Noam Chomsky on the role of sports in propaganda-based authority

[LooseWilly]

70. The "problem" I have with sports isn't the sports... it's the assholes who want to co-opt sports.

Maybe I'm hearing what I want to hear in the Chomsky clip... but I'm hearing criticism of the "team spirit" that is practically jammed down American throats at high school pep-rallies, which is then echoed in corporate HR manuals which use "rah rah" language to try to "build enthusiasm" for the "team".

Why does every HR policy handbook mention "The XXX team"? Why are all the metaphorical grunts of an organization referred to as "team members"?

If you're loyal to a team, you are liable to endure hardships to help your team mates... it's called "team spirit"... it's called "giving 110%".

In the workplace, it's also called "exploitation".

In politics it's also called "patriotism".

Instilling "team spirit" in the young is all well and nice... but it can be used as a perverse building block for manipulating people who might find themselves torn when the safe and productive associations instilled in childhood are twisted and used as levers to manipulate them later in life.

That's what I hear in the Chomsky clip.

Sports are useful and fun, like morphine, but also not without some element of risk.