[lbo-talk] exploitation of pro-athletes was Re: Hamid Dabashi on Iran

[ravi]

On Jun 19, 2009, at 11:02 AM, Bill Bartlett wrote:
>
> I would love to know what leads you to believe that a bloke playing  
> a game is the origin of all this wealth rather than all those other  
> people, even the marketing people who created the desire to go watch  
> the game, or the builders who built the sports ground, or the people  
> who made the ball and mowed the grass.
>
> As someone here has pointed out a few times, all production is  
> social. It makes as much sense to suggest that the star players are  
> solely responsible for creating the value of this industry, as it  
> would to nominate that the ball is.

Splendid point, Bill. I was following this silently, trying to resolve  
my own internal contradiction: I could get Carrol's technical point,  
but at the same time, it seemed a sort of dry and even compulsive  
formalism that is out of place in light of the brutal reality of life  
for those without millions or even thousands. But your post above  
shows how I was off on the wrong trail altogether. It seems that  
reductionism/individualism can creep into your soul whatever your  
prior education may be.

	--ravi