Everything about modern life is designed to make and keep us dumb, weak, tired, fat, and content. Our rebellion begins the minute we choose knowledge, strength, exertion, fitness, and excellence. This means different things depending on one’s circumstances. I like the phrase, “if you’re moving, you’re improving” as a kind of minimum. Make it a priority to get out as much as possible; consider it as essential as anything else you do, and the rest will followZ
One of the huge factors in this, I believe, is the focus on High School athletics. It used to be that an entire community could play a pick up game, with the younger men being brought more and more into the 'adult' game, but nowadays the High Schoolers are roped off from the rest of us.
Exactly- the mindset is to commodify everything, and anyone who is athletically talented is funneled into the system such that he can be exploited for material gain by as many people as possible. If the athlete is fortunate (very fortunate) he makes it to the top and earns something in exchange for all the broken bones and sacrificed youth. Left to their own devices, kids and adults would be playing pick-up games every weekend; now people think it's strange if an adult plays sports without hope of financial gain.
Yes, the commodification is definitely there, but which also extremely unfortunate is the separation. It seems to me like modern people, outside of homeschoolers, are in capable of conceiving of any group that consists of radically different ages until you get to be about 20.
It changed quick, in 1960's with JFK they clearly wanted the kids to 'get in shape' to die in Vietnam, but post 1970's where a high-school football coach could earth a six figure income, then 'high school sports' became a franchise big business, and the colleges too; The rest is just history, where knee-grows can go to Texas-AG-Univ graduate with an PHD, and never spent an hour in a classroom. Winning.
Now SCOTUS wants the same knee-grows & wetbacks to get an MD and be your 'doctor', more winning.
The idea of games was connected to the wider Classical ideal of ἀρετή but also σχολή,
Virtue and Leisure. Professional sports are not about Virtue or Leisure. They are about fame and making bank. Even the Olympics aren’t virtue or leisure any more, they are a multi-million dollar game.
Then begins a relentless winnowing process involving ever-escalating amounts of time and money being spent with travel teams, private coaches, and recruiting events, all in the hope of the ascending the final rungs on the ladder, acceptance to play on an elite college team and a professional career.
That’s true, my son in 11 and loves to play sports, but my wife, seeing dollar signs in his future, doesn’t push him to read or write, and she lets him play games, going to the extreme of giving him no leisure time at all. They are at a tournament every weekend, which to be honest pisses me off.
She’s firmly convinced that he’ll make it into college sports and maybe professional and my warnings that only a handful of elite players make it that high, don’t phase her at all.
Only about a quarter of adults play any kind of sports, and when those which are played as an adjunct to drinking and gambling (i.e. golf) are factored out, almost no one does.
That’s true, I myself used to walk around the neighborhood and even participated in Martial Arts. I haven’t done that in years, since I work about 70 hours a week and often too tired to get outside.
When I had spare time, I played computer games, and I’ve even given them up due to a lack of time to play.
I am reminded of a quote from Star Trek. “ Yes, play, Mister Sulu. The more complex the mind, the greater the need for the simplicity of play.” I notice it on a daily basis. If I don’t get some leisure time in, I feel like crap. If I don’t get to walk outside at least three times a week, I feel like dross.
I miss playing games and interacting with other people.
The excellent point made about sports here can be generalized to all hobbies, going from passion to business, pursuing joy and competition to pursuing return. Not that there's anything wrong with return, but there has to be a space where we can simply practice, rather than everything being a constant contest of measuring and turning everything into something for everyone - versus actually having something for oneself.
This universalizing of the individual needs to be held back. Otherwise we risk striving for things we do not need nor want, for reasons we do not know, in battles we do not wish to fight.
Your piece makes a good point. Our society, under the dictate of neoliberalism, considers real only those things which can be quantified, systematized, and commodified. This is as true of games as it is of political movements. I often ask my students, regarding some bit of current-year activism, "where's the grift?" I'm not cynical about ideas, obviously, but in general, no one puts work into some cause unless it promises to become a revenue stream, and that is not possible unless it is shoehorned into some comprehensible category that can be used to measure effect.
