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The Power of Common Interest

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Submitted By breeezyfbabyy30
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Common interests are a powerful thing. You can mostly find yourself conversing with another person about things you both find interesting, or share conflicting views on a singular subject. Political bills, strengths and weaknesses of your favorite football team and favorite video games are just some examples of topics that can come up during a conversation or debate about a common interest shared across any number of people. From two to three people coming together over a shared goal or a single passion can create great things, good or bad.
You may remember joining an optional elective class in high school that you had an inkling of interest in, and you may have even developed that interest into a full blown hobby. My high-school electives were that of the artistic kind. From my video productions class, we grouped up to create informative, often humorous, motion pictures and interviews. From my drawing and painting classes I drew portraits of myself and even my future wife. One great thing that came from this common interest was the initial conversation that I had with my now wife. We shared the similar passion for drawing the human figure. From a single conversation, to regular meetings to discuss stories and artists, to a marriage, is just one example of how a shared interest can produce something extraordinary.
A more corporate example of people sharing a common interest would be the company Silicon and Synapse, which is now referred to as Blizzard Entertainment, the founders of popular games such as Diablo, World of Warcraft and Starcraft. The company initially sprouted from the efforts of three individuals, Allen Adham, Mike Morhaime, and Frank Pearce. Three graduates from UCLA with the desire to create. If you have ever played the popular Windows game, Battle Chess, you are familiar with their work. “When we were a much younger and smaller company, the bonds that developed between everyone were very strong. It was easy to know everyone well because going out for a beer only meant taking 2 or 3 cars to bring the entire company.” (Frank Pearce, 2001). From humble beginnings to creating household name titles, both famous and infamous, it is hard to deny the strong presence of Blizzard Entertainment when talking about video games.
Not every group of individuals sharing common thoughts, and ideas have created positive stamps in history. Unfortunately there are negatively focused common interest groups. I am referring to hate groups, groups that are created to oppose certain beliefs, ideas, genders, and ethnicities. Anti-catholicism, Neo-fascism, and Anti-Semitism are just a few examples of the hate groups I refer to. These groups have performed actions that have received less than favorable, to put lightly, reactions in the eyes of the public. From popular hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan to the less widely radical American Family Association, whose views strongly opposes same-sex marriage, and abortion.
Whether you agree or disagree on the outcome that these common interests have spawned, the fact of the matter is that a common interest is a strong, powerful motivator. It can create a wonderful thing like love, marriage, and union. It can bring together unusual strangers and once spiteful enemies. They create momentous works of art, even spawn a movement of thousands of people. These shared ideas have far reaching effects on life, society, even history. One can inflict the smallest influence into the mind and take it as far as several life times, to a short as the next spoken word. There is indeed no denying the power of the common interest.

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