A brawl at an NBA game--big surprise
It amazes me to hear any number of experts explain to us why the NBA brawl occurred in Detroit last Friday. The seats are too close to the event. The players make so much money that fans think they have a right to confront them when they are not pleased. The players make so much money that fans think they have a right to participate in the event. People watch so much reality television that they think this kind of behavior is normal.
Oh, please. It happened because certain sports enthusiasts get drunk and act like the assholes they are (in the case of the beer-tossing fan, the offender was a person with a criminal record that includes assault and drunk driving).
And because this is a very violent country with a double standard about its violence. You can assault women, whip children, and kick and punch people who are holding Kerry/Edwards signs. That's okay. But if you assault someone in a robbery (especially if you are not white), you go to jail. There has been so much sports-related violence that those in charge are now re-thinking a history of just letting the violence go. It's about time.
A few years ago, at a Saints training camp, some of the new players were physically assaulted and humiliated by some of the veterans. No charges were pressed, and no one went to jail. That's because men don't want to look "weak" by "telling." "You told!" is one of the first things we hear in elementary school if we have the audacity to appropriately ask an authority figure to intervene. "Telling" is a sin, and it is a mortal sin for males.
The other thing that I, as a psychotherapist, hear a lot is: "I didn't want to get him in trouble." The idea that we are responsible for someone else's behavior--not that the perpetrator gets himself in trouble--is so ingrained in our culture that it is very hard to get rid of it.
Now that we are living in a time when the national theme is "kick their ass," I expect violence to escalate. The mainstream news media has finally figured out that white supremist cd's are being marketed to children. Some bobble-head anchor on MSNBC was oh, so suprised, and wondered why it is happening now. Duh. From the moment that Reagan kicked off his 1980 presidential campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi--site of the 1964 klan murder of four civil rights workers-- with a call for "states' rights," we got the hint. Kick their ass. Blacks, women, gays, liberals, athiests, whoever offends Amuricans. Now we are taking up where Reagan left off, dipping the flag in testosterone, with God on our side, of course.
Brawling, quite simply, is what a violent nation does.
Oh, please. It happened because certain sports enthusiasts get drunk and act like the assholes they are (in the case of the beer-tossing fan, the offender was a person with a criminal record that includes assault and drunk driving).
And because this is a very violent country with a double standard about its violence. You can assault women, whip children, and kick and punch people who are holding Kerry/Edwards signs. That's okay. But if you assault someone in a robbery (especially if you are not white), you go to jail. There has been so much sports-related violence that those in charge are now re-thinking a history of just letting the violence go. It's about time.
A few years ago, at a Saints training camp, some of the new players were physically assaulted and humiliated by some of the veterans. No charges were pressed, and no one went to jail. That's because men don't want to look "weak" by "telling." "You told!" is one of the first things we hear in elementary school if we have the audacity to appropriately ask an authority figure to intervene. "Telling" is a sin, and it is a mortal sin for males.
The other thing that I, as a psychotherapist, hear a lot is: "I didn't want to get him in trouble." The idea that we are responsible for someone else's behavior--not that the perpetrator gets himself in trouble--is so ingrained in our culture that it is very hard to get rid of it.
Now that we are living in a time when the national theme is "kick their ass," I expect violence to escalate. The mainstream news media has finally figured out that white supremist cd's are being marketed to children. Some bobble-head anchor on MSNBC was oh, so suprised, and wondered why it is happening now. Duh. From the moment that Reagan kicked off his 1980 presidential campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi--site of the 1964 klan murder of four civil rights workers-- with a call for "states' rights," we got the hint. Kick their ass. Blacks, women, gays, liberals, athiests, whoever offends Amuricans. Now we are taking up where Reagan left off, dipping the flag in testosterone, with God on our side, of course.
Brawling, quite simply, is what a violent nation does.
posted by Diane at 1:55 PM
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