Happy Thanksgiving

A couple days ago I jokingly said we should give thanks for Ghostcrawler. Now I'm wondering, is that appropriate? Is it appropriate to give thanks for people? For people who affect us through a video game?

I see little reason why we cannot be thankful for people. There are some theories of human history which suggest that individuals don't matter as much as situations, so there comes a time for something to happen and someone ends up with that job. From what I remember, this was fairly popular with Marxists. It's something of a reaction to the old Great Man theory, which was basically that now and then someone pops up that changes the world, without them nothing would happen. These are both right and wrong. Personally I think that history has a generic movement due to the collective actions of humanity and natural events, but Great Men are pushed up and will give a specific flavor to history. So, we can be thankful for the people who have influenced history.

Can we be thankful for video games? Again, I don't see why not. Entertainment is important.

I suppose we can be thankful for Ghostcrawler. It's a bit trivial, but why not be thankful for trivial things? In some ways, the trivial things are the most important. They are what make daily life better. Freedom and rights are what make overall life worth living, but it's the trivial things that make the next hour worth it.

Let's give thanks for GC. Let's give thanks for Blizzard. Let's give thanks for the economic system that allows such companies to exist and innovate. Let's give thanks for the political and social systems that allow our economic system to exist. So thank yourself because the way you vote and act, what you expect from the world, shapes the world into something to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving!