Saturday, June 10, 2017
Friday, June 09, 2017
sport
not sure when it happened but i fell out of love with sport a ways back.
sure i am still interested in (some) sports.
sure there are some athletes who i take joy in seeing them win, though there are probably more that i find more pleasure in seeing them lose.
most sports stars are over paid prima donnas who seem to have no understanding of just how lucky they are. 'oh woe is me i have to play three games a week', is a bit hard to take seriously when you are working a 40 plus hour week.
or the old favourite it is not about the money it is about the winning - but none of them take a pay cut to play.
or their total self importance - the team has to match my ambition, yet they never put their money on the line, or no stake in the team. or, the even worse, we deserve to be supported in our personal dream because we made sacrifices.
then there are the clubs who just want to buy success with little or no attempts to develope their own players - so much easier to buy them in.
then there are the fans who just want success - but don't want change. they want money pumped into the clubs but they can't accept that money comes with strings.
but what can you expect when sport organisations such as fifa or the ioc appear to be no more than profit making organisations rife with corruption?
then there are the constant calls that these performers to be role models. yes i don't want them to cheat, yes i don't want to see them use drugs - but beyond that i don't expect them to be any different from the rest of us. why should putting on a kit suddenly make you a paragon of virtue?
the problem is we have invested too much importance in sport and its stars, and along with celebrity culture, it harks back to a bread and circus mentality.
we would be better off celebrating the extraordinary, but hidden, scientists, architects, inventors, academics, teachers, explorers (oh and hairy bloggers) who populate our culture. but we won't.
will i ever fall in love with sport again?
probably not - but i will always have the world wrestling entertainment, at least there is humour and honesty in its pretence.
sure i am still interested in (some) sports.
sure there are some athletes who i take joy in seeing them win, though there are probably more that i find more pleasure in seeing them lose.
most sports stars are over paid prima donnas who seem to have no understanding of just how lucky they are. 'oh woe is me i have to play three games a week', is a bit hard to take seriously when you are working a 40 plus hour week.
or the old favourite it is not about the money it is about the winning - but none of them take a pay cut to play.
or their total self importance - the team has to match my ambition, yet they never put their money on the line, or no stake in the team. or, the even worse, we deserve to be supported in our personal dream because we made sacrifices.
then there are the clubs who just want to buy success with little or no attempts to develope their own players - so much easier to buy them in.
then there are the fans who just want success - but don't want change. they want money pumped into the clubs but they can't accept that money comes with strings.
but what can you expect when sport organisations such as fifa or the ioc appear to be no more than profit making organisations rife with corruption?
then there are the constant calls that these performers to be role models. yes i don't want them to cheat, yes i don't want to see them use drugs - but beyond that i don't expect them to be any different from the rest of us. why should putting on a kit suddenly make you a paragon of virtue?
the problem is we have invested too much importance in sport and its stars, and along with celebrity culture, it harks back to a bread and circus mentality.
we would be better off celebrating the extraordinary, but hidden, scientists, architects, inventors, academics, teachers, explorers (oh and hairy bloggers) who populate our culture. but we won't.
will i ever fall in love with sport again?
probably not - but i will always have the world wrestling entertainment, at least there is humour and honesty in its pretence.
Thursday, June 08, 2017
hope
the thing about elections is the hope.
the hope that your party will win.
the hope that your views and values will carry the day and for the next few years the country will be run more or less in line with your desires and expectations.
come the day you tick that box that aligns closest to your views.
at that moment you believe you have the power to change the world. change it for the best.
hope fills you.
come the end of the day that hope can be battered out of you.
as it stands the news implies that we are heading for a hung parliament.
the worst of all worlds.
hope deflated.
the hope that your party will win.
the hope that your views and values will carry the day and for the next few years the country will be run more or less in line with your desires and expectations.
come the day you tick that box that aligns closest to your views.
at that moment you believe you have the power to change the world. change it for the best.
hope fills you.
come the end of the day that hope can be battered out of you.
as it stands the news implies that we are heading for a hung parliament.
the worst of all worlds.
hope deflated.
Wednesday, June 07, 2017
again
been awhile.
not quite an oatesian 'i may be some time' but still far too long.
there has been a practical reason for the break - couldn't remember my password to get on (new laptop and tablet), thus proving that passwords are the bane of modern life
there is also an existential reason - for the last year or so i really just haven't cared or given a toss. have barely paid attention to the election, not really worked up about trump, even worse i have no idea who is the wwe any more.
(but regardless of my ennui for the political sphere - don't forget to go vote and don't forget to vote labour - you know it makes sense, well more sense than voting for the conservatives.)
about the only thing that excites me these days is the madness of the truth movement and the alternative news media - and trying to weave some sense in what they say (it is a fruitless task as their villains keep shifting and they don't really have a solution beyond slogans and harking back to a time that only existed in the fairy tales of their grand parents).
but with the possible, faint chance i admit, shock of a labour win and the fact that i have suddenly realised that we are in june already and the sum total of my achievements of this year can be summed up in managing to get some eye drops actually into my eye and not everywhere else on my face in an act of medical bukkake. while i may give a whoop and holler at such success in the great scheme of things it really is small beer.
so time to rouse myself and see if i can get this thing back on the road again.
not quite an oatesian 'i may be some time' but still far too long.
there has been a practical reason for the break - couldn't remember my password to get on (new laptop and tablet), thus proving that passwords are the bane of modern life
there is also an existential reason - for the last year or so i really just haven't cared or given a toss. have barely paid attention to the election, not really worked up about trump, even worse i have no idea who is the wwe any more.
(but regardless of my ennui for the political sphere - don't forget to go vote and don't forget to vote labour - you know it makes sense, well more sense than voting for the conservatives.)
about the only thing that excites me these days is the madness of the truth movement and the alternative news media - and trying to weave some sense in what they say (it is a fruitless task as their villains keep shifting and they don't really have a solution beyond slogans and harking back to a time that only existed in the fairy tales of their grand parents).
but with the possible, faint chance i admit, shock of a labour win and the fact that i have suddenly realised that we are in june already and the sum total of my achievements of this year can be summed up in managing to get some eye drops actually into my eye and not everywhere else on my face in an act of medical bukkake. while i may give a whoop and holler at such success in the great scheme of things it really is small beer.
so time to rouse myself and see if i can get this thing back on the road again.
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