If you have students, it's possible I'm closer to them in age than to you. :)
My thinking started from the opposite side - the ubiquity of unproductive hobbies like collecting anime goods, Magic the Gathering cards, or video games implies the existence of an existing drive to compete, and that these things are used as sponges for it for people who feel they have nothing to fight for in real life. The other link for the original comment (the one in the note you liked) is the one explaining that - The "Good" "Fight". I didn't put much emphasis on revenue there, because my concern was more motivation.
If I had to weigh in on revenue I'd say that not everyone is in it for the money, but the culture is certainly pushing us all in that direction!
The hobbies are generally unproductive for the players, not the creators, who hope to profit thereby and therefore make creative decisions in the same way as any other business choice. And of course even the players now have 'leagues' in which they compete for monetary rewards and sponsorships, just like their fitter peers in the NFL. Compare these to 'nerd' hobbies of a couple of generations ago. D&D, Star Wars, HAM radio; these encouraged homebrew production, customization, and camaraderie. There was no way to be a professional DM, but now there is. To the managerial class only what can be counted is real, because it can be standardized, and what can be standardized can be sold, and will be sold; this is the iron law of neoliberalism.
The real struggle is to understand these processes as anathema to human flourishing and to defeat them. Be a producer more than you are a consumer, choose quality and uniqueness over quantity and consistency, and know that ideas are more real than material things. That's my idea of a Good Fight.
I'm huge into TTRPG's so I agree, build-your-own is the best process. The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, for example, owes its success not to the game itself, but to the modding scene that popped up around it.
Yeah, I've always been very picky with my games - I can't imagine being like those that play all the new releases. I could be spending that time doing things like work, chores, hanging out with friends, writing, editing, commenting!
Raising my kids in the 2000s, I noticed that children nowadays only play sports when it’s an organized activity. Sandlot games are unknown. In fact I tried to ‘organize’ a sandlot session every Sunday afternoon…telling reluctant parents that they could let their kids come down to the park and make up their own games under my supervision.
The parents didn’t understand what I was trying to do: let the kids decide on the game, the rules, the teams, everything. I was hoping for kids to learn how to govern themselves but I was unable to convince enough parents of the value of the idea. Only 3-4 kids showed up each time and it fizzled.
I have a lot of resentment at my parents not letting me play certain sports. My mom realizes the colossal mistake that was. Competition. Camaraderie. Fairness. It’s all there. I sought sports where I could though. As I’m older, I do athletic activities, but it’s mostly on my own. It’s not the same. Even running/hiking groups provide benefit though.
The jersey-wearing, wing-eating guy is a good picture. Being a good spectator should drive you to participating in a sport on your own level. Otherwise, you’re just a voyeur.
You touch on this in a later post re: JFK & physical fitness, and the earlier, cleaner sidewalk days of California, but it turns out there's now some concrete biological evidence that exercise is absoutely critical to (most) humans being able to carry out effective decision-making. Ditto the importance of a pill-free menstrual cycle for the decision-making of most women. See https://larryturner.substack.com/p/cognitive-downsides-of-modern-oral for explanation. Natural selection doesn't fool around.
We used to say in "BOXING", the only thing good about being in 'good shape' is that after you got crushed, and had the shit beaten out of you, that if you were in good shape, you just might convalesce quicker on the gurney in the hospital.
Elegant article. I view it phenomena less as commodification of childhood time but more akin to jailhood evolving from 50’s and 60’s views of delinquency. Like jailers adults are the Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos of childhood. Perpetually grounded.
I was fortunate in some ways to have a rank alcoholic father and bipolar mother. I did absolutely whatever I wanted in music, literature, science, by myself or with friends.
As an adult I took up bodybuilding. I have many friends I see almost every day, we help each other - it’s both social, keeping my body in shape, and I like seeing half-dressed men. I’m sorry for those who don’t. Exercise, that is.
