On 4 juil. 10, at 01:38, Eric Beck wrote:
>> us-against-them competition where the only
>> difference between the competitors is that one side says they play for us.
>
> ...how does this work exactly? Outside of the World Cup and the
> Olympics, which only occur every four years, sports are played by
> regional or municipal teams, or by individual athletes not associated
> with any one place.
Maybe you're not that into sports ? There are as many world championships as there are sports and as far as nationalistic BS is concerned, Japan (in my case) is pretty good at making Us vs Them headlines in Baseball, Judo, Kendo and anything when Japan is considered a world "leader".
Anytime there is a world championship where Korea is involved we have "we certainly don't want to lose against Korea" remark by athletes, trainers, TV anchors etc. Only politicians try to keep their mouth closed.
And I am not even talking about China, or Korea for that matter.
> How do these sorts of regional rivalries get
> translated into nationalism? I don't see it.
Check a local European soccer game where players come from more colored countries (or are colored nationals). Even supporters of one team can be heavily racist against players of that one team.
> Yes, there is an ethic of
> competition that is fostered, but it's a minor one compared to the
> ruthless competition of daily life under capitalism. Also, competition
> is also not what defines nationalism, which is about exclusion, race,
> violence, etc.
Yep. Local soccer practice. Rugby is no better with a very strong super macho/anti-queer/anti-foreigner ethos...
Jean-Christophe Helary