On the subject of professional sports
I'll say it right now: I have very radical views, and sometimes contradicting ones, when it comes to professional sports. But there are things to be considered because I get called a nerd, a douche or an elitist. Let's.
First off, let me state that I enjoy catching the game (if I happen to catch it) during playoffs or the Olympics. Those are the games that matter, those are the games for which you can strain your patriotic muscle and hope for the best. It's entertainment, and it's fleeting, just like all entertainment should be, unless of course should you work in that field. Heck, I used to play high school football and I despised most of my fellow players for taking the game so seriously. We weren't changing the world; we weren't even changing the face of the town for that matter. Succinctly, I realized then and there that there was little to be gained for caring about the players of a professional sports team. To quote Noam Chomsky, "why should I care more about this group of professionals rather than the other one?" The very fact that they are being paid to do what millions of people in North America do for the fun (and the health benefit) of it isn't morally questionable; on a humanist point of view, it's simply redundant.
An American sports fan claims he spent approximately 12 fewer hours in front of the television a week after his sports team got beaten in the playoffs. Now depending on the sports, that could be over a few weeks, or over the course of several months. My question to you is, does the sports fan have a stake in his team winning or losing? Does the flag-waving, horn-blaring, team jersey-wearing affect the game's outcome? Metaphysically, no. Psychologically, very unlikely. Professionally? I'd say it is detrimental to professional life, with the online tallying of videos and stats and pictures, blogging, posting, and more taking up time otherwise spent contributing to work and society. Physically? No no no. If anything, it is detrimental to his physical well-being if he stays up late, binge-drinks, goes out smashing windows in celebration... but I digress (and yes, that last part was purposefully sardonic, although not a generalization).
There's a tremendous amount of arithmetics that's been created for various sports, and some fans get so much into it that you'd think they'd be able to do calculus off the back of their hands, but no. No, it's nothing like that. It's not that they aren't vastly intelligent people - they aren't encouraged to devote their intelligence to something that affects their society, or the respectability of their government, or the course of their nation. In that way, it is interesting to note that while sports is (amongst other views) about Dualism, fans display far more intellectual acumen, but in general remains in fullest awe faced with the physicality of the players.
My personal beef with sports is that it is hollow entertainment. It dulls the mind, floods the body with testosterone, encouraging rowdy, borderline aggressive and/or antisocial behavior, and while psychologists and sports philosophers would argue that the masses gain a sentiment of belonging, of some sort of communion with each other, they do so at a massive loss of personal wealth. Take back half the wealth and half the time that people spend on cheering for their professional sports team, and reinvest it in society in ANY other way, politically, environmentally, any way you think, that could produce a minuscule surge of endorphin for the person. It is hard to find one that would not be more constructive than sports fandom. Certainly sports excitement could produce a bigger hit, but couldn't you get the same by practicing that same sport for yourself?
Did you know the Games in the Roman Empire were free? And don't go comparing it to today's "games" now, the point is moot. Entertainment is what it is, we all know it, and it's been like that since the dawn of time. And again, another direct correlation is that both the Roman Games and today's games are supported by the dominant institutions of the times - imperialistic for Rome, capitalistic for 21st century Earth. And in the end, today you cheer for an athlete that you don't know personally, who's likely not even your kinsman, whom you will applaud when he wounds an opposing player, or fight, or humiliate the opposing team, not for the sake of competitiveness, but for the urge to come out the victor. All the while, the athlete gets fed not only your slightly irrational devotion, but also a share of the wealth you invest to see him perform, quite literally, in the name of fairly awful values.
Well, in Rome, they didn't make you pay. They treated their athletes accordingly, and it wasn't all gladiator sports either. But then like today, they knew that entertainment kept the population amused and docile. Let me state this again: docile. Only today, they're making money - obscene amounts too - off you. I can hardly think of anything so insidiously authoritarian than that.
I think it's sad that so much intelligence is being sunk in something like this, not because it's not entertaining, but because it's diverting the social power towards something that, in the end, does not matter. Life doesn't end tomorrow if the Bears don't win. Halak will still have money to feed his family if he gets exchanged. If the Phoenix Suns get beaten tonight, well, the sun will still rise in the morning. At the end of the day, the question remains: what's more important: your life, your family, your friends and your social unit... or whether The Man's team won their last game?
