DDL on 28/7/2012 at 18:59
I could be wrong, but I think you might be taking him a little too seriously.
Azaran on 28/7/2012 at 19:05
Very few other forms of entertainment have people rioting, or killing each other over them. In sports on the other hand, it's commonplace. In Europe it's even degenerated into open racism with soccer hooligans.
I think all the time people waste watching, debating, obsessing about sports could be better spent in fostering culture (sports is not culture in my book), reading, etc., and society would benefit as a whole.
DDL on 28/7/2012 at 19:17
Well, there is the argument that sport is a kind of ritualised warfare. The question then would be whether the in-group loyalty and safe aggression chanelling it fosters counters the out-group hatred and frustrated aggression chanelling it also fosters. I'd tend to think the sense of group identity is incredibly pervasive and a major contributor to social cohesion, but of course it's not..very obvious to spot, whereas the more negative aspects are really clear.
The fact that the negative aspects (rioting, racism etc) particularly stand out is almost an argument in itself for them being the exceptions rather than the rule.
BrokenArts on 28/7/2012 at 20:16
You could also say, not much has changed since the days of Gladiators and the Roman Coliseum, which was common place. I think it has gotten a bit more civilized, and I say not much. Sports will always be brutal in one fashion or another. Some of us aren't into sports and some are.
I do miss my purple nerf football I used to have. Or using my brothers great broken in baseball glove, and throwing a tennis ball against our almost 3 story house we grew up in. My brothers used to toss the ball over the house, love to watch that thing come over the house. Or taking 3 tennis ball cans, cutting out the bottoms of them, using duct tape, and fashioning them into a cannon. Poke a hole in the bottom, shoot a bit of oil, insert tennis ball, where is the lighter, and there she goes!! Damn that was fun. Oh and basketball, the ice rink we used to have in the back yard during the winter. Even though I'm not into sports now, I wouldn't trade those times, and the memories for anything.
Sports will always be a part of our lives, either in the past for some of us, or the die hard cheese heads, or the soccer moms, and the parents that fight with the Umpires at the little league games. Hell we need more sports, too many of us are getting fat. :P There are pro's and con's to it. Isn't that about how life is anyway. Yeah.
Azaran on 28/7/2012 at 20:24
The interesting thing about Antiquity is that while they did have gladiator contests and other such savagery, they also had a cultural love for philosophy and learning that is no longer extant today. Philosophical schools were huge in late antiquity, and people flocked to them. Compare that to today, where sports, tv, and gossip magazines govern society, and people only get a higher education if it lands them a career.
BrokenArts on 28/7/2012 at 21:18
I call it the dumbing down of society as a whole. That's a whole other discussion right there. Want to be smart, don't follow the norm, that meaning the US.
Xorak on 28/7/2012 at 22:46
Quote Posted by Azaran
The interesting thing about Antiquity is that while they did have gladiator contests and other such savagery, they also had a cultural love for philosophy and learning that is no longer extant today. Philosophical schools were huge in late antiquity, and people flocked to them. Compare that to today, where sports, tv, and gossip magazines govern society, and people only get a higher education if it lands them a career.
I think we often forget that history mainly documented the 'elite' of a population. To this day, in every culture in the world, we still have very little idea how most people lived. This is true up to even the Victorian Age. The main thrust of North American archaeology is the simple social aspects of ancient society rather than the classicalness of grand civilization in which the people are sort of anonymous.
For instance, I've read textbooks which compare ancient Athens in its glory years with modern Mumbai, in that the streets were filthy and many people lived dirty lives (no offense meant to India). We know how common plague was, happening every few years in some town or city. Conditions and health were terrible for most people, they weren't enlightened in any mystical way. Even our perception of their noble and fatalistic statuary is different than what it really was, once you start adding colour back to the statues and it's revealed how cartoony they could be.
Most people flocked to philosophy the same reason they flock to astrology now, or they believe in the end of the world. People just want to get corny little answers to unanswerable questions.
People back then were likely the exact same as we are now, minus several of our modern luxuries. I don't think society has dumbed down, we're just more aware of how dumb we are.
Sports are just the same pretty much. They're awesome but too many people take it too far and too seriously.
BrokenArts on 28/7/2012 at 23:23
Quote Posted by Xorak
I don't think society has dumbed down, we're just more aware of how dumb we are.
Sports are just the same pretty much. They're awesome but too many people take it too far and too seriously.
Or we just see more stupid crap from stupid people.
I was thinking the same thing, some people take sports WAAAY too seriously. To me, it should be fun, WHY SO SERIOUS? For awhile, it was fun. I still like to hike, when its not 100+ degree's outside. For some families, it does bring people closer, it can bond, spending time together. Like in life, your mileage may vary.
Fafhrd on 29/7/2012 at 05:03
I think one of the major contributors to the insanity of sports culture, as it is for so many things, is the amount of money that's tied up in it. When the NCAA is a multi-billion dollar industry, with its own licensing and contracts, something's gone wrong. Take the money out, and college sports goes back to being an extra-curricular activity that has some school pride connotations, and not the raison d'être for the school as a whole.
BrokenArts on 29/7/2012 at 11:41
You've probably hit on a major factor right there, money.
