Tuesday, September 3, 2013
The Lottery
In Shirley Jackson "The Lottery" one theme is man's ability (and need) to rationalist generally unacceptable actions. In one point in the story some of the people are talking about how a few villages have stopped doing the lottery. It is obvious that these villages think the lottery is an unacceptable action. Also the people of the village think it is rational to keep the lottery going every year because it is tradition and it what they were thought. Old Man Warner finds the lottery to be rational because by doing so it will make the harvest prosperous for the upcoming season. In today's society it is not rational to stone people at all. What seems to be a more rational idea today would be court by finding a person guilty or non guilty. Also we rationalize the violence in modern society with gang violence, drug loads, and mobs because that is what they are used to and what they know. Just because this is what we grew up reading it in the papers and watching it on the news does not make it an okay thing to get involved in especially if someone ends up getting hurt.
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I'm interested in your references to gangs and drug lords and can see how they enter this conversation. Our knowledge of these groups usually comes from TV or movies, and I think most of us come away with more of a fascination for these people than an outrage for their unacceptable actions. Consider HBO's Soprano's. Die-hard fans of the show came to love this family, despite the violence and criminal element engrained in the family fabric.
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