My name is Christian Major. I don't subscribe to sports. I subscribe to patriotism, elevating my intelligence and spirit, controlling my destiny, and the fate of my countrymen.
First off, let me state that I enjoy catching the game (if I happen to catch it) during playoffs or the Olympics. Those are the games that matter, those are the games for which you can strain your patriotic muscle and hope for the best. It's entertainment, and it's fleeting, just like all entertainment should be, unless of course should you work in that field. Heck, I used to play high school football and I despised most of my fellow players for taking the game so seriously. We weren't changing the world; we weren't even changing the face of the town for that matter. Succinctly, I realized then and there that there was little to be gained for caring about the players of a professional sports team. To quote Noam Chomsky, "why should I care more about this group of professionals rather than the other one?" The very fact that they are being paid to do what millions of people in North America do for the fun (and the health benefit) of it isn't morally questionable; on a humanist point of view, it's simply redundant.
An American sports fan claims he spent approximately 12 fewer hours in front of the television a week after his sports team got beaten in the playoffs. Now depending on the sports, that could be over a few weeks, or over the course of several months. My question to you is, does the sports fan have a stake in his team winning or losing? Does the flag-waving, horn-blaring, team jersey-wearing affect the game's outcome? Metaphysically, no. Psychologically, very unlikely. Professionally? I'd say it is detrimental to professional life, with the online tallying of videos and stats and pictures, blogging, posting, and more taking up time otherwise spent contributing to work and society. Physically? No no no. If anything, it is detrimental to his physical well-being if he stays up late, binge-drinks, goes out smashing windows in celebration... but I digress (and yes, that last part was purposefully sardonic, although not a generalization).
There's a tremendous amount of arithmetics that's been created for various sports, and some fans get so much into it that you'd think they'd be able to do calculus off the back of their hands, but no. No, it's nothing like that. It's not that they aren't vastly intelligent people - they aren't encouraged to devote their intelligence to something that affects their society, or the respectability of their government, or the course of their nation. In that way, it is interesting to note that while sports is (amongst other views) about Dualism, fans display far more intellectual acumen, but in general remains in fullest awe faced with the physicality of the players.
My personal beef with sports is that it is hollow entertainment. It dulls the mind, floods the body with testosterone, encouraging rowdy, borderline aggressive and/or antisocial behavior, and while psychologists and sports philosophers would argue that the masses gain a sentiment of belonging, of some sort of communion with each other, they do so at a massive loss of personal wealth. Take back half the wealth and half the time that people spend on cheering for their professional sports team, and reinvest it in society in ANY other way, politically, environmentally, any way you think, that could produce a minuscule surge of endorphin for the person. It is hard to find one that would not be more constructive than sports fandom. Certainly sports excitement could produce a bigger hit, but couldn't you get the same by practicing that same sport for yourself?
Did you know the Games in the Roman Empire were free? And don't go comparing it to today's "games" now, the point is moot. Entertainment is what it is, we all know it, and it's been like that since the dawn of time. And again, another direct correlation is that both the Roman Games and today's games are supported by the dominant institutions of the times - imperialistic for Rome, capitalistic for 21st century Earth. And in the end, today you cheer for an athlete that you don't know personally, who's likely not even your kinsman, whom you will applaud when he wounds an opposing player, or fight, or humiliate the opposing team, not for the sake of competitiveness, but for the urge to come out the victor. All the while, the athlete gets fed not only your slightly irrational devotion, but also a share of the wealth you invest to see him perform, quite literally, in the name of fairly awful values.
Well, in Rome, they didn't make you pay. They treated their athletes accordingly, and it wasn't all gladiator sports either. But then like today, they knew that entertainment kept the population amused and docile. Let me state this again: docile. Only today, they're making money - obscene amounts too - off you. I can hardly think of anything so insidiously authoritarian than that.
I think it's sad that so much intelligence is being sunk in something like this, not because it's not entertaining, but because it's diverting the social power towards something that, in the end, does not matter. Life doesn't end tomorrow if the Bears don't win. Halak will still have money to feed his family if he gets exchanged. If the Phoenix Suns get beaten tonight, well, the sun will still rise in the morning. At the end of the day, the question remains: what's more important: your life, your family, your friends and your social unit... or whether The Man's team won their last game?
My name is Christian Major. I don't subscribe to sports. I subscribe to patriotism, elevating my intelligence and spirit, controlling my destiny, and the fate of my countrymen.