Appeasement, as has been seen in the months leading up to World War II, is usually quite ineffective. One side gives the other side what they want in hopes that conflict will not break out, but this puts the side that gives in an extremely vulnerable situation (which often goads the receiving side into pressing for more concessions).
As I'm sure many of you can relate, more or less every day we must concede something we want in the name of the greater good, or simply to avoid conflict over something deemed unnecessary. Perhaps one of the more relevant examples of this for me is my dad.
Currently, he has this obsession with me joining Mock Trial, although I have expressed no interest in it, nor do I have any. Of course, like many dads (why is it so often dads?) he quite frankly doesn't give a'. He drops me off at the train station in the morning, so half of the time, he will pester me with a "Go join Mock Trial today." And I will sort of "Mmm" in acknowledgment. Of course, I won't actually do it, because...y'know...I don't give a sh't either. And of course, I don't bother to try and say "I don't want to," because he will go on and on about how I have to make something of myself, and that I need to speak up more.
This morning was quite possibly even worse. "I want you to go join Mock Trial today. I've been "asking" (read: forcing.) you to do this for two damn years. I don't care if you have to skip lunch to do this; by the end of today, I want you to be part of Mock Trial."
I think a good half of the people in this school would respond with a "F'ck your couch, dad." The other half, myself included, simply roll with the punches and try to avoid escalating an unnecessary conflict, hoping that it will blow over.
Appeasement is not healthy nor fun, but it works. Sometimes. Sort of.
Not really.
The Allies learned this the hard way, and- it seems- so am I.
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P.S. : Apologies. That was more of a rant than an analysis. But still, I felt it quite fitting, especially considering the concept we are discussing.
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I love it.
ReplyDeleteVery valid reasoning Kevin Ji. In fact, I went through the exact same scenario with my parents. However I went so far as to actually join mocktrial. However, since I wasn't interested to begin with I put no effort into it, and therefore got nothing out of it. from here I didnt get on the team. Everything worked out through. My parents know I tried so they are appeased, and I am no longer on mock trial. win win situation
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