone discussing the idea. I don't know where that journal is (I have a lot of them, and it was long ago), or that movie, but I also linked to some examples of the kind of responses those people got.
They were horrible. Offensive and incredibly hostile for no reason. And it wouldn't just be a response or two. It'd usually end up with half a dozen, but I've seen it go on and on for a long while. With some people even getting death and assault threats over something as simple as just being playful with a single word.
I didn't mind it. At one point I even tried to counter it by offering points to people who got firsts. I was going to tally up those points and give the winner a free simple request. It didn't go so well though.
It can be annoying after a while, as with anything done in excess. Though personally, I'd rather sway towards a person who's a little silly and playful than someone who rages at the drop of a dime and polices everything too harshly. That's why I stopped going to some people's streams, even though I do like their art.
Yes the world NEEDS more humor, But good humor, not something that might make you smile for a second. The world needs people or humor that will physically make you laugh.
Honestly I'm going to make a loose association here but I would say this also ties into the current problem in the world of no originality AND no thought put into things.
'First' has no originality, its copy paste from the last person who used it, and requires no effort or thought. Just like those people who go and write things like "go kill yourself" or "your stupid/wrong." If you cant bother to do a whole thought with your own unique perspective on it (even if you have to be rude) you might as well just be a text bot. The world needs to wake up from its sleep and realize most of what you are saying to other people is just regurgitation of what you 'heard' not what you know. Heck the media now is virtually just a gossip column. They don't bother to wait and collect facts to know for sure, just report it FIRST before someone else does and get those ratings. Which means you got a pretty good chance of being wrong too.
This is just a symptom of a bigger problem.
I dunno, but it gives off a rush of excitment being the first in ANYTHING!
Being the first to comment is just a small starter. "I am the first people see on this thread" Its just the mentality of being the first one, being the one who gets all the attention. 15 minutes of fame for something as silly as that. Everyone wants to be special and sometimes they just grasp for such a silly small thing. First can also be replaced with best for some, I tell you that.
Being the foremost and at the forefront of every discovery in uncharted, brand new territory.
But it is just that- an illusion. And worrisome that people measure success based on the idea of first-come, first-served.
Every successful media in existence right now, that is and will ever be- is piggybacking off of some old idea. People may not notice or care enough to research and confirm; but they are.
"So too we are dwarfs astride the shoulders of giants. We master their wisdom and move beyond it." -Bernard of Chartres, according to Wikipedia.
(Even in the twelfth century, learned humans were aware that our knowledge is in fact not new.)