Shame, shame.

[prog_negative]

Dan has been living with me for almost a year and tonight was the first night he really got mad with me. I'd been at the movies, watching Chumscubber (pretty good). When I came out I was overwhelmed by the honking of horns and the cheers of bogans, which I figured could only mean one thing

Comments

[g_ather]

I reckon the important thing about the "we won" phrase is the "we" - I mean supporting a sports team is really just about community. I think the basic idea of people that have to live together anyway in a city or a country feeling that they have something in common is a pretty good one. And sport's a pretty good way to cut through the boundaries within Australia - I don't reckon it was just bogans who were pretty pleased that Australia won today, far from it. Then again, I agree sport is kind of silly. But so is rock & roll. And rock & roll is awesome.

[sour_milk_sea]

yeah pretty much what oz said. you are wrong and dan is right.

[prog_negative]

If you want to be part of a community start doing volunteer community service. There is no right or wrong.

[sour_milk_sea]

in that case your moral indignation is probably not justified

[g_ather]

I don't want to talk community service down, but sport has a few advantages over it:
- More attractive to more people. A far wider cross-section of the community can feel united through their support for a sports team than through participating in community service programs. Whether it is ethical or not that people feel this way is basically irrelevant unless you feel up to convincing an entire country otherwise.
- Community service is basically a local thing - by participating in it, you will at best build bonds only in the communities in which you work. In supporting 'Australia', you can have a chat to almost anyone across an entire continent.
- Supporting a sports team promotes participating in physical activity, having a real and measurable benefit to the health and well-being of society.

[prog_negative]

Okay, you have touched on the one positive thing about sport. I totally agree with your point three, watching sport does promote participating in it, which is good. I still don't buy into the whole community thing though. I, personally, don't want to have a chat with just about anyone, and if I did, I'm sure I could find something more interesting to say than "So d'ya watch the game?" But that's just me.

[g_ather]

Fair enough I'm not that keen on talking to a bunch of rugby fans either. But the fact that they are keen to talk to each other serves a practical purpose in assisting the smooth functioning of the businesses and relationships in which they are involved. Society works because of the sense of community that sport does a lot to create.

[prog_negative]

That's a big call...

[prog_negative]

Music, defines a generation and is forever remembered and associated with a time in history. Every four years the world cup comes around again and someone else wins, or the same people win. Then people wait for it to happen again and it does. The world stays the same. You have a point with the community thing, but then again I feel like I'm part of a community and I HATE every sport. I mean my house mate was watching the soccer the other day and I noticed that there was a giant McDonald's banner on the grounds. Doesn't that go against everything athletics stands for? Every ad on TV is somehow coming back to soccer. I feel like all the world cup really is really just another manipulative tool used by marketing people to give society a false sense of community in order to sell them something. Did you know that when Brazil won the World Cup the government put up taxes because people wouldn't notice because they were so pre-occupied with the victory? Personally, I would rather not be a part of global manipulation... but that's just me.

[sour_milk_sea]

the music industry has never been guilty of manipulation of any kind, and no one has ever co-opted musicians or music for commercial purposes

[prog_negative]

I for one certainly haven't ever seen the KFC Nirvana bucket, or the McDonalds Johnny Cash meal.

[bringmenachos]

Nor the Johnny Cash TV show or the Johnny Cash biopic, nor have music and TV commercials ever been related, haha Ben Young your position is completely unstable. You know there's no shame in saying the reason you don't like sport is because you're bad at it.

[prog_negative]

What's wrong with having a TV and a movie? That doesn't go against what his music stands for. In fact, both were different avenues for getting the music out there. I don't remember seeing any McDonalds logos in the background of either the JC show or the biopic either? I like playing sport. I have played on a state team. I don't like watching sport for the same reason I don't like listening to commercial radio or watching television.

[bringmenachos]

I don't think there's anything wrong with having a TV show and a movie but I don't see much of a difference between the corporate sponsorship of sport and the corporate sponsorship/appropriation of music. I remember seeing commercials coming before the screening of Walk the Line and I'm pretty sure the Johnny Cash Show took pause for messages from its sponsors. Both the sport and music industries do what they have to do in order to get their commercial and cultural benefits out there. How many state teams have you played on recently?

[prog_negative]

Yeah, but that's not the point. The point is the advertising for the stupid soccer is coming from products that go against everything positive that comes out of sport (and there is a positive side to sport), which is the benefits to your health. Great, a kid watches the soccer and is encouraged to go and do something good for him. Then after he's burnt 200 calories off in the park he heads straight into macas and puts in another 700 because "if it's advertised on the world cup pitch it can't be that bad."

[g_ather]

Man this is a totally different issue. Any sufficiently successful cultural phenomenon will attract advertisers - sport is more subject to MacDonald's ads precisely because it is so successful at attracting public support.