Everything about modern life is designed to make and keep us dumb, weak, tired, fat, and content. Our rebellion begins the minute we choose knowledge, strength, exertion, fitness, and excellence. This means different things depending on one’s circumstances. I like the phrase, “if you’re moving, you’re improving” as a kind of minimum. Make it a priority to get out as much as possible; consider it as essential as anything else you do, and the rest will followZ
Excellent advice. And it really is as simple as that. Start. Get moving. Avoid sitting.
One of the huge factors in this, I believe, is the focus on High School athletics. It used to be that an entire community could play a pick up game, with the younger men being brought more and more into the 'adult' game, but nowadays the High Schoolers are roped off from the rest of us.
Exactly- the mindset is to commodify everything, and anyone who is athletically talented is funneled into the system such that he can be exploited for material gain by as many people as possible. If the athlete is fortunate (very fortunate) he makes it to the top and earns something in exchange for all the broken bones and sacrificed youth. Left to their own devices, kids and adults would be playing pick-up games every weekend; now people think it's strange if an adult plays sports without hope of financial gain.
Yes, the commodification is definitely there, but which also extremely unfortunate is the separation. It seems to me like modern people, outside of homeschoolers, are in capable of conceiving of any group that consists of radically different ages until you get to be about 20.
It changed quick, in 1960's with JFK they clearly wanted the kids to 'get in shape' to die in Vietnam, but post 1970's where a high-school football coach could earth a six figure income, then 'high school sports' became a franchise big business, and the colleges too; The rest is just history, where knee-grows can go to Texas-AG-Univ graduate with an PHD, and never spent an hour in a classroom. Winning.
Now SCOTUS wants the same knee-grows & wetbacks to get an MD and be your 'doctor', more winning.
The idea of games was connected to the wider Classical ideal of ἀρετή but also σχολή,
Virtue and Leisure. Professional sports are not about Virtue or Leisure. They are about fame and making bank. Even the Olympics aren’t virtue or leisure any more, they are a multi-million dollar game.
Then begins a relentless winnowing process involving ever-escalating amounts of time and money being spent with travel teams, private coaches, and recruiting events, all in the hope of the ascending the final rungs on the ladder, acceptance to play on an elite college team and a professional career.
That’s true, my son in 11 and loves to play sports, but my wife, seeing dollar signs in his future, doesn’t push him to read or write, and she lets him play games, going to the extreme of giving him no leisure time at all. They are at a tournament every weekend, which to be honest pisses me off.
She’s firmly convinced that he’ll make it into college sports and maybe professional and my warnings that only a handful of elite players make it that high, don’t phase her at all.
Only about a quarter of adults play any kind of sports, and when those which are played as an adjunct to drinking and gambling (i.e. golf) are factored out, almost no one does.
That’s true, I myself used to walk around the neighborhood and even participated in Martial Arts. I haven’t done that in years, since I work about 70 hours a week and often too tired to get outside.
When I had spare time, I played computer games, and I’ve even given them up due to a lack of time to play.
I am reminded of a quote from Star Trek. “ Yes, play, Mister Sulu. The more complex the mind, the greater the need for the simplicity of play.” I notice it on a daily basis. If I don’t get some leisure time in, I feel like crap. If I don’t get to walk outside at least three times a week, I feel like dross.
I miss playing games and interacting with other people.
The excellent point made about sports here can be generalized to all hobbies, going from passion to business, pursuing joy and competition to pursuing return. Not that there's anything wrong with return, but there has to be a space where we can simply practice, rather than everything being a constant contest of measuring and turning everything into something for everyone - versus actually having something for oneself.
This universalizing of the individual needs to be held back. Otherwise we risk striving for things we do not need nor want, for reasons we do not know, in battles we do not wish to fight.
https://open.substack.com/pub/argomend/p/pleasure-is-sought-but-happiness?r=28g8km&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Your piece makes a good point. Our society, under the dictate of neoliberalism, considers real only those things which can be quantified, systematized, and commodified. This is as true of games as it is of political movements. I often ask my students, regarding some bit of current-year activism, "where's the grift?" I'm not cynical about ideas, obviously, but in general, no one puts work into some cause unless it promises to become a revenue stream, and that is not possible unless it is shoehorned into some comprehensible category that can be used to measure effect.
