If anyone understands the basic concept of power and corrupt politics, he should understand that the main aim of the power hungry people is to keep people engaged. Don't give them time to think.
Either keep them engaged in problems, like water , poverty, etc, or problems like religion , like festivals,rituals, beliefs or nothing else than entertainment.
Entertainment like sports, specially in our country, CRICKET.
When they say cricket is a religion in India, it actually is true, not only because how people follow it, but because it fulfils the same purpose as religion, keeps people engaged and mind numb.
There are a lot of parallels of cricket and religion starting with the time they consume.not only during the game but also after ,in "intellectual discussions".
They arise the same emotions , of excitements, adrenalin, love and hate.
Like the epic stories of our country, we have epic games, all like a war field with heroes and villains .
Every year we are bombarded with cups, tournaments etc, for which people will take a day off, spend it with family, and the country stops running. How different is is than holi or Diwali.
Then we have the standards old divisions of 20-20, one day or test, people pitching against each other, like that of a Hindu, Muslim or Christian.
Then we come to the sub groups and fights about the players, and who is better, like that who is the original god, shiv or Vishnu.
You have people discussing the games, and the players and their score sheets with such confidence with all numbers crunched , and then feeling proud of the knowledge and feeling a cut above the rest, just like a pundit feels superior because he can quote the gita or the Ramayana.
There are friendships broken and enemies made , depending what side your are on, not realising with the fact that any of this knowledge is of no use to you.
This data, or prejudice or preference, or even the wisdom of how a player should have played and who should be on the team does not make your life better in any way.this investment of emotions does not lead to any self improvement or betterment of the society as a whole.
The other psychological problem with sports being a religion is that it very clearly brings out the basic weakness of the human mind and defeats their purpose.
Religion and stories of gods were made so that we can learn from the characteristics of those characters and be a better human being.as we can't do that , we pray to them and escape the guilt of putting any effort on our mind and life, adopt a healthy and pure living and instead we kill and fight in their name. Similarly, sports is encouraged so that we feel motivated and take a form of physical exercise for the betterment of our body,move out of the house, pay attention to our fitness and be amongst nature, instead we sit around with a pizza and beer in our hand in smokey rooms praying to the new demigods for a goal. And when it happens, what do we do?we take another shot.cheers!
People higher up are realising this, and they want the people to stay engaged so that the focus of our energies always stays extrinsic. We never get a chance or the time to sit and think what is happening to us or to our lives.
we spend our money to cheer the teams, then spend in the products the players endorse and then spend on medical care to take care of the diseases they caused.
Our hopes and achievements are not tied to what we have done or going to do with ourselves, but the focus is always outside. We never sit in groups and discuss our strengths and weakness,Re assess our goals, keep a check wether we are on the right path, see how many dreams are fulfilled and how many more are to be made. We don't have time to feel proud of our lives and base our self efficacy on the hard work WE have put in but instead we base our our ego and self worth on wether our country will win the World Cup and in how many days does the colour of holi disappear from our hands.
Either keep them engaged in problems, like water , poverty, etc, or problems like religion , like festivals,rituals, beliefs or nothing else than entertainment.
Entertainment like sports, specially in our country, CRICKET.
When they say cricket is a religion in India, it actually is true, not only because how people follow it, but because it fulfils the same purpose as religion, keeps people engaged and mind numb.
There are a lot of parallels of cricket and religion starting with the time they consume.not only during the game but also after ,in "intellectual discussions".
They arise the same emotions , of excitements, adrenalin, love and hate.
Like the epic stories of our country, we have epic games, all like a war field with heroes and villains .
Every year we are bombarded with cups, tournaments etc, for which people will take a day off, spend it with family, and the country stops running. How different is is than holi or Diwali.
Then we have the standards old divisions of 20-20, one day or test, people pitching against each other, like that of a Hindu, Muslim or Christian.
Then we come to the sub groups and fights about the players, and who is better, like that who is the original god, shiv or Vishnu.
You have people discussing the games, and the players and their score sheets with such confidence with all numbers crunched , and then feeling proud of the knowledge and feeling a cut above the rest, just like a pundit feels superior because he can quote the gita or the Ramayana.
There are friendships broken and enemies made , depending what side your are on, not realising with the fact that any of this knowledge is of no use to you.
This data, or prejudice or preference, or even the wisdom of how a player should have played and who should be on the team does not make your life better in any way.this investment of emotions does not lead to any self improvement or betterment of the society as a whole.
The other psychological problem with sports being a religion is that it very clearly brings out the basic weakness of the human mind and defeats their purpose.
Religion and stories of gods were made so that we can learn from the characteristics of those characters and be a better human being.as we can't do that , we pray to them and escape the guilt of putting any effort on our mind and life, adopt a healthy and pure living and instead we kill and fight in their name. Similarly, sports is encouraged so that we feel motivated and take a form of physical exercise for the betterment of our body,move out of the house, pay attention to our fitness and be amongst nature, instead we sit around with a pizza and beer in our hand in smokey rooms praying to the new demigods for a goal. And when it happens, what do we do?we take another shot.cheers!
People higher up are realising this, and they want the people to stay engaged so that the focus of our energies always stays extrinsic. We never get a chance or the time to sit and think what is happening to us or to our lives.
we spend our money to cheer the teams, then spend in the products the players endorse and then spend on medical care to take care of the diseases they caused.
Our hopes and achievements are not tied to what we have done or going to do with ourselves, but the focus is always outside. We never sit in groups and discuss our strengths and weakness,Re assess our goals, keep a check wether we are on the right path, see how many dreams are fulfilled and how many more are to be made. We don't have time to feel proud of our lives and base our self efficacy on the hard work WE have put in but instead we base our our ego and self worth on wether our country will win the World Cup and in how many days does the colour of holi disappear from our hands.
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