Is society too obsessed with sports?

[Suburbia]

The virus exposed problems not only in American--but world society.

Essential workers like firefighters, nurses, etc. are seen as the true heroes, while athletes are seen as not needed nowadays, even in a pandemic where we need an entertainment escape.

Do you think we are too obsessed with sports?

[PSOL]

I mean as a hobby and as some create fandoms over sports maybe, but we are much better at it than Europe in that people don’t participate in organized mobs every so often to defend the reputation of the home team. Being such a militaristic society and somehow not having developed ultras is an odd feat in and of itself. On the second part, I definitely think that with a worldwide pandemic as the background, we’ve seen heroic feats being done. From the doctors and nurses healing the sick with their life on the line, to a surge of labor militancy in some sectors of the economy, and the popular uprising against the besieging of every American these past few years have created people to look up to on a scale not seen since the civil rights movement.

I personally don’t think sports are going away, as Esports and MMO competitions haven’t been as hard hitted and have continued to grow.

[YE]

It’s not obsessed enough

[dead0man]

meh

If anything, I think we're too obsessed with politics.

[ProgressiveModerate]

As someone who's never really been interested in sports, yes, though I think COVID has helped to make a reality check. I think it's fine if people in their own friend groups talk about sports, the same way I might talk about politics on this forum, however, when my Gym teacher expects that I know everything about sports like Basketball or Football without teaching me anything is just wrong.

[Alben Barkley]

No, it’s a (mostly) healthy way to let out our innate tribalism, give us shared experiences to talk about and bond over, and entertain ourselves. I agree with those who say that people treating politics as sport is the real problem; we’d be far better off if many of the people doing that directed all their energy and obsession towards actual sports instead.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

We're not into sports enough

[Proud Houstonian]

We are too in to sports saying this as sports fan

[Meclazine for Israel]

We need more participation in sports. Not obsessed enough.

[Damocles]

Sports are good

[Crane]

meh

If anything, I think we're too obsessed with politics.

Disagree. Actually, I think most people don't know or care about politics - least of all, the people who vote.

[Damocles]

Disagree. Actually, I think most people don't know or care about politics - least of all, the people who vote.

They don’t know how basic parliamentary procedure works to run an effective, no-nonsense meeting of any sort of committee or organization, let alone a governmental one. To them, it’s just a Sisyphean task.

As much as we hate bureaucracy, the alternative is chaos. Having a basic literacy in how organizations are managed is critical to understanding what happens in Congress’ committee rooms, and where the power of the speaker and the committee chairs comes from.

[Alben Barkley]

Disagree. Actually, I think most people don't know or care about politics - least of all, the people who vote.

They don’t know how basic parliamentary procedure works to run an effective, no-nonsense meeting of any sort of committee or organization, let alone a governmental one. To them, it’s just a Sisyphean task.

As much as we hate bureaucracy, the alternative is chaos. Having a basic literacy in how organizations are managed is critical to understanding what happens in Congress’ committee rooms, and where the power of the speaker and the committee chairs comes from.

I think it is certainly true that much of the population is woefully ignorant about politics and government. But it's also true that some people get too obsessive and tribalistic about politics in a detrimental way, to the point it becomes a way of life for people and all they care about, and they can become radicalized and develop genuine hatred for the other side. (Trump did that better than anyone; tell me his rallies weren't basically sporting events in terms of how his "fans" approached them.) Again, I think those people would be better off directing the same passion to sports, which they seem to use politics as some kind of substitute for anyway. And for most people, it's best to stay informed and to think critically about important issues, but there's a healthy middle ground between that and letting political passions consume your life.

Also, I think separate issues are being conflated here anyway. I don't actually think being more informed makes you more likely to have an unhealthy approach to politics, and if anything the opposite might be true. You can be very much obsessive and tribalistic about politics, treat them like sports where you just root for your "team," and still have no idea about how government works and little understanding of policy. Frankly I see a lot more of that from Trumpers than anyone, but there's certainly some of it on the left as well.

[morgieb]

Society is much healthier when normies just think about sports rather than politics.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

No, the sports memorabilia has been on the decline since Covid, there aren't any autograph signings with kids, commoners can't come close to an athlete anymore.  Most of the memorabillia are Chinese owned anyways. Nike is made in Taiwan and Hong Kong and when you wash a jersey, unless it's authentic, it shrinks anyways

We were an obsessed society with kids asking for ball in exchange for receiving the ball at baseball games

Baseball players were kids once instead of offering same benefit to adult fans they offered it to kids based on their schools now they are in shut down mode, just like Kobe rushed to a game and his life would have been spared if he waiting and Covid hit anyways

Yet, they don't go to Skid Row and serve Homeless food for holidays too go to the shelter of their chosing

[Suburbia]

Society is much healthier when normies just think about sports rather than politics.

Are you sure about that?

Is it good when "grown men and women walk around with another person's name and jersey number"?

[morgieb]

Society is much healthier when normies just think about sports rather than politics.

Are you sure about that?

Is it good when "grown men and women walk around with another person's name and jersey number"?

Well it's much better than trying to turn everything in society to some stupid culture war!

[Progressive Pessimist]

I always thought so, but I'm not as much of a snob about it as I used to be. And maybe that is because politics has started to resemble sports so much lately. Even saying that, politics still has actual important consequences and ramifications that sports never will, so it isn't quite so equivalent.