If you're looking for where I weigh in on matters athletic and/or military, keep looking, because I'm only quasi athletic (does scuba count?) and never served.
Like I followed from the sidelines when the debate was whether to allow women into combat. As a Quaker (contra outward physical violence -- other kinds too but let's start with that) I found it ironic that the right to keep this a Planet of the Apes was just as much women's work as men's. Demolition engineering that is, the big undo button.
Many males with chestal displays (medals, insignia) said the presence of women was too distracting and kept the men from focusing on homicide. My read (OK I'll have a view) is: that some men would probably do better as brave heros with lots of women around in a position to notice. Also: a combatant pilot at ten thousand feet is different from being in boots on the ground, or crammed into a tank.
So many peeps wanna pile on already. When I see a big pile of peeps, piling on, making a mountain or molehill, I'm not one to always run over and leap on. "That issue is already getting lots of attention, so I'm not needed" is more my reaction, to pop culture fad altercations over this and that.
Which is not to surrender my right to jump in if I feel like it.
Anyway, to the real point of this post: to what extent is politics run on the model of fans boosting teams at a sporting event? I'm gonna say football, with deliberate ambiguity as to whether I mean ala NFL or FIFA.
Is the ball a hexapent? Adidas telstar pattern (another name for it)? Buckminsterfullerene? Or is it oblong?
When you boost a team, you're feeding encouragement, shouting rah rah. You're not a referee on the field and you're not still deciding which team you are for. If you're an avid sports watcher, you don't pick your team on the fly. Or maybe I should say: if you're actively following a given sport, a whole tournament.
You know which side you're on, and what your role is. In the back room, there's a lot of betting. Casino Math.
That's what I get about so much that is politics, punditry, and editorializing: you know which side you're on, and as a loyal fan, your role is to stay loyal, especially when chips are down. Your job is to pump nutrients into your side, feed it energy. I think of my role during Occupy, bringing in food by Food Not Bombs bicycle trailer.
Those others, who don't seem to have a dog in the fight (idiom), or skin in the game (similar), seem colder and more aloof. Maybe they're just being polite when they shout rah rah, because they're a guest of some highly partisan host family. Go along to get along. When in Rome.
The aloof types are more like concessioners, hot dog and cotton candy vendors (would you like a large or diet coke with that?). They don't need to pick a side, but they do depend on a partisan fandom, a polarized audience that has to care and shout "fight fight fight". Without all those hormones flowing, they won't buy the flags and other souvenirs. If you're not here to boost a team, maybe try the symphony down the street? They say opera is entertaining.
