In George Orwell’s essay “The Sporting Spirit” he expresses his opinion on how major sporting events like the olympics are used to fuel political hatred between countries. From my point of view having only played sports at a high school level I can already agree with his statement to a certain extent. I’ve been playing football at Santa Monica High School for two years and even though our seasons haven’t been as successful as hoped; our coach still brings uplifting motivation to the team. His speeches, usually cliche as if they were from a movie, go along the lines of that we must want to hurt the other players and to make them scared of us. And even in game this shared sense of negativity brings backlashes which follows to after …show more content…
This is false because common people previously have no inclination to meet on the battlefield, this is because the common people don't create wars; but they do create sporting events on local and national scales. Orwell expresses that it's the common people's fault for the hatred of sports and war, when in reality it's the rich and powerful few of people that ignite this hatred between nations and teams. There are too many examples of good sportsman like conduct between players and teams to fault the players for the hatred between one another; because in reality it's the coaches or leaders who want to spark the negative motivation in order to get their social and/or political points across. What confuses me about Orwell’s quote is that not once does he talk about influence of political leaders, he only states the common people. Which is counterintuitive since the people who were causing these “orgies of hatred” where the political leaders; for example Hitler wouldn't allow Jews or gays to play for Germany. If was not the common people who had this prejudice against them, it was Hitler and his fellow political companions who would instil fear into others in order to
Joe grew up in Sequim, Washington during the Great Depression. From the start, Joe’s happy childhood is snatched from his grasp with his mother’s death. His life continues to run off the rails when his brother and father marry a set of twins and his new half-siblings are born. His stepmother’s cruelty to him and his father’s supposed ignorance of it begin the development of Joe’s trust issues. His only remaining family abandons him in a half-built house in the rainy swamps of Sequim, as they look for a better life in Seattle. Here, the exposition is set; lonely years on his own, with only his solitary, and largely self-reliant mind to keep him company. Adversity is an influential tool that has the power to sculpt a life into one of poverty and struggle, or carve a pathway to success. Joe begins his journey mourning the loss of his old life, and fiercely determined to make a better one for himself. In his effort to improve his circumstances, Joe learns that much like how the water that supports a boat is
Religion has an important impact on our everyday life. Society uses religion to express themselves through faith, God and worshiping. Sports is also a type of religion in today’s society. People worship their teams at games and pray before every game. Sports and religion ties directly into people’s lives every day, take for instance Herman Winston, a golfer in Roland Merullo’s Golfing with God. He is approached by God’s lieutenant and is asked to help God with the yips. Herman later learns he’s on a spiritual journey that evolves from saving his father’s soul through a golf match with the devil and later being reincarnated on earth for a second life to reach his spiritual destiny. Sports and religion relate directly to Herman Winston’s experiences
In Hitler’s Nazi-state Jewish athletes and other raced athletes were banned from German sports club, and they instead had to flock to separate Jewish associations. These associations weren’t nice inside or adequate for the amount of people in them, compared for the well-funded German associations. With all the hostility and judgement passed Mayer and Owens, they still were able to prove that sports and the idea of right and wrong do occasionally mix. These athletes proved Hitler and all of the Nazi-supporters wrong, and that the Olympic Flag stood for sport sport alone, clear of political obstacles, and without distinction with regard to the color, race, or creed.(Kieran)
After World War I, the state of Germany was in chaos. This helped Hitler’s campaign to be built on propaganda and fear. In this case, his exploitations of fear were directed towards the Jewish population and other minorities in Germany. Almost all who rallied behind Hitler centered the blame towards the Jewish; again, using them as a scapegoat for the poor condition that Germany was left in. However it wasn’t just the people he absolutely abhorred who lived in fear, people who fit Hitler’s specific criteria were described as, “ Also living in constant fear of doing or saying anything wrong...” (MacKenzie). Anyone who spoke against anything Hitler believed was instantly painted a target, also any connection with the groups he was opposed to was not taken lightly. So not only did Hitler evolve fear into total paranoia, but into a complete psychological control system over the whole nation. Consequently, this power lead to the demise of millions of innocent
Anger and hatred can be produced with such little integrity it is frightening. Adolf Hitler’s work, Mein Kampf, is filled with such fury and abhorrence. Millions of people bought into his ideas without even stopping to question the validity of his work. Considering at this time many Germans were freezing, starving and suffering from a huge economic depression not much had to be said to get people on Hitler’s side. Hitler makes many false statements and provides no evidence to back many of them, he simply finds the Jews as something to blame Germany’s problems on. In Hitler’s work he also contradicts himself on numerous occasions. If people had stopped to think about what Mein Kampf was really saying these falsies and mistakes would have been noticed.
