tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post1597894364978321695..comments2023-10-26T22:06:11.166+11:00Comments on Metamagician3000: And while we're talking about sportRussell Blackfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12431324430596809958noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-31188418085162760902010-02-25T18:52:26.158+11:002010-02-25T18:52:26.158+11:00Yeah, sure. But note that a lot of people seriousl...Yeah, sure. But note that a lot of people seriously want to ban boxing and/or mixed martial arts (and similar forms of combat sport). I'm not one of those people, but there are plenty of them.Russell Blackfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12431324430596809958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-39869990919819030452010-02-25T13:34:51.795+11:002010-02-25T13:34:51.795+11:00@ Russel: Sounds like you're presenting a vers...@ Russel: Sounds like you're presenting a version of an argument against prohibition. Whilst the analogy isn't perfect, prohibition has been (unsuccessfully) used to try and control other human behaviour (alcohol, drugs, etc.)in many societies. So that should be a reasonable answer to the charge that no one has tried to completely squah it. I would imagine an argument for regulated violent/aggressive sport could be built on much the same grounds as an argument for any other harmful activity embarked on by consenting adults. If purchasing and consuming poison is legal with regulations, it seems ridiculous to prohibit an activity that involves running into each other in the pursuit of a piece of leather.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12370459205883618113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-75825988245864368322010-02-25T11:05:23.140+11:002010-02-25T11:05:23.140+11:00Yeah, and my own view on that has always been that...Yeah, and my own view on that has always been that society needs to provide some kind of regulated accommodation of these things. It needs to have a general rule forbidding violence as a means of succeeding in competition, but it's beneficial to allow some regulated avenues - in the boxing ring, on the football field - for prowess in violence to receive rewards. Likewise for our fascination, as spectators, with displays of prowess in violence, and for the kinds of tribal fervour that we're talking about. Generally these things are not good, but something in our nature makes them difficult to stamp out completely, so they are better accommodated in some sort of quasi-legitimate way.<br /><br />But it would be very difficult to prove that this really is better than attempting to squash these things completely, since no society has ever even tried that. All the same, I don't think we should try the experiment.Russell Blackfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12431324430596809958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-59106573279480730722010-02-25T10:20:05.260+11:002010-02-25T10:20:05.260+11:00Fairly typical OTT contrarian stuff from Hitchens,...Fairly typical OTT contrarian stuff from Hitchens, but - as usual - not lacking a grain of truth. <br /><br />Sport (and not just international sport) can be, and often is, a catalyst for some of the less appealing of human character traits. But I think it can also be, as Russell suggests, a (usually) (fairly) harmless outlet for some of those tribalistic instincts. <br /><br />Specific examples of each tendency can be found. In Scotland, the 'Tartan Army' were famously described as Ninety Minute Nationalists, and as far as we can tell, few of their number spend their weekdays building bombs for the SNLA.<br /><br />On the other hand, the fanatical support for the 'Old Firm' (Rangers and Celtic) has been used as both the public face of, and almost certainly a fund-raising device for, Northern Irish paramilitary groups. (@Damian, in the town I used to live, the parallels between football and religion are particularly close!)<br /><br />And there are competing theories as to the effect of football in Francoist Spain and Tito's Yugoslavia (I used to teach a class on this stuff!)<br /><br />I guess a lot depends on whether we feel that, in general, our nastier instincts are better controlled by being provided with, or denied, a quasi-legitimate outlet.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05840059127758081545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-19529340088575292332010-02-25T08:45:43.183+11:002010-02-25T08:45:43.183+11:00Приветствую дорогие участники metamagician3000.blo...Приветствую дорогие участники metamagician3000.blogspot.com! Суперский сайт тут!<br />Неделю назад нашёл необычное содержание с великолепными статьями. Запоминающиеся транслированные американские ресурсы обо всём в мире. К слову: [url=http://newtestsait.ru/node?page=107]Любопытные материалы от американских книг[/url]<br />Почитайте иностранные темы - некоторые сильно трудились транслировали кучи текстов!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-73604385499568592532010-02-25T03:57:24.794+11:002010-02-25T03:57:24.794+11:00I long ago admitted that my support of Manchester ...I long ago admitted that my support of Manchester United was almost certainly irrational. I rather like Billy Connolly's reaction to supporters singing, "We are the champions", when, in actual fact, they're not the champions, at all, the team that they just so happen to support are.<br /><br />I would suggest that it depends on the individuals involved whether sport is a net good or whether it divides people. I am very conscious that in football there are often heated rivalries that involve quite a lot of hatred and invective, and I always make the point that I want no part of it. I try to explain to people how wrong it is to hate the people (who they almost certainly don't know, as people) who support a particular team, based solely on the fact that they support a rival team, or because they have had a bad experience with a very small minority of those supporters, etc.<br /><br />However, because I am conscious of most or all of the pitfalls, I find that I do get quite a lot out of sport, even though I realize that I can't necessarily rationally defend my continued support of a team because I just so happen to have been born near the City (Cheshire, which is south of Manchester) where they are based. I can also see how silly it is that I get excited every time they win a match, and that I feel distraught every time they lose. But as I began to support them prior to knowing all of this, it really isn't easy to let go, and nor do I want to.<br /><br />And I see parallels between that and religious belief, particularly when an individual is indoctrinated in their youth. I suppose that I could argue that my 'religion' is less harmful and less serious, and that I am not really affirming any truth claims about the world, as such, but I would be clutching at straws, in all honesty.<br /><br />On the positive side, I have learned about many nations and cultures that I would not ordinarily have known about, and that can only be good thing for mutual understanding. And there certainly is something to be said about what you can learn about humanity from sport, but not all of it is good, I admit.<br /><br />So, I'm left with a rather uneasy feeling about it all, and I sometimes wish that I could simply be an objective observer, rather than a 'supporter' of a team that I really have no connection to. But then I realize that I would not have had the same experience from it, which, in the main, has been quite exhilarating.<br /><br />The lesson from all of this is that we really are quite strange and complex beings, I suppose.Damiannoreply@blogger.com