Unnecessary Competition

We're an incredibly competitive creation. I suspect it has to do with evolution. Competing drives us to growth and change. As a result, we tend to compete and compare, even when it doesn't make sense or hurts us.

I don't like the Oscars or the Grammys because I don't see how you can pit two entirely different artistic creations against each other. Maybe if several companies tried to make the same movie, it would make sense. Barbie, Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon, and Poor Things are such remarkably different projects that I don't see any use in comparing them. We have beauty contests, but beauty is so incredibly subjective I don't see much use in them either, although it can be interesting to put 50 girls on stage trying to out-smile each other.

There are some things you should compete with. A foot race is a simple test of who can move from here to there using only their feet the fastest

. A weightlifting competition is a matter of seeing who can lift the most weight from the floor to the air. A bodybuilding contest is far less obvious. Is it really clear that Arnold Schwartzinager was better than Lou Ferrigno and Franco Columbu? Ferrigno had far more muscle mass, and Columbu had far more muscle density (and strength), but the judges decided for Schwartzinager.

I'm immediately suspicious when there must be judges who vote on the winner. That changes the outcome from a contest to an opinion, and the very point of opinions is that not everyone agrees with them.

Both the Oscars and the Grammys are very interesting exhibitions, but I don't really consider the outcome of their competition. Considering how the nomination process works, any movie in any category that is thought of well enough to be nominated is a winner to me.