In today's modern games politics are also relevant. Tommie Smith and Carlos, significant athletes won gold and bronze medals in 1968, however they used their media attention to express their political views on white supremacy and how, despite their accomplishments, they are treated as less that equals by American citizens (Peterson 99). They held up a closed gloved fist which symbolized their struggle in the civil rights movement. All of these events caused political uproar and demonstrate how politics have an influence on American culture and
Politics have saturated the modern Olympic Games since its infancy. In 1936 the Germans used the Games as a tool to propagate the strength of a renewed German nation and the ethnic superiority of its people. Throughout the Cold War the Olympics Games provided the only context, in which the two superpowers could directly compete and triumph over the other without the threat of global annihilation. One of the most significant incidences of politics infesting the Games was during the 1980 Moscow Olympics, were the United States lead a boycott against the Soviet held Games.
During the Cold War arms race between the United States and Soviet Union, which has now been broken up into different countries like Russian, Ukraine, and Lithuania, it was all about, as Charlie Sheen likes to say, “winning!” But, winning in this context was as much about public needs as it was about controlling territory and people. The perception of the success of one way of life versus another was just as important as the various other races the USA and USSR were running. The fact that so many of the political moves were described as competitions and games and a battle of showmanship and one upping each other is telling in itself. During the Cold War there were a series of relays with very specific goals: the arms race, such as nuclear and the space race. These were the key goals that had to be won by being reached before the other country. So much of the achievement in these goals was based not on reality, but on the values created by the public. More than any other war this one surrounded by propaganda and its mark on the public. Sporting competition and its terminolog...
One of George Orwell’s most significant goals as a writer was to receive recognition for his works. Orwell achieved his aim by projecting his political perspectives into fictional works such as 1984 and Animal Farm. His position against totalitarianism is strongly evident throughout his novels and even today Orwell’s works still seem relevant because of the fear of totalitarian governments perpetuated by the media and the recent democratic uprisings in the Middle East against dictatorial regimes. In this essay, I argue that Orwell’s reasons for writing, as he outlines them in his essay “Why I Write,” is to seek literary fame and he found that through incorporating political commentary into his writing; in doing so, Orwell successfully turns his political thoughts into a form of art. Using 1984 and D. J. Taylor’s article “Left, Right, Left, Right,” I will also discuss briefly how Orwell’s novels can apply to contemporary political situations.
Research guided by conflict theory generally falls into the following categories: 1) studies of how athletes become alienated from their own bodies; 2) studies of how sports can be used to coerce and control people; 3) studies of sports and the development of commercialism in society; 4) studies of sports and various forms of nationalism and militarism; and 5) studies of sports and racism and sexism. (Coakley, 1998) In the book, Meggyesy provided examples of each of these categories which occurred during his footba...
Although Hitler’s ‘wrath’ had not come to its full extent, people were still seeing the implications of his racist ideals. It was easy to see across the board within his society. Many people began seeing their friends and families being
personal disgust towards them, it is widely believed that almost all of Hitler's and the Nazi policy had anti Semitic motives behind them. and the nation could only really be swept along in a wave of mass.
People were afraid of being associated with Jews because Hitler used force as well as the legal system to prosecute anyone who opposed to him. Hitler pitted himself against all those against the Aryan way of life so Germany could become a pure master state. The
When the Nazi Party first began its rise in Germany, there were many supporters who believed that Hitler’s intentions for the country were both smart and moral. Many groups of people were in support of Hitler because he was able to help Germany in many ways. In terms of finding jobs for people, bettering the economy, and strengthening the military, he was very successful. At this point in time, most of the country was in support of Hitler, but once his ideas of hatred towards certain members of the German population was revealed, many people immediately turned against Hitler and the Nazi party. These groups of people include political parties like the communist and socialist parties, religious groups like the Catholic Church, and a majority of the population in countries surrounding Germany. Although there were individuals “brainwashed,” into believing the Nazi ideas, there were also many courageous groups of people across the country that stood up for those being discriminated against for religion, sexual orientation, race, and disabilities.
The movie Invictus brings up several key points about the media in everyday life. One of the most prominent points brought up in the film is that sports have the power to bring people together and unite them with a common goal. Sports are an enormous part of the media and cultures all over the world. Whether it be the Super-bowl, World Cup, or Olympics, millions of people continue to unite and cheer for the teams they support. The reason in which sports often unites people is that it gives people something in common with one another. No matter what race, age, or gender, people of all types enjoy watching and supporting sports teams which is why it is such a powerful means to unite people.