Wednesday 20 September 2023
Hobbyist Loons
It's grey, wet and windy outside so thoughts naturally turn to hobbies, especially some of the strange modern hobbies portrayed by the media.
For example there are people who seem to join a movement because it offers opportunities for the hobbyist loon. Personal conviction seems more like enthusiasm for a hobby than conviction. “Listen to what I’m saying and watch what I’m doing” it goes.
The advantage over stamp collecting, train spotting and bird watching is that lunacy can be a fashionable hobby for unattractive or untidy people who are not naturally fashionable. Unlike traditional hobbies, family, friends and even casual acquaintances have a weird kind of moral duty to sooth the hobbyist’s lunacy and just listen or watch.
Hobbyist lunacy also has many opportunities for building something akin to a collection. Stunts completed, sermons, stories of defeated evil, morality tales, chanting sessions and popular exhortations for example. They all give the hobbyist loon many opportunities to build and curate an interesting collection of loon tales for future generations.
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4 comments:
It's not just hobbies. I notice the younger kith and kin secretly rolling their eyes if I choose to mention Brexit or Free Speech. Their world is not the same as my world.
Still, it beats stamp watching, train collecting and bird spotting.
DJ - I've long thought that we should educate kids in the behavioural basics of their psychology by teaching them about such things as stimulus, response and conditioning.
As we age and pass through cultural changes, we see some of our own early conditioning for what it was, especially the fashions, but maybe it would be better if we all saw it more clearly and earlier.
Just like the owners of specialist and antique cars, Star Trek enthusiasts, etc., hobbyist loons are naturally gregarious and organise special rallies and meetings. They often seem to do it in London, where it causes no end of disruption.
Sam - almost as if the disruption is a key part of the hobby and not genuine without it.
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