I promise I will get back to my Top 5 Reasons for Being a Christian very soon [Apologetic Professor Editorial Staff Note: "And he really means it this time! We swear!"], but first…this breaking news…
I wrote a Missoulian piece on Monday offering my opinions on the Testicle Festival! (You can tell that this is very, very important news by the exclamation point. These subtle cues are vital. I would certainly not seek to insult your intelligence by giving you urgent news sans exclamation point!). For the curious, here is a direct link to the piece.
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Happy reading! I’ll post my actual Top 5 Reasons for Being a Christian a little later this week.
Congratulations on making the Big Time: today the Missoulian, tomorrow the world (or perhaps at least the Billings Gazette)! I’ve never been to the Testicle Festival, in part because I can’t stop eating cookies and surfing the internet long enough to get there, and in part because, at my age, the whole thing does seem silly (though a few years back, I attended something called the “Chesty Fest” at a bar in Alberton, where I had, quite frankly, a great time). In the festival’s defense, however, doesn’t Christianity (like most other religions) have a history of organized bacchanals–the sanctioned acting out, on particular days, of various sinful impulses, overturning of social hierarchy, flaunting of propriety, etc.? Mardi Gras comes to mind, and I’m sure there are others, but I’m too lazy to look this up (and I need to go to the kitchen for more cookies). Anyway, isn’t there a place, and a reason, for such events? As for the importance of self-control: I’m not sure why Roy Baumeister thinks we have to choose between self-control and self-esteem, but in any case, as I understand it, the new quality to emphasize is “resilience”; “self-control” is so 2009 (and all those marshmallows have gotten stale by now). If social psychologists keep at it long enough, eventually they’ll discover that all the tradtional virtues and character traits are actually good for us: and won’t that be a relief to get the imprimatur of the social sciences–how did we ever raise kids without them?
Hmmm, I’ve never heard about the Testicle Festival before. I was thinking it would be something particularly nutty like I’ve heard Burning Man is, at least with some giant pair of balls that a troop of people would carry around on sticks like a proper crazy festival. But looking at it, the event looks fairly non-ritualized, which is a bit disappointing…
Anyway, self-control and holidays. There is a big reason why historical Christians incorporated Pagan holidays into their systems instead of eradicating them with, “Being silly and vulgar is bad for you!” arguments – though some no doubt tried. The main reason? Lots of people enjoy being unreservedly silly with their fellows on occasion. And in proper moderation, I’d argue that kind of silly event however lewd would be fairly psychologically healthy (barring the alcohol sickness and whatever they plan on doing with testicles over there).
But what is “Proper Moderation”? I would agree entirely with you that ours, or perhaps mine in particular, is a generation of the entitled. We on the whole want more pleasures, fewer pains, and are not particularly desirous to work hard for those goals in general. For instance, I write on here instead of doing my homework for another ten minutes. People for all times have been naturally tending towards doing only the work that is necessary and little more, and in today’s convenient world it manifests rather clearly. To a person whose whole life is like the Testicle Festival of indulging in hedonism day in and day out, I would say they are the problem state.
Sure, there might be ‘more’ of these sorts now than before (though I’d bet in all ages the majority of people have been of the same or similar mentality), but condemning a potentially delightful manifestation of human ingenuity and gathering however crass based on general psychologies seems a bit hasty. Removing all facets of revelry wouldn’t cure self-control problems, as those urges would simply be expressed in other ways in other places in life. Festivals may certainly have been conducted by all societies in all times because of that. The proper way to engage in hedonistic revelry of any sort is to prepare yourself to engage in it without difficulties of neglect occurring, have a blast and enjoy every moment of it, and afterwards compose yourself and continue living a well-wrought life with those hedonistic impulses in their designated places. A person who never sought to engage in hedonism, be it silly festivals or fun games with the family or even talking about being hedonistic on a blog, would most likely be under worse psychological stresses that manifest in odd ways. We have those neurotics too to put alongside the roster of our too-silly brethren.
In short, we both agree that as a society we could do more with training up our self-control, and I definitely am one for logical planning and foresight into all relevant aspects of life. But I would at the same time argue that festivals, however silly, vulgar, or crude they may be, can certainly play a role in a healthy and productive psychological framework. This Testicle Festival might very well be just a lame party, but the same institution of people gathering towards a common end is what makes our societies so great to begin with – even if it is just for silliness.
When I read your article in the Missoulian I was actually quite pissed off tbh. Saying that someone who attends a debauched festival, and the Testy Fest surely is debauched, lacks self control and that folks that attend these festivals are killing themselves is ridiculous on it’s face. It’s a 4-5 day festival at the longest and most of those that attend have regular jobs and practice self control 360 days a year, so letting loose with a little nudity and drinking although maybe bad for their livers isn’t killing anyone unless they are stupid enough to get behind the wheel while intoxicated.
I also don’t believe that those folks that let loose for that short period of time once a year or even just that once, are any kind of sign of a lack of self control of the society or even the community in which it is hosted. To judge something you have no desire to attend as a sign that those that do attend lack self control, and/or are killing themselves is pretty doggone self-righteous imo.
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