December
2006
American as Apple Pie!
"As American as apple pie"
Dave Somerscales
This is getting to be a regular thing! Once gain the media is overrun with stories about the latest incident of violence in pro sports. On Sunday, December 17th at a New York Knicks, Denver Nuggets game a (yawn) brawl on the court erupted – at least the second or third now in just over a year for the NBA.A hard foul led to pushing and shoving, followed by a punch in the face delivered courtesy of Carmelo Anthony to an unsuspecting and none to happy Mardy Collins of the Knicks. Various articles in the national media the next day bemoaned this incident as the latest example of unprofessionalism in sports:
"A culture of thuggery has infiltrated pro basketball" - said one.
“Long term damage to the sport!” scolded another columnist.
And my favorite, “deteriorating respect for the sanctity of the game” (please!)
These were just some of the comments reported in print and on Television. “We have an image problem. We have to set up the goal of eliminating fighting from the game.” said NBA Commissioner David Stern on Monday as he feebly attempted to do some damage control.
The reality is that these NBA players, along with other pro athletes, are not indicative of some new low level of decorum in sports. This is not a new generation full of disrespectful athletes who feel they are somehow “above the law.” All the fines and suspensions in the world are not going to change a thing. This is America, the NBA brawlers, by and large, are Americans. They are merely partaking in our national pastime of violence. Let’s face it: America is a violent nation. Recent statistics and simple, general observation clearly demonstrate that the United States is one of the most violent nations on earth. The “State” – defined as any apparatus of government be it local police or federal troops - has a long history of violence towards its own citizenry: slavery (need I say more?), Pinkerton detectives attacking union organizers in the 19th Century, State militiamen attacking and in some cases murdering striking workers, the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, police/state action against anti-war protesters in the 1960’s – you get the point.
We also have a long history of violence towards other nations. Iraq is merely the latest in a long line of American military “interventions”. Our dream of spreading “freedom” and democracy around the globe generally becomes someone else’s nightmare of bloodshed and death.
Perhaps we need to recognize and acknowledge that Americans love violence. We watch it on TV, we play it on video games, we brawl in bars, we get violent when someone cuts us off in another car i.e. road rage. We shoot each other day in and day out; just look in today’s paper and you’ll almost assuredly see another homicide reported in full gory detail. Gun violence in America shows no sign of receding; there are some 250 million estimated weapons in this country! And it’s not just “criminals” who doing the fighting and killing. There are innumerable examples of ordinary law abiding Americans letting their anger get the best of them with the end result being someone shot dead.
We are socialized and acclimated to violence. We learn it and see it from a young age. Going back generations many a well-meaning Dad, older brother or Uncle taught young boys that the way to solve a problem is to fight it out. Granted, not all parents teach their young boys this lesson, but it sure does seem to be the prevalent way today of solving problems. (With apologies to Carmelo Anthony’s parents.)
Some cultural nuggets of prevailing “wisdom: Bigger and stronger prevails over weaker. Dominate - better yet - humiliate your opponent! Nice guys finish last! “No mercy!” – A Nike slogan that was popular a few years back. "Be a man! Fight back!" Incidentally, despite the racial makeup of the NBA’s latest combatants this is not a racial issue. It’s an American problem. White athletes are fighting as much as black athletes; been to a hockey game lately?
The brawl at Madison Square Garden last week was not an aberration nor does it signal the demise of the NBA, nor the coming apocalypse. It was just another day in America. Malcolm X once said, "Violence is as American as apple pie." If we don’t like the on-court violence that seems to be happening more and more in American sports we need look no further than at the reflection in our own mirror for the reason why.
Dave
Dave Somerscales
RSS feed
Link
Dave:
Its certainly true that Americans have a fascination with violence, but no more so than the people of any other culture. Your comments seem to take a “sky is falling” tone that is based on some real overstatements and much more emotion than fact.
First of all, what a quick check of the statistics reveals is that violeent crime rates reached the lowest level ever recorded in 2005. Crimes against property have shown a similar decrease. Check the Bureau of Justice site as I did. What recent statistics were you using?
Next you comment on the “apparatus of government” and the violence they have done against their citizens. Interesting point here, but equally misleading. True, the crime of slavery has stained our nation forever, but it was the violence of the Civil War which began the march toward equality which must still be completed. You also mention “Pinkerton Detectives”, but, if my memory of history serves me, these were private agents not controlled by the state. But you are right about federal and state soldiers doing violence to strikers; that’s a crime. But isn’t is also true that these events are very few and far between; they certainly vanish next to the exploits of state agents working for China, Russia, Germany, Cambodia, Ruwanda, and many others.
As far as the violence that the US has done other nations in times of war, you should at least note that in the world’s most costly wars, America did use violence as a last resort to restore and defend the freedoms of others. That’s noble, not tragic.
Americans, as you point out do love violent games, movies, and sports. But on the other hand we constantly freak out about kids playing dodge-ball or tag. Go figure. You mention that almost every day we might read in gory detail about the latest shooting; this certainly isn’t true. Even more pathetic is that most violent crimes receive little attention in the media, and there is even less outrage when the violent criminals get to walk. And as far as the innumerable ordinary citizens who, I guess, become blood-thirsty shooters and killers–name one. Everyone who commits road-rage and violence would, by the way, be a criminal.
Finally, you imagine parents, brothers, and uncles of yore telling young boys to duke it out. I certainly can’t imagine how you arrive at this conclusion aside from the use of imagination, but if you have any actual facts please share them.
Dave, the issue of violence and the huge toll it takes on our society is certainly an emotional issue. But why not take a more reasoned approach to the subject? I know its fun to write from the gut with bile and all that, but something more is needed too.