Sunday, October 05, 2008

This is not a football game

I was raised to root for the Big Ten. My parents do it, and so do my grandparents. In fact my grandmother regularly throws a fit when the Big Ten team inevitably loses the Rose Bowl. But we root for them anyway. And any call that goes toward the other team is a completely idiotic call and the Big Ten always gets hosed. Always. I root for my favorite professional football team in much the same way. Any call against them is crazy, any call for them is justified. Anyone who likes their rivals is a complete idiot.

I am okay with this view when it comes to football. I am genuinely concerned that the majority of my friends view politics the same way. Anyone who roots for the other side (whichever side that may be) is a complete idiot. On facebook this is particularly rampant. I don't think anyone could watch the VP debate with an open mind and say that either side completely embarrased themselves, yet my friends do. Nothing is going to get fixed in this country if we don't stop looking at America as a football game. That way half the country is always losing.

1 comment:

John said...

Nice post theaD. You are 100 per cent right. The reason I haven't posted lately is I don't trust myself to be civil as events spin out of control and the economic losses are both body blows to my meager retirement resources and heading my country towards the proverbial political crapper at every level. If I were a liberal at least my glass would be half full. Thanks for providing some rationality to the craziness.