sports...

Good God...of course, I give professional sports some credit and look...I've never been one to watch those "The World's most extreme assinine examples of stupidity, drunkenness and violence," but turning on Sports Center this morning, it was hard to avoid it...No, it wasn't footage of angry Premier League fans rioting in Liverpool... It was a bitch-ass weak fowl and an equally bitchy retaliation and too many testosdrones, good and drunk, thinking that they're billy-bad-ass, ruining a lot of people's night in Detroit. And this is why I'm not a basketball fan...well, NBA fan, to be more precise (as a side note, the Tar Heels, though getting off to a rough start, look like they could be real contenders, this year)...But then it occurred to me, while watching The War Room(1993) on IFC, and thinking back to the past couple of years of campaigning (ie cattle herding), there's a bigger cultural problem that links the two...I'd dare say that it's a problem for all humans: the human herding instinct (both being the herd and the herders). It conflicts totally with our capacity for intelligence. I believe that the conflict between these contradictory tendencies toward following and leading is the conflict. When all humans learn that they can walk with their heads raised, make eye-contact with each other, speak with confidence, and learn to deal directly with each other, then there will be peace.

I've been working on an essay about war propaganda and democracy, I meant to post it for Armistice Day, but should have it posted by Wednesday at the latest...it's kind of hard to meet deadlines when they don't really exist...Also, I plan on having one written within two weeks, criticizing democractic elitism...