If you have students, it's possible I'm closer to them in age than to you. :)
My thinking started from the opposite side - the ubiquity of unproductive hobbies like collecting anime goods, Magic the Gathering cards, or video games implies the existence of an existing drive to compete, and that these things are used as sponges for it for people who feel they have nothing to fight for in real life. The other link for the original comment (the one in the note you liked) is the one explaining that - The "Good" "Fight". I didn't put much emphasis on revenue there, because my concern was more motivation.
If I had to weigh in on revenue I'd say that not everyone is in it for the money, but the culture is certainly pushing us all in that direction!
The hobbies are generally unproductive for the players, not the creators, who hope to profit thereby and therefore make creative decisions in the same way as any other business choice. And of course even the players now have 'leagues' in which they compete for monetary rewards and sponsorships, just like their fitter peers in the NFL. Compare these to 'nerd' hobbies of a couple of generations ago. D&D, Star Wars, HAM radio; these encouraged homebrew production, customization, and camaraderie. There was no way to be a professional DM, but now there is. To the managerial class only what can be counted is real, because it can be standardized, and what can be standardized can be sold, and will be sold; this is the iron law of neoliberalism.
The real struggle is to understand these processes as anathema to human flourishing and to defeat them. Be a producer more than you are a consumer, choose quality and uniqueness over quantity and consistency, and know that ideas are more real than material things. That's my idea of a Good Fight.
I'm huge into TTRPG's so I agree, build-your-own is the best process. The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, for example, owes its success not to the game itself, but to the modding scene that popped up around it.
Yeah, I've always been very picky with my games - I can't imagine being like those that play all the new releases. I could be spending that time doing things like work, chores, hanging out with friends, writing, editing, commenting!
Raising my kids in the 2000s, I noticed that children nowadays only play sports when it’s an organized activity. Sandlot games are unknown. In fact I tried to ‘organize’ a sandlot session every Sunday afternoon…telling reluctant parents that they could let their kids come down to the park and make up their own games under my supervision.
The parents didn’t understand what I was trying to do: let the kids decide on the game, the rules, the teams, everything. I was hoping for kids to learn how to govern themselves but I was unable to convince enough parents of the value of the idea. Only 3-4 kids showed up each time and it fizzled.
This is really good.
I have a lot of resentment at my parents not letting me play certain sports. My mom realizes the colossal mistake that was. Competition. Camaraderie. Fairness. It’s all there. I sought sports where I could though. As I’m older, I do athletic activities, but it’s mostly on my own. It’s not the same. Even running/hiking groups provide benefit though.
The jersey-wearing, wing-eating guy is a good picture. Being a good spectator should drive you to participating in a sport on your own level. Otherwise, you’re just a voyeur.
You touch on this in a later post re: JFK & physical fitness, and the earlier, cleaner sidewalk days of California, but it turns out there's now some concrete biological evidence that exercise is absoutely critical to (most) humans being able to carry out effective decision-making. Ditto the importance of a pill-free menstrual cycle for the decision-making of most women. See https://larryturner.substack.com/p/cognitive-downsides-of-modern-oral for explanation. Natural selection doesn't fool around.
We used to say in "BOXING", the only thing good about being in 'good shape' is that after you got crushed, and had the shit beaten out of you, that if you were in good shape, you just might convalesce quicker on the gurney in the hospital.
Elegant article. I view it phenomena less as commodification of childhood time but more akin to jailhood evolving from 50’s and 60’s views of delinquency. Like jailers adults are the Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos of childhood. Perpetually grounded.
I was fortunate in some ways to have a rank alcoholic father and bipolar mother. I did absolutely whatever I wanted in music, literature, science, by myself or with friends.
As an adult I took up bodybuilding. I have many friends I see almost every day, we help each other - it’s both social, keeping my body in shape, and I like seeing half-dressed men. I’m sorry for those who don’t. Exercise, that is.