Atomic Biscuits - 20250209 - Golden Fleece

Do you remember those old game shows? Like "Let's Make A Deal?" where the host asks the contestant drawn from the audience which of the three doors to pick? What is the audience reaction for the contestant? Do they know something the contestant doesn't know? Why do they feel like they know the answer?

Or how about this...have you ever been in a movie theater for a campy horror flick with a loud audience? Oh I have. It's the best way to watch one of these things...the audience participation. There will be a scene where we, the audience, are aware that the creeper is just behind the door, but the poor teenage girl about to blunder through is completely unaware. The action slows down, she grasps the doorknob and slowly and quietly turns it, hoping it will make no noise...but it doesn't matter, the creeper is there and is going to get her no matter how cautious. In the best kind of immersive experience, someone or maybe multiple people, watching the movie will shout out... "Don't go in there!" as if they can change the outcome of the film, as if the girl can hear them. And of course when she inevitably crosses the threshold ever so gingerly and the creeper grabs her and spirits her away to certain doom... someone in the crowd will announce knowingly... "I told her not to go in there..."
It's ridiculous.
It's very fun.
But it also tells us a great deal about human behavior...how, even though we know the outcome, we feel we must weigh in, and be right in the end, because we know.