[lbo-talk] lefty on futbol

[Dennis Perrin]

> Noam Chomsky's take is the same as Eagleton's, almost word for word:
>
> Well, in our society, we have things that you might use your intelligence 
> on, like politics, but people really can't get involved in them in a very 
> serious way--so what they do is they put their minds into other things, 
> such as sports. You're trained to be obedient; you don't have an 
> interesting job; there's no work around for you that's creative; in the 
> cultural environment you're a passive observer of usually pretty tawdry 
> stuff; political and social life are out of your range, they're in the 
> hands of the rich folk. So what's left? Well, one thing that's left is 
> sports--

Etc.

Noam is right. This is exactly sports' function in the US. And yet, I'm a 
big sports fan. Willing dupe? Slave to nostalgia?

Dennis