Harnessing Aggression
From the country that exemplifies thuggish aggression in organized sport comes a Christmas message from its head of state: play sports; it brings people together in harmony and good fellowship. Now that's pretty rich.
And it comes from a source rich in tradition, majesty and (usually) common good sense. Queen Elizabeth II has delivered her annual Christmas address. People around the world - beyond the Commonwealth countries - will have listened thoughtfully to her august recommendations.
And some of them will, without doubt, consider those words of considered wisdom fatuous piffle.
Who on Earth might have encouraged this woman of years and experience to indulge in this kind of absurdly pedestrian and obviously silly mental maundering? Her fun-loving grandchildren, perhaps? Might saner heads not have prevailed? Does she take counsel from anyone, or consider this annual tradition to be self-inspired and hers alone to determine?
The primitive roots of tribal and clannish adversarial wars present themselves in modern times as organized sport events. With teams and countries challenging one another for primacy in performance. In sport events, where once these challenges were brought to bear for territorial advantage, through wars.
Sports are the new war arenas to harness aggression in human nature where fit young men can swagger and perform.
Britain's soccer thugs certainly exemplify this scenario on the world stage. And the Queen has taken it upon herself to co-opt the phenomenon of sport and present it as a civilized compact and contest between competing teams of good sports who play a good game and don't mind losing one little bit.
The Queen's speech, we are informed, represents a rare occasion when this woman speaks in her 'own voice', addressing topics of clear moment to her and by extension, she must feel, to her subjects, and the world at large. When she spoke years ago of her annus horribilis, the trials and tribulations she suffered when her children's wedded alliances fell apart, she garnered much sympathy.
On this occasion, the banality of her topic as a pretext for full consideration of the world at peace and at war, the bringing together of communities in harmony and sports play, falls rather flat. Her assertion that sport activities give people "a sense of belonging to a wider family", appears to run counter to reality.
An opinion shared by some, by no means all, obviously.
And it comes from a source rich in tradition, majesty and (usually) common good sense. Queen Elizabeth II has delivered her annual Christmas address. People around the world - beyond the Commonwealth countries - will have listened thoughtfully to her august recommendations.
And some of them will, without doubt, consider those words of considered wisdom fatuous piffle.
Who on Earth might have encouraged this woman of years and experience to indulge in this kind of absurdly pedestrian and obviously silly mental maundering? Her fun-loving grandchildren, perhaps? Might saner heads not have prevailed? Does she take counsel from anyone, or consider this annual tradition to be self-inspired and hers alone to determine?
The primitive roots of tribal and clannish adversarial wars present themselves in modern times as organized sport events. With teams and countries challenging one another for primacy in performance. In sport events, where once these challenges were brought to bear for territorial advantage, through wars.
Sports are the new war arenas to harness aggression in human nature where fit young men can swagger and perform.
Britain's soccer thugs certainly exemplify this scenario on the world stage. And the Queen has taken it upon herself to co-opt the phenomenon of sport and present it as a civilized compact and contest between competing teams of good sports who play a good game and don't mind losing one little bit.
The Queen's speech, we are informed, represents a rare occasion when this woman speaks in her 'own voice', addressing topics of clear moment to her and by extension, she must feel, to her subjects, and the world at large. When she spoke years ago of her annus horribilis, the trials and tribulations she suffered when her children's wedded alliances fell apart, she garnered much sympathy.
On this occasion, the banality of her topic as a pretext for full consideration of the world at peace and at war, the bringing together of communities in harmony and sports play, falls rather flat. Her assertion that sport activities give people "a sense of belonging to a wider family", appears to run counter to reality.
An opinion shared by some, by no means all, obviously.
Labels: Britain, Human Relations, Realities, Whoops
posted by Pieface @ 6:55 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home