Just a game?

So I read Herman and Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent for my tutorial, and while researching for my essay, also visited Chomsky's website where I read several interviews he gave about the book.

This was a very interesting excerpt:
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QUESTION: When we talk about manufacturing of consent, whose consent is being manufactured?

CHOMSKY: To start with, there are two different groups...One is what's sometimes called the political class. There's maybe twenty percent of the population which is relatively educated, more or less articulate, plays some kind of role in decision-making. They're supposed to sort of participate in social life -- either as managers, or cultural managers like teachers and writers and so on. They're supposed to vote, they're supposed to play some role in the way economic and political and cultural life goes on. Now their consent is crucial. So that's one group that has to be deeply indoctrinated. Then there's maybe eighty percent of the population whose main function is to follow orders and not think, and not to pay attention to anything -- and they're the ones who usually pay the costs.

He then continues:

Now there are other media too whose basic social role is quite different: it's diversion. There's the real mass media-the kinds that are aimed at, you know, Joe Six Pack -- that kind. The purpose of those media is just to dull people's brains.

This is an oversimplification, but for the eighty percent or whatever they are, the main thing is to divert them. To get them to watch National Football League.... Take, say, sports -- that's another crucial example of the indoctrination system, in my view. For one thing because it -- you know, it offers people something to pay attention to that's of no importance. [audience laughs] That keeps them from worrying about -- [applause] keeps them from worrying about things that matter to their lives that they might have some idea of doing something about. And in fact it's striking to see the intelligence that's used by ordinary people in [discussions of] sports [as opposed to political and social issues]... You know, I remember in high school, already I was pretty old. I suddenly asked myself at one point, why do I care if my high school team wins the football game? [laughter] I mean, I don't know anybody on the team, you know? [audience roars] I mean, they have nothing to do with me, I mean, why I am cheering for my team? It doesn't mean any -- it doesn't make sense. But the point is, it does make sense: it's a way of building up irrational attitudes of submission to authority, and group cohesion behind leadership elements -- in fact, it's training in irrational jingoism. That's also a feature of competitive sports.
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I thought my coming across Chomsky's insight was really timely given the FIFA World Cup that's just started (and that fact that I just gushed all about Man Utd in a previous post), and the jingoistic fervour and excitement that accompanies it. Ever since reading the above, every time I get my entertain/sports news fix, I think to myself: I'm part of the brainwashed, depoliticized, dumb-ass 80% of the populace. Gulp.

Kenny made a really funny point when I shared this finding to him. This system of distraction was essentially the same one the Romans employed for their citizens - think the Gladatorial activities, which were also meant to divert the citizens' attention away from the problems the Empire might be facing.

The big difference between us and the Romans, however, is that while the Romans got to enjoy their Gladatorial sports for free (entry into the colisseums was free. Bread was given out for free at the shows too), we modern-day dumb-asses actually shell out a lot of hard-earned money to get entertained. The powers that be don't even need to entice us with freebies.

Oh, how we've regressed. LOL.

The art of the question

Why should people obey the law?
Why do people obey the law?
Why do people think they should obey the law?

Gotta love political theory!

我已是陌生人了

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. -- sums up aptly my Oxford experience thus far, I think. There've been moments of sheer exhilaration, and days of utter isolation and despondency. Sometimes, I wish I were less of a sentimental and nostalgic person, and could stop reliving or thinking about past moments. Because that's just it - it's history, so there's nothing I can do to change anything, and thinking about it certainly won't. I should try to forget the past and live for the future. But who or what are we, if not the sum of our histories?

Experience is a dialectic, so even if I can't control how I feel, I can control how I view how I feel. Hopefully, my experiences at Oxford will make me a better person, in every sense of the word. That's all I could ask for.

Life is short. Carpe diem, and be thankful for what I have. It's hard, but I'll try to remind myself often.