By Lee Bogle
[Warning: Although Lee Bogle writes for the Gauntlet, he is quite possibly crazy and almost definitely an alcoholic. Read on.]
Have you had your hit of opium today? Millions have, celebrating the nothingness associated with a false alter. The Summer Olympic games have just been played on a world willingly injecting complacency into its collective vein of consciousness.
Spectator sports have eclipsed religion as the opiate of the masses. Time, money and emotion are invested heavily into worshipping the demi-gods of sport with false hopes of alleviating worldly problems, or at least a change of pace from the dull thud of repetitive lifestyles with meaningless existences.
Sound negative? Take a hit and forget about it.
I can’t. The image of Karl Marx fingering me from his grave is a little too vivid. Also burned onto my retina are images of “humanity” from the games of Athens; drugged up uber-athletes, political scandals and judging errors. How alien this is from the conventional definition of humanity, but how’s about those ratings!
Yes, our modern thinking public is really better suited for this distraction. Stadiums are cathedrals of concrete and entrance prices are slightly higher than their wooden counterparts. Our technologically focussed lifestyles require stats and figures; these are provided in spades by spectator sports. Quantify every aspect, people will memorize on faith it may prove some edge in a conversation or life event down the road. There are a lot of ugly worms in this can, illustrating how difficult they can be to open.
Playing sports releases endorphins. These are happy chemicals. Playing sports therefore makes us happy. It’s watching sports that makes us angry.
“So kids, stay in school, don’t do drugs. Think objectively and avoid a fate as a spectator sport junky,” said the sports writer.