Snark on Dailykos is a form of adult play with other infantile adults. It's play. Play is very important for our own social development. It provides a way to break down barriers and also to create them. It allows us to discuss truly vile topics with some levity while hopefully disarming our enemies and allow some fun when introducing otherwise horrifying topics. It de-horrify's the horrible in many instances. It prepares us for future policy debates and arguments.
I have a three year old and the most common game we play is MONSTER! It goes back and forth with me being the Monster and him being the Monster, I guess it's a variation on hide and seek but with physical tickle torture to the loser.
I watched an interesting video last night from a recent (May 2008) talk at TED conference. The talk was by a scientist (Stuart Brown) who has been studying animal play for quite a while. The video of the talk is below the fold.
I play a lot of games with my son. It can be with objects (soccer etc), imagined things (monsters), just plain physical roughhousing or intellectual play (O.K. I am fart man and you are the wind). It can be all of the above too.
During the winter I loved to take my son to the basement storage/ washing machines area in our apartment complex with his soccer ball while I do the laundry. There are lots of storage lockers and at any time several are empty. We would get the laundry loads going (start a diary discussion) then start playing soccer (have a physical debate) and then when my son was chasing the ball somewhere, I'd find a unused locker to hide in. He discovers he is alone in the cavernous basement and would start looking for me. I would always wait for him to get a little distressed before I spring from the locker (snark in hand) with Monster abandon and wrestle him to the floor with huge amounts of laughter after the initial shock wears off.
At night after we have read some stories, he always asks me for a monster kiss (imagine a monster that kiss-rapes you) or he asks me to pretend to fall asleep on him. I lay on him and start snoring, I begin to adapt my snoring such that I begin licking his ear when breathing in and then after a minute or two of this I wake up dramatically after a fake burp, fart or leg cramp. He loves this stuff.
I love it too.
I try to turn most activities we do into play scenarios. It greatly enriches my life, and I know for a fact that my son has no fear of Monsters, lightening storms, the dark or anything else as of yet.
My advice to all of you who get stressed about all the seemingly unsolvable dilemma's we are faced with:
PLAY!
and explore snark. If you have not read him, I think the best snark diarist on DailyKos is probably Jeff Lieber