“Irrational attitudes of submission to authority”…
(If you’ve read other blogs of mine in the past, feel free to skip this entry…)
From Noam Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent:
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.
lulz.
chomsky’s sort of like bertrand russell. he’s great in his area of expertise and embarrassing out of it.
the ripostes from sports fans are, for all their sauciness and lack of depth, maybe getting at something. chomsky’s argument is so wholly self-serving and so, well, pathetic in its defensiveness and sidelined attitude that its real motivations are fairly transparent. if you were able to set a defense mechanism down in prose, it would probably look something that.
the man sounds like a goddamned goth. that’s what people are responding negatively to. and if you mean to suggest that their reactions are some sort of reflexive defensiveness, that’s certainly possible, but you really need look no further than chomsky’s quote for a healthy dose of that. and somewhat notably, your response to the “nerd” comments is as lacking in depth as they are. it’s just a snort and an eye-roll. pshaw.