Today's Holidays: National Candy Corn Day, Mischief Night, Checklist Day, Sugar Addiction Awareness Day
Website of the Day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=Te0lyq6no98
Fun Fact of the Day: Candy Corn was first called "Chicken Feed", and the box had a rooster logo on it with the catch phrase: "Something worth crowing for".
A tiny, conical treat, characteristic to Halloween polarizes society year after year in both its odd flavor and appearance. Something about candy corn divides people into two sides of the popularly contested argument of the merits of the sweet. National Candy Corn Day reminds me not only of this particular debate, but the many other seemingly trivial, yet extremely polarizing topics. What drives these strong feelings and opinions towards one direction and why do we feel the need to defend them with such commitment?
Let’s start with one of the most contentious foods: Hawaiian pizza. On the once every three month occasion in which my family decides to mix it up and go to California Pizza Kitchen instead of the Factory (Cheesecake Factory) for dinner, my brother warns me to not order Hawaiian pizza unless I “want to lose all of his respect”. Now, of course he’s partly joking and so I order Hawaiian pizza anyway as he cringes. When I asked Jake why he hates Hawaiian pizza with such a burning passion, he said: “It’s so unnatural. If God knew that putting pigs in Hawaii would result in this abomination, then he would’ve had to wipe out humans and create a new race. I’ve never felt so strongly about something that wasn’t political.” And when I told him that I completely disagree, he responded: “God never intended for the creation of your kind” (The “your kind” being those who eat Hawaiian pizza). I should also inform you that our family is not religious, so the fact that he referred to “God” in his responses, in itself, speaks to how strongly he feels about this topic.
But these debates are not limited to candy corn and Hawaiian pizza. For those who watch Friends, which should be everybody, were Ross and Rachel on a break? While Sydney Reynolds says “yes, but Ross still shouldn’t have done what he did”, and Ellie Timko adds: “I feel like regardless of how you interpret ‘break’ everyone wants to take Rachel’s side because Ross is so annoying in that episode...no sympathy for Ross”, others such as Toby Bickford, claim that “they weren’t dating technically. They were on a break so he didn’t cheat on her”. And still, there’s Julia Simkus who says: “I truly struggle to answer this question and it will haunt me forever”. Dedicated Friends watchers will debate this question more than Ross and Rachel did throughout the entire series (which is a lot).
The heated arguments do not stop here. Was the dress blue and black or gold and white? Is it acceptable to bite straight into a Kit Kat instead of breaking it into the strips? Spotify or Apple Music? Should a cupcake be eaten as a sandwich? Is Diet Coke or regular Coke worse for you? Friendships have ended over these questions. New alliances have formed. Feelings have been hurt, perspectives of others have been changed, and respect has been lost. Well, maybe that’s a little too dramatic, but we really do hold strong opinions about such debates, to the point where we feel the need to crush the opposing view. I was sitting in Forbes dining hall when someone brought to my attention this interesting aspect of hotly debated questions. As I ate my slice of Hawaiian pizza, I turned to Julian Coleman, who sat next to me, and asked him what he thought about pineapple on pizza. To my surprise, Julian said that he didn’t really have a strong opinion about it, and he didn’t understand why people get mad if others are eating Hawaiian pizza, since it doesn’t affect them. That’s when I started to wonder what it is it about Hawaiian pizza, cupcake sandwiches, or whether Ross and Rachel were on a break that makes us fight others in some attempt to change their opinion to ours?
Perhaps these polarizing questions exist for the very reason that their name reveals: to polarize. Varying opinions create excitement in which we can both express our individualism and listen to others for a sense of collectivity and potential growth. This is not to say that all debates about whether Spotify or Apple Music is better will consist of opinions that are presented in a neat and orderly fashion, in which everyone listens carefully and then speaks their own opinion. Because often such debates can end in yelling and stubborness, in which everyone just wants to assert their own dominance and make their opinion known. However, a difference in opinions, in general, provides an outlet for creative expression, societal progress, and learning opportunities. Maybe we intentionally develop and maintain the passion behind these questions because we subconsciously recognize the value of opinion. Furthermore, though the debates appear polarizing, a closer examination demonstrates their power to unite. When other people saw the dress as white and gold, as I did, there was this spark of commonality which, for those few moments, made us feel as if we truly knew each other, even if we had never met. Whole friendships may not form solely based upon our side in the argument, but just having that sense of closeness, the feeling of being connected to someone, provides these debates with their emotional factor. Seemingly unimportant, yet dividing questions will continue to polarize the population, because they stimulate an intellectual and argumentative excitement that serves as a unifying factor and an channel for opinion.
But let’s make one thing clear: the only two opinions that exist when it comes to how to eat a Kit Kat are to break the Kit Kat into its strips and eat each strip or Kourtney Kardashian’s Six Steps to Eating a Kit Kat- it’s never acceptable to unwrap this candy and bite right into it.
As you eat (or don’t eat) candy corn today, think about how you might benefit from the other side in contentious debates. Happy #NationalCandyCornDay ! How did you celebrate? What's your opinion on any of the above questions? Comment below or send in a picture to nationalholidaymovement@gmail.com ! #NationalHolidayMovement #BeHappy #TheBlogisBack