Is war the ultimate sport???

[thestretch]

I had an interesting discussion with a roomate who happens to be a coach last night. He says that war is the ultimate sport. His arguement is based on fact that there is a competition between two opposing forces of which only one will be declared the victor.

I for one disagree. The olympics were once our fellow olympians answer to war. For 2000 years our fellow olympians laid down their arms to compete in these games because they knew that there was more honor in outrunning a man than in killing him. Competition. Not conquest. To say that war is a sport is to say that killing men, women, and children is sportsmanlike.

I'm just curious if anyone out there agrees with me...

 

[pomod]

I had an interesting discussion with a roomate who happens to be a coach last night. He says that war is the ultimate sport. His arguement is based on fact that there is a competition between two opposing forces of which only one will be declared the victor.

I for one disagree. The olympics were once our fellow olympians answer to war. For 2000 years our fellow olympians laid down their arms to compete in these games because they knew that there was more honor in outrunning a man than in killing him. Competition. Not conquest. To say that war is a sport is to say that killing men, women, and children is sportsmanlike.

I'm just curious if anyone out there agrees with me...

There's an inherent nobility to sport. There is nothing noble about war. Its very existence is testament to humanity’s failure to think of constructive solutions.

 

[davidmc]

George Carlin contended that american football was a version of war in that gaining territory, the "blitz", the "long bomb" ect... mirrored war's tactics.

 

[Hooben]

The actual planning of a war, or offensive, requires a gameplan. In that sense the battle is a play and the overall war is the game. Of course a game cannot be compared to a war in the sense that games are fun and wars are horrible. Unfortunately there are many wars in todays world that cannot be won. My political science professor said that democracy cannot be forced upon an unwelcoming dictatorship. I guess that George W. didn't take that class.

 

[Induray]

My political science professor said that democracy cannot be forced upon an unwelcoming dictatorship. I guess that George W. didn't take that class.

Ok. This is a new one for me. Now explain the logic behind this. If I was being repressed by a brutal dictator (Killed some of my families, tortured me for dissent etc.), I would be more happy to depose him with a democratic goverment or at least try to.

 

[davidmc]

Ok. This is a new one for me. Now explain the logic behind this. If I was being repressed by a brutal dictator (Killed some of my families, tortured me for dissent etc.), I would be more happy to depose him with a democratic goverment or at least try to.

That's what one would think but, since the "coalition"(us) has been there, there has been an increase in mayhem. At least w/ saddam, sure people were tortured/killed but houses & offices,ect... were'nt blown up & they had basic necessities(c below) They just took a poll & 98% of the people polled said that they view the u.s. as occupiers not liberators. By us being there, we have created a vacuum for any "would be" terrorists to make a name for themselves. And there's no real end to this phenomenon, being that that part of the world seems to blieve that they will be rewarded w/ what? 27 virgins, in heaven, according to thier scripture; if they get killed while carrying out thier jihad. There's thousands if not millions of willing participants flowing into iraq for that purpose. So, that, combined w/ the fact of an unpleasnt daily existence(shortage of water, elect., and friendly fire incidents) don't really serve as incentives to work towards democracy. Our scripture(mainstream christianity) propogates other unacceptable, archaic behavior that i, also, do not condone & they are & have been being courted by the repub's.

 

[Induray]

That's what one would think but, since the "coalition"(us) has been there, there has been an increase in mayhem. At least w/ saddam, sure people were tortured/killed but houses & offices,ect... were'nt blown up & they had basic necessities(c below) They just took a poll & 98% of the people polled said that they view the u.s. as occupiers not liberators. By us being there, we have created a vacuum for any "would be" terrorists to make a name for themselves. And there's no real end to this phenomenon, being that that part of the world seems to blieve that they will be rewarded w/ what? 27 virgins, in heaven, according to thier scripture; if they get killed while carrying out thier jihad. There's thousands if not millions of willing participants flowing into iraq for that purpose. So, that, combined w/ the fact of an unpleasnt daily existence(shortage of water, elect., and friendly fire incidents) don't really serve as incentives to work towards democracy. Our scripture(mainstream christianity) propogates other unacceptable, archaic behavior that i, also, do not condone & they are & have been being courted by the repub's.

