Show transcript
I'm ready for bed, Dad. What's tonight's story going to be? Here's one, 'Readings on Dialectical Metaphysics.' You'll love it. Forget it Dad. You can't get me to drop off that easy. Will you read us this story? Hobbes wrote it himself. Hobbes wrote it, huh? 'Goldilocks and the three tigers.' Oh boy, this is gonna be great! 'Once upon a time there lived a young girl named Goldilocks. She went into the forest and saw a cottage. No one was home so she went in. Inside she saw three bowls of porridge. A big bowl, a medium bowl, and a small bowl. She was just about to taste the porridge when the three tigers came home. They quickly divided Goldilocks into big, medium, and small pieces and dunked them in the porridge that ...' Calvin, I'm not going to finish this! This is disgusting!! I don't know why I let you talk to me into this. Good night! Click. He didn't even look at our illustrations. Now I'm all hungry.
Calvin asks Hobbes if it seems like everybody shouts at each other. He thinks it's because conflict is drama. Drama is entertaining. Finding consensus is dull. People want fireworks. They want the sense of solidarity that comes from having interests narrowed by like-minded zealots. Talk show hosts, news programs, political candidates all become successful by reducing debates to the level of shouted rage. Nothing gets solved, but everyone is entertained. Hobbes says he may be right. Calvin says this is turning out to be a boring day.