Why sports is needed in this day and age? Once, sport brought together the people of various races and ethnicity and helped develop camaraderie and unity among them. Sport was used as an identity by some nationalistic movements. (case in Point FCB & Athletic Bilbao). People stood together and used sport and sporting events to display their discontent against totalitarian regimes. Even athletes used to do the same in highest sporting events. But do sports stand relevant today, when most of the Sporting organisations are run by huge corporates (barring few clubs), whose primary motive being profits? Sadly, sport is used as a means to distract people from everyday worries and also keep people divided on the lines of club loyalty. It gives a false sense of relief to people’s daily sufferings.
What does a professional sportsperson do? He does his job and gets paid for it, so do millions and millions of people around the globe. But do these people earn as much money as these sportspersons do? The answer is obvious. Sports stars and the clubs are ideas of corporates to sell their goods. A famous sportsperson endorsing various product, makes the fans’ buy them, and there by swelling the coffers of the corporates. These fans are spending their hard-earned money on goods, which they don’t really need in the first place. As George Carlin used to say. “People spend money, which they don’t have, on things they don’t need”. These organisations play to the sentiments of people, and, incite rivalry among fans, just to make huge profits
Arguments in favour of sports
People are being entertained
People could be entertained by means of arts,music and other innumerable means. Arts was source of entertainment for masses in the earlier centuries unlike now, when few people take interest in arts. In addition to giving joy to people, arts was also used as mean to bring out social change. Also, if a footballer’s precision pass, which could result in nothing more than a goal, entertain/enthrall people, then shouldn’t neurosurgeon’s precise surgery, if not more at least, be equally appreciated and enjoyed. We, as a society, have our priorities misplaced.
Livelihood
Sports do provide livelihood to millions of people around the world. But what they earn would possibly be not sufficient to make their ends meet.
Goodwill Activities
Sporting Organisations involve in charity work across the globe. But charity is a condescending act by rich people and organisations, who tend to care about the under privileged in the world only to exploit them in one way or the other. What people need is not charity but a free education, a free health care and ample opportunities to prove themselves.
Giving Direction to youngsters
Youth would not take it to violence, when they focus on sports and build a career around it. In reality how many youngsters end up making a living out of sport? But if we were to have social equality, where all people have access to basic amenities and education, there wouldn’t be any anti-national activities.
When people are given an illusion of choice not the real choice, as George Carlin puts it, people tend to have their priorities misplaced. Sport is just another illusion of choice provided by the top 1% to the masses. When we have humongous problems such as inequality, climate change, terrorism, and many more, in front of us, shouldn’t we rather be spending our time on them rather than watching some junk sports?
Sports per se is not bad, rather sports in the current form is not proving to be worthy.
agamthedal 