You're wrong Clint.
We in the media use sports and celebrities to bring awareness to Americans to things that are actually important.
Who gave a damn about AIDS before Magic retired in 91?
Ray Rice is a great example of white supremacy. His contract gets voided, but that pig Darren Wilson is still on paid vacation, and has raised over $1,000,000
after executing Mike Brown.
So when you have a country that only reads at a 7th grade level Clint, you have to use Shadow Puppets, Ice Buckets and shyt to get through to them.
After Bill Clinton played the sax on Arsenio his poll numbers skyrocketed, it clearly was the deciding factor in his presidential victory.
breh, this mass media frenzy of sports and celebrities was created to intentionally distract people from important issues. I suggest you do some research on Edward Bernays.
Chomsky argues that the role of the mass media (who are controlled by
only 5 mega-conglomerates) is to keep us diverted and focused on mindless issues. It’s interesting to take note of that idea, and then analyze the Superbowl phenomenon in that context. It turns out that usually the Superbowl annually draws more ratings than any other possible event. It’s almost safe to assume that nothing in recent years has gained exceptionally higher ratings than perhaps September 11th, which didn’t count in the ratings game.
Chomsky’s argument seems to hold ground considering the annual Superbowl event attracts more attention than any sort of political issue or event whether it be presidential elections, Constitutional Amendments, breaking news of severe violations of liberties and even wars. It seems that as long as we have our Superbowl then everything is alright. I could argue that that sort of fallacious logic is why our current ongoing and increasing national tragedy exists, but I won’t go there today.
“Within crowds, people think they are acting as individuals, but like the other forms of group behavior, they are being shaped by the collective action of others. People in crowds seem to take on a collective identity, and it may even be difficult to distinguish between individual and group behavior. Crowds seem to act as one even though there may be great diversity within them.” –[Andersen & Taylor] “Sociology: Understanding a Diverse Society” [College Edition] [2006]
These arguments apply to all of sports (and ultimately all social group settings), though really, “Football” is the poster-child of this phenomenon. Especially in this society, which is dripping with the elements herein, and American “Football” just so happens to be the ultimate example of the imperial propaganda model compared to its opposition.
“But wait! Such subtleties aren’t propaganda”, you argue? That’s the whole idea really, in fact many of it’s most hardcore fans openly prefer the over-competitive nature that it is, or is at least over-dramatized as being. And now the nature of this form of propaganda comes into view.
These are age old crowd / social dynamics and leadership influence that go back at least as far as the Roman Empire. In those days they used to pack over 45,000 Romans in the Colosseum to watch people get brutally murdered. The hit movie The Gladiator depicted these scenes, and the ironic thing is that the scenes were probably accurate, if not watered down while at the same time they creators of the film might have even used the Superbowl annual “
Group Think” event as the primary influence in their vision of the ancient crowds.
To add to
the imperial nature of our American “Football”, it’s the most
militaristic in nature in comparison to the other mainstream sports. Some might argue that the crowds over in Europe, a place where many still to this day rationalize colonialism (imperialism), get into riots over the “Football” games.
It’s true and quite fascinating, from a sociological perspective, the whole “hooligan” social phenomenon. For these arguments I suggest you consider what it’d be like if the 50 “States” were literally 50 different “countries” bound by no (pseudo) federal union. If they were pumping our total cognitive dominating mainstream propaganda model into such an environment there would possibly be some state to state wars by now, in part driven by the intense competitive us vs. them rivalry mentality combined with our militarized society.
In truth propaganda applies to virtually all media. More specifically, it applies to media or stimulus that appeals to irrational emotions, and in purest form it seeks o manipulate through social group related irrational emotions. From there you have 2 different eras worth of propaganda. The French propagandist, Jacques Ellul, in his 1965
manuscript titled “Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes” summarized the nature of both old and modern propaganda as this:
“We now come to an absolutely decisive fact. Propaganda is very frequently described as a manipulation for the purpose of changing ideas or opinions, of making individuals “believe” some idea or fact, and finally of making them adhere to some doctrineall matters of mind. Or, to put it differently, propaganda is described as dealing with beliefs or ideas. If the individual is a Marxist, it tries to destroy his conviction and turn him into an anti-Marxist, and so on. It calls on all the psychological mechanisms, but appeals to reason as well. It tries to convince, to bring about a decision, to create a firm adherence to some truth. Then, obviously, if the conviction is sufficiently strong, after some soul searching, the individual is ready for action.
This line of reasoning is completely wrong. To view propaganda as still being what it was in 1850 is to cling to an obsolete concept of man and of the means to influence him; it is to condemn oneself to understand nothing about modern propaganda. The aim of modern propaganda is no longer to modify ideas, but to provoke action. It is no longer to change adherence to a doctrine, but to make the individual cling irrationally to a process of action. It is no longer to lead to a choice, but to loosen the reflexes. It is no longer to transform an opinion, but to arouse an active and mythical belief.”
Ellul’s full manuscript later demonstrates that Modern Propaganda doesn’t actually dismiss the old uses, if anything it exploits them to even more disturbing levels by exploiting individuals psychological weaknesses in all new ways. His argument in that section was mainly emphasizing the significance of “modern” (1965) propaganda.
Edward Bernays, who was instrumental in crafting modern propaganda, stated in his book “
Propaganda” [1928]:
“This general principle, that men are very largely actuated by motives which they conceal from themselves, is as true of mass as of individual psychology. It is evident that the successful propagandist must understand the true motives and not be content to accept the reasons which men give for what they do.”
Many of the “motives” Bernays spoke of were irrational social behaviors.
Bernays spoke more in terms of the differing perspectives of politics and advertising, whereas the other propagandists in this article were more in tune with the political / control dimensions of propaganda. Ellul explains this irrational social context in much deeper dimensions:
“Actually, just because men are in a group, and therefore weakened, receptive, and in a state of psychological regression, they pretend all the more to be “strong individuals.” The mass man is clearly sub- human, and is more unstable, but thinks he is firm in his convictions. If one openly treats the mass as a mass, the individuals who form it will feel themselves belittled and will refuse to participate. If one treats these individuals as children (and they are children because they are in a group), they will not accept their leader’s projections or identify with him. They will withdraw and we will not be able to get anything out of them.”
Never-mind that we observe the players are treated to follow orders like children. (More on what happens when we observe people later)
The sports degree of propaganda actually fulfills Joseph Goebbels (Nazi Minister of Propaganda) 14th and 16-A
Principles of Propaganda:
#14: Propaganda must label events and people with distinctive phrases or slogans.
a. They must evoke desired responses which the audience previously possesses
b. They must be capable of being easily learned
c. They must be utilized again and again, but only in appropriate situations
d. They must be boomerang-proof
#16 Propaganda to the home front must create an optimum anxiety level.
a. Propaganda must reinforce anxiety concerning the consequences of defeat
Chomsky points out that sports function as an indoctrination tool that is “a way of building up irrational attitudes of submission to authority”. When viewing sports in this context it’s quite plain as day. I’d like to expand on this and point out that it also indoctrinates us with emotional (irrational) us vs. them mentality, which helps solidify the same behavior and thinking that you find with people who are heavily biased in politics or blind nationalism. In other words, it helps create and maintain the same type of irrational thinking that you also find in the
mass delusional political and nationalism spectrums.
anyways it's a long read, do some research on the history of sports and propaganda breh. look at the role the mainstream media plays in dictating what americans feel is important. you're right about americans reading at a 7th grade level, guess where they get their ideas from...
