At a certain point, we are -- in part -- defined by this tendency. That America endorses the NFL's pain party starts to say something about the country. Such as: American culture is replete with couch-jockeys who feel more masculine for having watched other people destroy themseves. Or: American culture is fine with perpetuating a system of destruction, so long as a few, mostly poor people are involved. In many ways, our attitudes towards fetishized athletes mirror our attitudes towards those glorious troops whom we only support with platitudes. This is not good.Previously.
I've heard the counter arguments. Yes, football players choose their lot. Yes, they have agency. But really, what does it say about us -- that this is the lot we most often choose? Are we a nation so insecure, so stupid, as to wholly embrace a sport of gladitorial violence?
(I can already hear friends, calling me a "pussy" for possibly caring.)
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Support The Troops
The Super Bowl is upon us. An inoculation against the forthcoming media circus.
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2 comments:
There's a lot of that about. The mass-produced (cheap) beef and chicken and pork involves a lot of un-necessary suffering, of the creatures and the human workers. My running gag at Home Depot and Target is "Made by slave labor in China!". The working person in the U.S. is working more hours for less pay; Boxer (of Animal Farm) is a lot more relevant to our modern problems than that jerk Winston Smith is. What else . . . oh yeah, lack of health care, tap water that catches fire, prison as entertainment . . . and we sacrifice our finest young athletes to the god of mammon.
I need to listen to some good music now . . .
Thought We Were Cynical Ed.:
Thanks for trying to cheer us up.
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