Just A Game

"Youth," George Bernard Shaw famously said, "is wasted on the young." And that phenomenon was again on display this weekend in East Lansing where police reported 27 arrests. The MSU men's basketball team surprise loss to Butler in the NCAA tournament's Final Four series was the official cause of it say authorities and pundits. But is it really? No, I think Mr. Shaw had it right. All that passion and youthful energy is yet again pissed away in nihilistic vandalism and anti-social behavior over a basketball game. A fuckin' game.

Would that these "sports fans" channel some this energy, passion and youthful bravado toward building a just and humane society, eh? Like philosopher Herbert Marcuse noted some time ago, modern industrial societies very effectively channel the rage, frustration and passion people feel into safety valves like sports riots rather than allowing it to build into something more politically transformative.

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Why a working-class led overthrow of this society won't happen any time soon -

"Rejection of the Welfare State on behalf of abstract ideas of freedom is hardly convincing. The loss of the economic and political liberties which were the real achievement of the preceding two centuries may seem slight damage in a state capable of making the administered life secure and comfortable. If the individuals are satisfied to the point of happiness with the goods and services handed down to them by the administration, why should they insist on different institutions for a different production of different goods and services? And if the individuals are pre-conditioned so that the satisfying goods also include thoughts, feelings, aspirations, why should they wish to think, feel, and imagine for themselves? True, the material and mental commodities offered may be bad, wasteful, rubbish – but Geist and knowledge are no telling arguments against satisfaction of needs."

Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man ,(1964)

PA Troopers raid bars looking for "unregistered" beer. - Philly.com
"Maida said that the State Police also confiscated bottles of Duvel, a popular ale imported from Belgium that is widely advertised and available in at least 200 bars throughout the city and suburbs. The beer appears on the PLCB list as 'Duvel Beer,' while its label reads 'Duvel Belgian Golden Ale' ". And that therefore makes Duvel un-registered in Pennsylvania. No shit.

Instapundit says that Washington losing the "consent of the people" to govern. - Washington Examiner (Glenn Reynolds)

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An excellent lecture on Marcuse's One Dimensional Man.