So your take and the professor's is that repressed human beings preferred the "status quo" rather than fight for their own liberty or that democracy is not worth dying for or being inconvenienced? I think this is an exception rather than the rule. Iraq's situation is unique and sure people will long for "better" days. But my feeling is that if the survey (underground survey without Saddam's influence of course)would have been done during Saddams reign, it's outcome would have been a lot different.

 

[davidmc]

So your take and the professor's is that repressed human beings preferred the "status quo" rather than fight for their own liberty or that democracy is not worth dying for or being inconvenienced? I think this is an exception rather than the rule. Iraq's situation is unique and sure people will long for "better" days. But my feeling is that if the survey (underground survey without Saddam's influence of course)would have been done during Saddams reign, it's outcome would have been a lot different.

It does look good on paper, right now, but as we can see it's a veritable shitstorm w/ no end in sight. The sad part is we don't even know if democracy will take. Remeber these people are more divided upon by religeous rather than ethnic lines. Do you think the minority shiite/suuni(can't remember which one) will cede power to the kurd's? You'd be out of your mind if you believe that. They are enraged that the kurd's are sitting on top of that vast oilfield. Remember we're talking about the middle east, the area that brought us al-jazeera. Saudi-arabia has public executions. How well do you think democracy would take there eh?

 

[szbert]

Sounds like your friend has never been in a war, or he might think differently.

I had an interesting discussion with a roomate who happens to be a coach last night. He says that war is the ultimate sport. His arguement is based on fact that there is a competition between two opposing forces of which only one will be declared the victor.

I for one disagree. The olympics were once our fellow olympians answer to war. For 2000 years our fellow olympians laid down their arms to compete in these games because they knew that there was more honor in outrunning a man than in killing him. Competition. Not conquest. To say that war is a sport is to say that killing men, women, and children is sportsmanlike.

I'm just curious if anyone out there agrees with me...

 

[jhuskey]

I believe I have valid question.
Why does ever post that has the remote possibility of becoming political have to end up in Iraq?
Damn there are a lot more interesting wars to discuss with better tactics and more interesting characters and we know how they turned out so we may make sound judgements with more complete information.

In reference to sports and sportsmanhip,they do not always go hand in hand. Watch any sport and see examples.
I believe killing may be the ultimate sport at least it has the highest stakes on an individual basis and war merely a vehicle to achieve the goal.

Most do not like the thought of debrutalizing an event by giving it a less offensive common day point of reference, or do they? It seems to detract from the seriousness of events such as a war.
"Desert Storm" sound exciting doesn't it. " People being dismembered,blown to hell and killed" Not as cool sounding.
I am not making judgements just making an observation.

 

[iknowtest]

A sportsman trains for events.

A warrior trains for something he hopes will never happen.

The difference in consequences should be obvious.

 

[limerickman]

It's an interesting question : war and sport.

A friend of mine is doing a thesis on Sport and he has visited East Germany as part of his research and he tells me that the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) tied their sporting achievements to their political ideology.

E.German President Erich Honecker, wanted to prove that the Communist system could produce better sportspeople than the Western/Capitalist system.
He maintained that if E.Germany could outperform the Western countries, that this would prove the inherent superiority of the Communist system, over the
West.
Thus, a country of 17 million people - who only won a handful of medals in the Mexico Games of 1968 were transformed in to the "uber sporting country" at Montreal 1976 where they won 46 (46 !) gold medals and came away with
60-odd medals overall.
The East Germans dominated rowing, cycling, track and field, swimming : between 1974-1989.

Subsequently, it has been proven that although the East Germans invested in technology and training, they also made their sports people use performance
enhancing drugs.
We here in the West poured scorn on their achievements, but subsequent history has shown that a lot of Western nations were cheating as well, at the
same time.

My point is that national prestige is closely tied to sporting performances.
Ideally, we would like to think that sport has replaced war - but as in war,
people will do anything to achieve victory.

 

[Ruedy]

The adrenaline rush is at its peak when you are the hunted.

 

[hophead]

These guys must have adrenaline spewing out of their pores.
Iraqi turkey shoot

 

[szbert]

American Technology in Action. It's a beautiful thing.
Iraqi turkey shoot

These guys must have adrenaline spewing out of their pores.
Iraqi turkey shoot