Summary: Stop contributing to the dissolution of civil society by being distrustful about tap dance clips.
Hi, Spencer! I just became a paid subscriber so I could comment on this. My underlying biases are that I'm a benefit-of-the-doubter down to my bones, and also I have not lived in the United States for over a decade and am increasingly out of touch with American culture for that reason.
With those caveats: I'm sorry, I don't see how either of these things could engender fear in a psychologically healthy person. "Civil War" looks like a solid action flick. "28 Days Later" is the best zombie movie of all time, in my opinion, so I'd probably see "Civil War," too--it's from the same director and it looks like they have the same vibe. Also, the Nutcracker-inspired tap dance was cute. Sure, the rat costume was a little weird, but the rat character in The Nutcracker is supposed to be scary. Sugarplum Fairy, in contrast, is adorable, also just as she's supposed to be.
To quote an adage from an earlier fractured time, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
You claim here that the tap dance video has an unintentional air of menace because that's what's in the air. But how do you know that that air of menace isn't just causing you to interpret something innocuous as menacing? I'm not breathing your air of menace, and I don't see the video as anything but cute. Analogously, if I'm living in a society that's obsessed with sexual harassment, and a guy I don't know compliments me on my Christmas dress, is that a threat, or is it that he just likes my dress and is trying to be nice?
I think this is important because I share your concern that American civil society is really hurting, and that is driven by mutual distrust. Distrust can easily become a self-perpetuating cycle. To use the dress compliment analogy again: If we start by interpreting some apparent compliments as threats, then in short order the only guys complimenting women's dresses will be creepy, because we've pushed the boundaries of what is considered normal behavior into such tight constraints--normal guys, who do not want to be seen as creepy, will stop complimenting dresses. The way to stop that from happening is to assume that compliments are sincere, even if your (known to be error prone!) spidey-senses are tingling in some vague way. I think you have seen the way this analogous situation has been playing out in the USA.
So you feel feelings about a piece of art in a world that is confusing and threatening, and then claim that "artistic expression remains almost frighteningly impossible to falsify." Ok, but it's also frighteningly impossible to know how to interpret exactly, which is why it's art. Your feelings about what it means are at least as much about you as about its reality. Your feelings will become more error-prone in the distrust direction as you live in a more distrustful society.
So then, you have a choice: do I interpret this in the distrustful way, or do I take it at face value? It's a single small decision to say "sometimes a tap dance is only a tap dance," but a lot of those decisions are what add up to a more mutually trusting, less fragmented society. Perhaps there is a shady spirit of the age there in the background--but you don't have to give it power by believing in it, just like any other ghost.
Welcome--thank you for becoming a paid subscriber! I take your point about confirmation bias, though I'm skeptical that my reading of the video is exclusively a product of my pre-existing political concerns and has nothing to do with any quality that inheres in the dancers' own expressions. They look insane. Anyway, thanks for your comment; hope you'll stick around.
I don’t know about that. I re-watched the video a couple of times (so, thanks?) and the dancers’ facial expressions look exaggerated—as one does in theatre—but not crazy, in my opinion. Sugarplum Fairy and Toy Soldier look genuinely happy. Now, I of course can be guilty of confirmation bias, too—see my biases referred to above—but I’m not just getting at confirmation bias here.
What I’m saying is that we create a worse society when we distrust others in ambiguous cases, even if distrusting others in a particular case was correct. When there are multiple reasonable ways to interpret something, and one is charitable while the other is cynical, we should choose the charitable interpretation *even if it is wrong in that case,* because that’s how we build and maintain a society where people trust each other, and trust is the foundation of any functional society.
Summary: Stop contributing to the dissolution of civil society by being distrustful about tap dance clips.
Hi, Spencer! I just became a paid subscriber so I could comment on this. My underlying biases are that I'm a benefit-of-the-doubter down to my bones, and also I have not lived in the United States for over a decade and am increasingly out of touch with American culture for that reason.
With those caveats: I'm sorry, I don't see how either of these things could engender fear in a psychologically healthy person. "Civil War" looks like a solid action flick. "28 Days Later" is the best zombie movie of all time, in my opinion, so I'd probably see "Civil War," too--it's from the same director and it looks like they have the same vibe. Also, the Nutcracker-inspired tap dance was cute. Sure, the rat costume was a little weird, but the rat character in The Nutcracker is supposed to be scary. Sugarplum Fairy, in contrast, is adorable, also just as she's supposed to be.
To quote an adage from an earlier fractured time, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
You claim here that the tap dance video has an unintentional air of menace because that's what's in the air. But how do you know that that air of menace isn't just causing you to interpret something innocuous as menacing? I'm not breathing your air of menace, and I don't see the video as anything but cute. Analogously, if I'm living in a society that's obsessed with sexual harassment, and a guy I don't know compliments me on my Christmas dress, is that a threat, or is it that he just likes my dress and is trying to be nice?
I think this is important because I share your concern that American civil society is really hurting, and that is driven by mutual distrust. Distrust can easily become a self-perpetuating cycle. To use the dress compliment analogy again: If we start by interpreting some apparent compliments as threats, then in short order the only guys complimenting women's dresses will be creepy, because we've pushed the boundaries of what is considered normal behavior into such tight constraints--normal guys, who do not want to be seen as creepy, will stop complimenting dresses. The way to stop that from happening is to assume that compliments are sincere, even if your (known to be error prone!) spidey-senses are tingling in some vague way. I think you have seen the way this analogous situation has been playing out in the USA.
So you feel feelings about a piece of art in a world that is confusing and threatening, and then claim that "artistic expression remains almost frighteningly impossible to falsify." Ok, but it's also frighteningly impossible to know how to interpret exactly, which is why it's art. Your feelings about what it means are at least as much about you as about its reality. Your feelings will become more error-prone in the distrust direction as you live in a more distrustful society.
So then, you have a choice: do I interpret this in the distrustful way, or do I take it at face value? It's a single small decision to say "sometimes a tap dance is only a tap dance," but a lot of those decisions are what add up to a more mutually trusting, less fragmented society. Perhaps there is a shady spirit of the age there in the background--but you don't have to give it power by believing in it, just like any other ghost.
Welcome--thank you for becoming a paid subscriber! I take your point about confirmation bias, though I'm skeptical that my reading of the video is exclusively a product of my pre-existing political concerns and has nothing to do with any quality that inheres in the dancers' own expressions. They look insane. Anyway, thanks for your comment; hope you'll stick around.
I don’t know about that. I re-watched the video a couple of times (so, thanks?) and the dancers’ facial expressions look exaggerated—as one does in theatre—but not crazy, in my opinion. Sugarplum Fairy and Toy Soldier look genuinely happy. Now, I of course can be guilty of confirmation bias, too—see my biases referred to above—but I’m not just getting at confirmation bias here.
What I’m saying is that we create a worse society when we distrust others in ambiguous cases, even if distrusting others in a particular case was correct. When there are multiple reasonable ways to interpret something, and one is charitable while the other is cynical, we should choose the charitable interpretation *even if it is wrong in that case,* because that’s how we build and maintain a society where people trust each other, and trust is the foundation of any functional society.
I recently wrote something on similar themes about hitchhiking, here:
https://doctrixperiwinkle.substack.com/p/are-you-going-my-way