They are just games by professional athletes - there's no "we" there, to paraphrase Getrude Stein. Resist the bread and circuses seduction.
Take, say, sports -- that's another crucial example of the indoctrination system, in my view. For one thing because it -- you know, it offers people something to pay attention to that's of no importance. [audience laughs] That keeps them from worrying about -- [applause] keeps them from worrying about things that matter to their lives that they might have some idea of doing something about. And in fact it's striking to see the intelligence that's used by ordinary people in [discussions of] sports [as opposed to political and social issues]. I mean, you listen to radio stations where people call in -- they have the most exotic information [more laughter] and understanding about all kind of arcane issues. And the press undoubtedly does a lot with this. You know, I remember in high school, already I was pretty old. I suddenly asked myself at one point, why do I care if my high school team wins the football game? [laughter] I mean, I don't know anybody on the team, you know? [audience roars] I mean, they have nothing to do with me, I mean, why I am cheering for my team? It doesn't mean any -- it doesn't make sense. But the point is, it does make sense: it's a way of building up irrational attitudes of submission to authority, and group cohesion behind leadership elements -- in fact, it's training in irrational jingoism. That's also a feature of competitive sports. I think if you look closely at these things, I think, typically, they do have functions, and that's why energy is devoted to supporting them and creating a basis for them and advertisers are willing to pay for them and so on. http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/1992----02.htm
You know, I remember in high school, already I was pretty old. I suddenly asked myself at one point, why do I care if my high school team wins the football game? [laughter] I mean, I don't know anybody on the team, you know? [audience roars] I mean, they have nothing to do with me, I mean, why I am cheering for my team? It doesn't mean any -- it doesn't make sense. But the point is, it does make sense: it's a way of building up irrational attitudes of submission to authority, and group cohesion behind leadership elements -- in fact, it's training in irrational jingoism. That's also a feature of competitive sports. I think if you look closely at these things, I think, typically, they do have functions, and that's why energy is devoted to supporting them and creating a basis for them and advertisers are willing to pay for them and so on.
http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/1992----02.htm
All the ruling elites...PSG. And, we kicked there ass.
It's almost QED. Not quite, but almost. Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
... a group of people who outwardly choose or claim to have a shared identity or purpose, but whose mutual association is actually meaningless.
The most common granfalloons are associations and societies based on a shared but ultimately fabricated premise. As examples, Vonnegut cites: "the Communist Party, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the General Electric Company, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows--and any nation, anytime, anywhere."
President Barack Obama will headline the first fundraiser of his presidency this month, appealing to donors large and small even as the economy struggles through the worst recession in generations. Obama's appearance at the Democratic National Committee's March 25 event at the Warner Theatre in Washington, with tickets ranging from $100 to $2,500 per person, will be an early test of his ability to keep up the record-breaking fundraising he achieved during the campaign.
Interregnum performance check at "only 50 days" in office.
Yet Obama isn't the first president facing a crisis at home or abroad who has had to balance his role as commander-in-chief with the demands his party places on him. "We had the same problem," said Dave Carney, who was political director for George H.W. Bush during the Persian Gulf War and the 1991 recession. "There's just something unseemly about raising money for partisan purposes when you're engaged in an act of war or an economic recovery." Still, there are ways that the Democrats can soften the partisan edges of Obama's fundraising activities, such as offering some tickets to smaller-dollar donors. "You don't want him to be just seen with fat cats," Carney said.
"We had the same problem," said Dave Carney, who was political director for George H.W. Bush during the Persian Gulf War and the 1991 recession. "There's just something unseemly about raising money for partisan purposes when you're engaged in an act of war or an economic recovery." Still, there are ways that the Democrats can soften the partisan edges of Obama's fundraising activities, such as offering some tickets to smaller-dollar donors. "You don't want him to be just seen with fat cats," Carney said.
Punchline through group cohesion
The message, said Steve Grossman, a former Democratic national chairman, is that "by supporting the DNC, you are supporting the president's goals and objectives and you're making possible the type of grassroots organizing that will help us win in 2010."
