A funny thing happened....

Two interesting things came out of history class today. They are:


"Arbitrary Valuation

If one accepts the nihilist model over the pluralist model, the possibility becomes available to artificially value things and ideas within one’s world. This valuation is called “artificial” to differentiate it from real processes of valuation based on experience and function. Artificial valuation is marked by an arbitrary nature; it is more accurately referred to as Arbitrary Valuation. The process is arbitrary because both objects and value are chosen arbitrarily. An example would be the decision to fake worship of a saltshaker because it is central to a lunchtime social scene.

As one can imagine, this process is most heavily used in modern humor. There is an understanding that randomly gifting an ordinary object with god-like status is funny. This may be related to human history and the intense valuation, which has taken place in the past. When, in the past, an icon was viewed as part of something holy, it was very seriously given the distinction. When, in the modern day, a lunch box is promoted to a holy position, it is for the purpose of belittling the past tradition, as well as social character creation.

This process is valuable because it contributes to the demotion of past ideas, thus allowing more space for new ideas to be created in."

--and--

"Unless you like vodka and pork fat, don't watch the Super Bowl in Russia."