> I also agree that the great majority of people are bored by politics -
since
> it doesn't effect their life directly - there are no consequences for
them:
I'm quite shocked by the pessimism and non-institutional character of the thoughts people here have on this topic, which I think is a red herring. Chomsky is not anti-sports; he's anti-sports-fanaticism. That's 100 percent clear from everything he's said and done.
His point is that the mass media collaborates with our masters to make politics seem uninteresting and irrelevant. Of course, that is the opposite of the truth.
Chomsky's point is optimistic: He's pointing out to "Joe Sixpack" that the powers that be are propagandizing us out of being informed and active in our own meaningful affairs, of which sports is, after all is said and done, not one, as everybody but the truly gone knows.
People are uninterested in politics in the US for two simple reasons: 1) Commercial TV; 2) they know that it doesn't much matter whether Rs or Ds win -- and it doesn't. The last time somebody proposed a meaningful new program relevant to most people's lives (other than screwing them) was probably 35 years ago.
Let's cut out the gloom and confusion on this basic issue.