Clouded in mist

My dad just walked in and informed me that the opening ceremony for the 2008 Olympics just started and told me to tune the TV in to watch the live telecast of it. I told him that I’ve zero interest in the Olympics whatsoever.

Being a spectator of sports has never interest me, even though I might enjoy the sport itself. I enjoyed playing soccer after school hours when I was in secondary school with my classmates, but I’ve only watched the World Cup once. I don’t know any of the players personally, so who cares which team wins? It doesn’t affect me in any possible way.

A favorite author of mine, Noam Chomsky, sums up how I feel towards such events well, and I couldn’t put my feelings in better words than he did. I’ve been reading Noam Chomsky since late 2006, when a book of his was recommended by President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela during a speech at the UN. The following is what he said in the book, Manufacturing Consent (online excerpt available here).

Take, say, sports — that’s another crucial example of the indoctrination system, in my view. For one thing because it — you know, it offers people something to pay attention to that’s of no importance. [audience laughs] That keeps them from worrying about — [applause] keeps them from worrying about things that matter to their lives that they might have some idea of doing something about. And in fact it’s striking to see the intelligence that’s used by ordinary people in [discussions of] sports [as opposed to political and social issues]. I mean, you listen to radio stations where people call in — they have the most exotic information [more laughter] and understanding about all kind of arcane issues. And the press undoubtedly does a lot with this.

You know, I remember in high school, already I was pretty old. I suddenly asked myself at one point, why do I care if my high school team wins the football game? [laughter] I mean, I don’t know anybody on the team, you know? [audience roars] I mean, they have nothing to do with me, I mean, why I am cheering for my team? It doesn’t mean any — it doesn’t make sense. But the point is, it does make sense: it’s a way of building up irrational attitudes of submission to authority, and group cohesion behind leadership elements — in fact, it’s training in irrational jingoism. That’s also a feature of competitive sports. I think if you look closely at these things, I think, typically, they do have functions, and that’s why energy is devoted to supporting them and creating a basis for them and advertisers are willing to pay for them and so on.

That, my friends, is truism.