Ethics

Politics and Sports

By Ed Brayton

I've often made the analogy between the way people think about politics and about sports. Far too many people root for a political party just like they root for a sports team, thinking without any objectivity whatsoever. That mentality makes them set obviously ridiculous double standards in both cases. In politics, it manifests itself as setting entirely different standards for those one supports than they set for those they oppose. If an accusation of wrongdoing is made of someone they support, nothing short of undeniable proof will suffice; if an accusation of wrongdoing is made of someone from the other party (or even someone from their own party that they don't support, especially during a primary), the mere accusation is more than enough to justify howls of outrage. In sports, the same thing happens. The same behavior by a player or coach one supports is treated entirely differently than when a player or coach from a rival does the same thing. None of us is entirely immune to such subjectivity, but for some it's so obvious and so constant that one can only wonder how they can't see it.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on March 13, 2008 (boomark / email).