“We fight and love so much sometimes I get confused with who we are. Maybe if we just stop and chat a bit we’ll find out who we are.”
Lyric from: We Fight/We Love from the album The Renaissance
Written By: Kamaal Ibn John Fareed
Performed by: Q-Tip and Raphael Saadiq
 |
| Photo from lockersmash.com |
My father once told me that religion and politics are two of the most divisive elements of the human experience. Even if you disagree with his use of the superlative here, I think you would agree that, at the very least, the two subjects are to be avoided at all costs in workplace conversations.
The fact is that neither matter leaves much room to be lukewarm. People are very passionate about their chosen deities and their legislative deal breakers. As such, it is hard to disagree without being offensive and difficult to keep an open mind when the very desire to do so seems to challenge your deep rooted, personal belief set or worse, wreaks with the guilt of blasphemy.
A few years ago, however, I began to contemplate the illusion of opposition and rivalry. In 2005 I attended a Public Relations Society of America luncheon featuring a talk by Skip Rutherford, Chairman of the Board for the William J. Clinton Foundation in which he shared the story of the opening of the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, AR.
During his presentation he noted that former President Bill Clinton had spoken with former President George H.W. Bush on a few occasions leading up to the event. Sensing the shock in the room, Rutherford explained that these men were a part of the exclusive fraternity of former Presidents of the United States of America and that a respectful bond between them was not only plausible but warranted.
Later that year, the entire nation became privy to that bond as the two joined together in a campaign to rebuild homes and lives following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, raising $100 million for relief efforts in Louisiana and Mississippi.
That’s quite a turnaround from 1992 when Bush called Clinton a “bozo” on the campaign trail.
Earlier this week, Ryan Clark treated NFL fans to a shocker.
Clark, 11-year pro and defensive back for the Pittsburgh Steelers, revealed that despite public opinion to the contrary, the Steelers don’t hate the Ravens. He alluded to the fact that the Steelers-Ravens rivalry has ultimately been defined by the fans and not members of the respective teams.
Clark even talked about having worked out with Baltimore Ravens outside linebacker, Terrell Suggs, over the summer and said that Suggs was “a cool dude”. That doesn’t seem too far-fetched when you consider that NFL players belong to an exclusive fraternity as well.
With that revelation I revisited my thoughts on rivalry’s illusion and have wondered if the guys who get paid to do this stuff only hate each the two or three weeks out of the year that they play each other, why then have fans been so invested in these rivalries over the years?
Perhaps our hatred is more mobilizing. Maybe the only way that we can truly love is when we are motivated by hate.
Clark’s admission comes to us this week as we also heard reports about a 5-year old who was forced to turn his University of Michigan T-shirt inside out in his Oklahoma City school district classroom and this Packer fan who went online in search of some support for evicting his tenants who had lied to him about being Chicago Bears fans.
Just as much as we are passionate about our religious beliefs and our political affiliations, we are no doubt steadfast and unmovable in our sports loyalties as well.
All the better for the media to tease us with.
If fans started the fire, networks have stoked many a rivalry’s flames. These guys hype up the tension in the name of viewership. They profess the excitement of the “can’t miss game of the week” featuring two of the game’s biggest rivals (insert any rivalry of any sport, college or professional, here). And of course there’s a reason why viewership matters-ad revenue.
And there’s a reason why leading up to this year’s presidential election President Obama’s campaign ads will tell you more about why you shouldn’t vote for Governor Mitt Romney instead of why he should be re-elected.
The awful truth is that we often fare better when we can define our love by our hate. Without the latter we might not ever go to the polls or root for a team.
As a Georgia Bulldog, I'm a Gator Hater. Plain and simple.
ReplyDeleteI can not believe this insightful and thought provoking article has just one response! A topic such as this needs a bigger platform, I personally can right a book about it. Let me start with saying that sports, religion and politics all have one major common factor PROFIT! The sensitivity of the 3 are brilliantly manufactured by the powers that be. It takes an untrained open mind to follow the logic behind it all. For the most part Religion, Political views, and Sports biased thoughts are ingrained in us by our family and surroundings. As great and important as these things may seem they are all manufactured for the purpose of control resulting in the ultimate purpose, PROFIT! Lets analyze the 3. The larger 2 of the 3 Religion and Politics are married as husband and wife. Since the dawn of time the masses were controlled by the majorities belief. The controlling hierarchy would manipulate the beliefs of the people for their own benefit. There truly is no such thing as a republican or democrat its all an illusion for division and distraction. Chris Rock said it best when he said something along the lines of "anyone who make sup their mind before they hear the issue is a damn fool". Unfortunately we are a nation of fools! There are a few families the 1% the control the globe manipulating the masses via media politics and monetary policy. I'll try to stay on topic as this particular subject commands and in depth explanation with facts that most of us are not ready to face. Finally Sports as it pertains to ingrained rivalry, though its pumped by the controlling officers for profit at it's core its similar to Religion as it survives by people grouping together thinking their group is superior according to what ever they value. The Islamic and Zionist feud is at is core Yankees and Mets on steroids. 2 factions close in proximity ingrained to hate one another due to differences of beliefs over which is the true team of the city. People also take on the team that reflects their personality and values. For example this years finals People root for the Heat if they are fans of Lebron,like superstar flashy play, band wagon riders, rebels,or sensitive to the hate the Heat received when assembling. People root for the Spurs if they identify with discipline team non flashy basketball, pro small market against high profile party city, hate the way the Heat assembled. Many root for the shallow reason of living close in proximity to the respective team. Believe it or not peoples political views are based on the same shallow reason(the tradition of how their region votes). Its all perpetuated by wealthy people who profit from keeping it going for their profit. In closing the moral of it all is that its all opinions human nature nothing to kill or get overly excited about.Politics and religions illusions have a much more profound effect on our lives. No more rambling on this amazing topic (forgive the heavy spewing kinda passionate about this one lol)
ReplyDeleteI love your "rambling". This topic is a book in itself. But all of the several hundred thousands of words we can write on the matter come down to one simple thing, as you so eloquently stated, money/profit.
Delete