The following thought is a sort of question that was driving me crazy at the end of our Friday class. I just want to throw it out there and ask for some outside opinion.
What is best for an individual is not necessarily what is best for the people as a whole. So when we try and examine whether the government is acting in our best interest, we have to be careful in separating the self-interest from the group-interest. I am not sure that it is possible to remove our self-bias enough to allow a perspective that takes in what is “in the public’s best interest”. Does the individual have the capacity to act solely in the group’s interest? Isn’t this a generally implied quality of a leader? And not just a leader, but a government, faceless menace that it is portrayed as, consists of so many individual persons, also supposedly acting the public’s self-interest, even if it opposes their own self-interest?
Moving on to baseball, I would like to first disclaim that I have an extremely unpatriotic lack of knowledge of anything having to do with the all American sport. For full disclosure I should also add that I am not a sports follower by any standards. The idea that some of the worst teams still have fanatic fans, despite decades of losing is amazing to me. I should think it would take a certain amount of tenacity and good sense of humor to hold on that long. Nationals’ stadium was interesting in that it reminded me of a small food fair arranged in a circle, lots of booths selling the same over-priced food and long lines, while all around people mill about. The mood was cheerful though and the large number of families I saw seems to prove that the Nats have succeeded in so far as persuading people to keep up a wholesome all American tradition and come to their stadium. I liked the point that PTJ made during our after-dinner conversation that it’s not so much about the sport as what goes on around. In connecting a little early then to constructivism, I would say baseball and the baseball game experience is all about identity (American) and cultural perception.
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2 comments:
I agree with your post on so many levels! And i think it's very interesting how you pointed out that despite the Nationals less than impressive baseball skills and record, they still have a fairly good turn out of genuinely devoted and happy fans. I would assume that this is because the fans, rather than choosing which team they truly think is most worthy of their support and that have the best players, instead chooses their fave team based on which team corresponds to where the fan lives. Hmmm.... this is a lot like citizens in the USA who automatically think that we are the best nation based solely on the fact that we live here.
Regional loyalty is definitely a major factor in sports. People do most often associate with their local team regardless of that teams record, simply because of the identification connection.
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