This is a comment by Lars Fischer on the post “I Hate Miami: Does Sports Teach Hostility?“
“I think watching sports and rooting for a team is a good opportunity to talk to your kids about the dangers of fanaticism, in all walks of life. Supporting your team, obsessing a bit about it, finding others to share your support with, all fine. Learning to support your team also when things are not gong well or when people around you support another team is a good lesson in persistence and in trusting what you stand for and being true to that.
“But as with so many other things (faith, politics, whatever) there’s a point where it crosses into the unhealthy. Learning to stay clear of that line is part of growing up—there’s too many adults walking around who never learned.”
More Comments of the Day
Photo credit: Flickr / Brian J. McDermott
Blind allegiance to the tribe, any tribe, is destined for disaster of some level. It scares the hell out of me when I see it too.
You raise a question about the role of fanaticism in masculinity. A growing body opinion has it that tribe, loyalty, and obedience are intrinsic to manhood. If so, is fanaticism the manliest state of being?