{"id":141,"date":"2008-06-11T10:42:53","date_gmt":"2008-06-11T10:42:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onecity\/2008\/06\/for-all-you-scrabble-lovers.html"},"modified":"2008-06-11T10:42:53","modified_gmt":"2008-06-11T10:42:53","slug":"for-all-you-scrabble-lovers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2008\/06\/for-all-you-scrabble-lovers.html","title":{"rendered":"For All You Scrabble Lovers…"},"content":{"rendered":"

cassmaster P says:
\nI have never liked playing Scrabble. Recently, someone I care about asked, \u201cBut why do you hate it so much? You should like it, you\u2019re a writer.\u201d And I couldn\u2019t articulate exactly what it is about the game that is such a turn-off to me. It\u2019s more than the fact that I don\u2019t have the patience for it or that I find it boring\u2026 there is something more, something deeper. So I thought about it and here is a summarized\/truncated version of my response:
\nScrabble is an oppressively fascist “game”. A whole tiny,\u00a0ultra-capitalistic world is created and bound up in that distinctive board and in\u00a0those enamel tiles. The structure (and underlying goal) of Scrabble is such that letters and words are mercilessly stripped from their meanings and connotations and then valued only in their most basic and utilitarian forms, much like a\u00a0waged laborer. Scrabble is simultaneously the reification of words and the debasement of language. In the most divisive fashion, the \u201cgame\u201d separates letters from their comrades and then attributes economic value to each of them solely\u00a0as individuals. Therefore a stringent class system is created and rewarded within the oppressive confines of the game \u2013 with vowels set up as the\u00a0working underclass (most common, hardest working and yet compensated the least amount) and obscure letters like Q or Z are valued in an aristocratic fashion — imbued with the highest value despite doing far less work. Rarely used consonants enjoy the privilege of the leisure class while the hardworking proletariat is used in the construct of every<\/em> single word. Letters\/words\u00a0no longer have worth unto themselves, but are commidified and\u00a0assigned an arbitrary numerical value, creating a strange and\u00a0artificial currency.\u00a0\u00a0Scrabble: Letters separate from words, separate from sentences, separate from the potential of prose and therefore separate from deeper meaning, self-expression,\u00a0community, or\u00a0transcendence.
\nWhen working together, the proletariat has an insurmountable amount of value and power, the power of a paragraph or a page. And if further connected to the other classes of letters, whole narratives could arise. Imagine that! Yet the Scrabble system keeps every letter insular and\u00a0disconnected from a larger vision of itself — alienated from the alphabet’s inherent creativity and self-actualization. An \u201cE\u201d in tandem with an \u201cN\u201d or an \u201cR\u201d has far more potential than if left to its own isolated devices. But the tyranny of Scrabble will not have it. Even when words are constructed, it happens in a vacuum — each tile forced to fit into a tight, suffocating space, far away from the fluidity and beauty of a phrase or a sentence or a complete prose.
\nSo i say to all you letters, Break free! Revolution is upon us! Join hands and free yourselves from the shackles of Scrabble. You are not alone — together you are a force to be reckoned with. United you can finally\u00a0leave the board and live harmoniously in any kind of\u00a0 semantic arrangement you desire…. yes even in stanzas! Or verses! Couplets! Imagine the possibilites! <\/em>
\nScrabble is the opiate of the masses… free yourselves!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

cassmaster P says: I have never liked playing Scrabble. Recently, someone I care about asked, \u201cBut why do you hate it so much? You should like it, you\u2019re a writer.\u201d And I couldn\u2019t articulate exactly what it is about the game that is such a turn-off to me. It\u2019s more than the fact that I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":333,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-and-media"],"yoast_head":"\nFor All You Scrabble Lovers... - One City<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2008\/06\/for-all-you-scrabble-lovers.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"For All You Scrabble Lovers... - One City\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"cassmaster P says: I have never liked playing Scrabble. 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