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For what it's worth - baseball thoughts
Apr. 11th, 2005 05:47 pmI've been criticized for not reacting with good humor to the end of the baseball season last year. And it led to me wondering: why the hell does it bother me so much?
Then it hit me, all of a sudden.
I'm not a masochist; I'm not a sadist. I don't generally revel in hate.
But if I see sadistic behavior in someone - I mean the really ugly, kick-someone-in-the-face-while-they're-bleeding-in-agony-on-the-ground kind - that pushes a button.
It informs my politics; show me a politician who shows sadistic tendencies, who revels in the pain of others, who shows no compassion, and you may not know where to find me, but it won't be among that ... person's supporters.
It informs my friendships; if you try to warm up to me but at the same time you treat someone else like a subhuman and laugh about it, no, the AC isn't on, that's the cold shoulder I'm giving you.
And if a team's fan base takes every opportunity to rub salt in the wounds of another team - while at the same time claiming the absolute moral high ground, the equivalent of demanding that a person, upon being hit in the head by a brick, repeat "thank you, sir, may I have another?" until his skull cracks open like an eggshell...
That's sadism.
It's beyond gloating; it's beyond celebration. It's out-and-out sadism.
I've been on the receiving end of that sort of attitude enough times that I know it when I see it. And while I may be enlightened enough to recognize it, I'm not mature enough to get past it. It obscures my vision with a red-tinged haze, it awakens feelings within me that I desparately wish I could wipe out.
Or distilled to its essence:
Anyone who derives pleasure from inflicting harm upon others is nobody I want to know.
Anyone who claims they have the right to inflict harm, physical or psychological, upon others and take pleasure from it ... does not, in my estimation, qualify as a human being.
Close entry.
Then it hit me, all of a sudden.
I'm not a masochist; I'm not a sadist. I don't generally revel in hate.
But if I see sadistic behavior in someone - I mean the really ugly, kick-someone-in-the-face-while-they're-bleeding-in-agony-on-the-ground kind - that pushes a button.
It informs my politics; show me a politician who shows sadistic tendencies, who revels in the pain of others, who shows no compassion, and you may not know where to find me, but it won't be among that ... person's supporters.
It informs my friendships; if you try to warm up to me but at the same time you treat someone else like a subhuman and laugh about it, no, the AC isn't on, that's the cold shoulder I'm giving you.
And if a team's fan base takes every opportunity to rub salt in the wounds of another team - while at the same time claiming the absolute moral high ground, the equivalent of demanding that a person, upon being hit in the head by a brick, repeat "thank you, sir, may I have another?" until his skull cracks open like an eggshell...
That's sadism.
It's beyond gloating; it's beyond celebration. It's out-and-out sadism.
I've been on the receiving end of that sort of attitude enough times that I know it when I see it. And while I may be enlightened enough to recognize it, I'm not mature enough to get past it. It obscures my vision with a red-tinged haze, it awakens feelings within me that I desparately wish I could wipe out.
Or distilled to its essence:
Anyone who derives pleasure from inflicting harm upon others is nobody I want to know.
Anyone who claims they have the right to inflict harm, physical or psychological, upon others and take pleasure from it ... does not, in my estimation, qualify as a human being.
Close entry.
