The Attention Disparity Between Sports and Politics
How sports steal time from the issues that matter most
“… I sometimes turn on the radio and I find very often that what I’m listening to is a discussion of sports…. People call in and have long and intricate discussions, and it’s plain that quite a high degree of thought and analysis is going into that. People know a tremendous amount. They know all sorts of complicated details and enter into far-reaching discussion about whether the coach made the right decision yesterday and so on. These are ordinary people, not professionals, who are applying their intelligence and analytic skills in these areas and accumulating quite a lot of knowledge and, for all I know, understanding. On the other hand, when I hear people talk about, say, international affairs or domestic problems, it’s at a level of superficiality that’s beyond belief.” — Noam Chomsky
When I was in high school, I got into an argument at the lunch table with a few of my sports-focused friends. We sat on opposing sides of the table debating whether politics or sports were more important. It was a 3 on 1 argument in which I found myself a meek and lone minority arguing valiantly in favor of politics.
As time has gone on and we’ve begun navigating our ways through a confusing adult world, I don’t think it’s a debate…
