People Too...

I cut school during high school pep assemblies. Regularly. In addition to the crowds and the noise, the idea of building up a community by encouraging the ‘squashing’ of an opposing community never made me feel good about being in the room. Were the kids at Snider, not people too? Did their efforts to play a mean game of roundball deserve the disdain of 2,000+ students attending another school?

I get teams. I’ve been a member of teams. While I’ve never been a star, I’ve served as part of the back bone on more than one team. (Without stepping foot on the court, I have a middle school basketball letter to prove it.) I’ve always viewed sport, much the same way I approached the speech team - as a skills challenge. The team with the best set of skills on a given day in a given field of play wins. My performance on the field (or in the classroom) depended entirely on my day.

I don’t get the culture around teams. The need of fans to paint the guys [1] on the other side as evil, as bad, or as less than human turns my stomach. It makes me crawl away from competition. It disgusts me to be associated to such dehumanizing behavior.

I know, it doesn’t seem like alot. That tiger you have noosed and dragging behind your car is just stuffed and you’re not hurting anyone’s feelings. As spectators, do we even acknowledge that the guys on the other side of the field are humans? They might dress differently; they might think differently; heck, they might think differently; but, they’re still humans. While they chose a different school than you did, they bleed when you prick them. Your disrespect of a stuffed tiger becomes your commentary on their choice.

These aren’t big things, and to some they’re probably don’t even register. I wonder how we can even have civil discourse in a culture that seeks to indoctrinate students, young and old, in an US verses THEM mentality. When it comes to facing the big issues we feel powerless about, US verses THEM complicates an already nuanced debate.

While the bulk of the post doesn’t directly respond to Representative Joe Wilson’s actions in Congress last night [2], it is in large part about it. Mainly because, it’s possible that the competitive nature forced in pep rallies bleeds into adulthood in unacknowledged ways.

Representative Wilson, my questions to you are: so what if President Obama lied? [3] Are illegal immigrants not people too? Is humanity only imparted upon the recognition of the state? Does the lack of being born or naturalized as a United States citizen mean that other humans should be treated as less than humans and left to die outside of hospitals? Are we, the tax paying insurance buying citizens, not already paying for the medical bills of illegal immigrants? Is looking out for those less fortunate than ourselves not a tenant of the Christian faith?

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[1] Guys is used generically, in a non-gendered manner.
[2] It’s behavior that my flatmate would call tacky; I would call it rude. But then, I think the clapping and ovating is rude. Let the man speak.
[3] I recognize that presidental lying is a big deal. It is not however, the focus of this piece.

Comments

[E:)]

Hmmmm...pay not attention to my Yankee-hating. I think some US vs THEM is good, but clearly in this country, things have gotten a bit out of control. I still think it goes back more to greed, but this may be a symptom of the larger problem you are discussing.

Side note: You skipped out on prep sessions? Lucky stiff. Hated those stupid things.

[kmsqrd]

Greed = hoarding of money, things, power, etc.

Greed is then a form of US (those with money, things, power) verses THEM (those with substantially less money, things, power).

And yes, I skipped pep sessions. They never bothered to watch the door between B and C halls which the fire marshal wouldn't let them chain. Most of the time I just walked home. Or 'borrowed' Linc's key to the room behind the elevator.

[Melissa]

One other important thing to realize about healthcare to "non citizens" is that SOMETIMES it is actually investing in our own national health. If people get massive amounts of tuberculosis or other preventable contagious diseases they can easily spread them to us.

The other important thing to realize about non-citizens is that even illegally, they support our economy by 1) doing cheap dirty labor that we don't want and 2) using our infrastructure and paying taxes. They buy groceries, goods, services, ride transportation, and put money INTO our communities and generally never receive public services, social security, retirement, healthcare etc FROM IT. So it's a one way giving street from them to us. We seem to forget this and use them as a scapegoat for all our social problems that don't stem from them.

The end.
xx

[kmsqrd]

You're right! I just couldn't fit those into pithy questions. :)