Chomsky on Sports

In fact, I have the habit when I'm driving of turning on these radio call-in programs, and it's striking when you hear the ones about sports. They have these groups of sports reporters, or some kind of experts on a panel, and people call in and have discussions with them. First of all, the audience obviously is devoting an enormous amount of time to it all. But the more striking fact is, the callers have a tremendous amount of expertise, they have detailed knowledge of all kinds of things, they carry on these extremely complex discussions...

...And when you look at the structure of them, they seem like a kind of mathematics. It's as though people want to work out mathematical problems, and it they don't have calculus and arithmetic, they work them out with other structures...And what all these things look like is that people just want to use their intelligence somehow...

Well, in our society we have things that you might use your intelligence on, like politics, but people really can't get involved in them in a very serious way -- so what they do is put their minds to other things, such as sports. You're trained to be obedient; you don't have an interesting job; there's no work around for you that's creative; in the cultural environment you're a passive observer of usually pretty tawdry stuff...So what's left?

...And I suppose that's also one of the basic functions it serves society in general: it occupies the populations, and it keeps them from trying to get involved with things that really matter. In fact, I presume that's part of the reason why spectator sports are supported to the degree they are by the dominant institutions.

Noam Chomsky; Understanding Power, p. 99-100

Guilty as charged -- well, I do not call in, but D.C. knows. Go Sixers!

Comments

[Liam Wiser]

Chomsky's observations are most interesting, but for me, beg a question of difference in somewhat advanced perspective - especially upon the note of his remark about "things that really matter".

It's a very base philosophical understanding that those given to more cruel ways of being/feeling, are of the mind that nothing matters at all, and that life is one giant void of nothingness. Kinder and rarer souls would argue that everything counts, and that one merely needs to pick what matters to you.

Also fair to note that it is a rare person (intellectually/emotionally motivated or no) who can bring themselves to actually wanting for social contribution of a productive kind, largely due to the effort required versus the personal reward reaped on an individual, even moderately grouped basis.

I don't think a knack for obedience or level of interest in one's occupation are main concerns when considering that they do not connect with the topic of sports on the most base of levels, when sports truly is mostly a basic subject, that we as people complicate in order to justify the amount of attention given therein. I'll elaborate on this:

Human beings are physically and mentally balanced creatures thanks to a decent level of what might be evolution, and often seek physical stimulation/mental challenges in real time. Some go as far as to want it more than most of their lives, and will seek out such a continuous challenge as profession, or as patronage.

Sports is an old one. Very old, and originating from a time when less was known to be doable in terms of the progress of civilisation as a whole. It was a suitable distraction from the (then) common human condition, and taught teamwork, so the authorities of yesteryear were all for it.

It is now such a common thing, that even people who for the most part despise sports will be glad of their national team winning a championship, understanding the effort required and reputation at stake.

Some decide after being mentally absorbed by an aspect of the sports world long enough, that the far finer details in a play become more important to their understanding of the game. This really comes down to an individual's level of brain power/observation skills, and if they're players of a sport, also their ability to understand the complexity of the movements required through reflexive training.

Regards

Liam

[Web designer kent]

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[noam]

"We're a little too into sports in this country, I think we gotta throttle back. Know what I mean? People come home from these games, "We won! We won!" No, they won - you watched."

-Seinfeld stand-up quote from the episode "the Chaperone"

[D]

news makes sure to pre screen every call before hand just like they do with there stories so that nothing turns out to be intellegent or informing E! Entertainment style....and if it is somthing that is !!!IMPORTANT BREAKING NEWS!!! like the bullshit called terrorism or thw war they over-feed you "with bias stories most of the time" untill the census percentage and manipulated demographic they want to hit is oversaturated with the topic but obediant with the view it wants... usally stories are killed off with a kind of cooperation on all channels at the same time... the biggest news to hit the united states....alll 50 states is a little beauty queen girl who got killed and the murder was unsolved for a while...wow what susspense....what headline news....go check what laws were being passed and what rights were being taken away durring that blindfold...

[Dale Cooke]

Of course, Chomsky assumes most sports discussion is intelligent.

While people clearly would like to think their insights blaired on WIP at 4 a.m. represent the height of NFL expertise, rarely in my experience do they rise above idiocy.

Not surprisingly, the same level of discussion tends to take place on political commentary shows. (Watch one of C-SPAN's call-in shows, and see how long you can take it.)

And the end result of these discussions tends to be equally unsatisfying regardless of the subject. Nobody learns anything, everybody walks away thinking the rest of the world comprises idiots.

Dale