Hobbesian College Rivalries?

Two weekends ago, (the weekend of the Michigan vs. Michigan State game), I visited a few friends at Michigan State University. Since it was the weekend of the big game, we were naturally sporting our Michigan gear. My older sister graduated from Michigan State and I have quite a few friends  who are currently attending. For this reason, subconsciously, I was under the impression that this was a “friendly” in-state rivalry. Reflecting retrospectively, this was probably naïve.

Video’s like this were found all over social media leading up to the big game.

Did you vote?

Your incentive to vote.

As many of you know, elections were yesterday. People were swarming campus pushing flyers into your hands and yelling at you to vote. Signs were hung everywhere, and tables were set up with information and representatives ready to talk. You probably saw the campaign posters all around town leading up to the vote. People were walking around talking about the candidates and discussing their positions. People even try to incentivize you to vote by giving you stickers after that say “I voted”. Unfortunately, this incentive wasn’t as successful as many hoped. 

‘Tis the Season

Rockefeller Center in December

It might be early for some of you, but the beginning of November is the kick off of the holiday season. The halfway point is Black Friday, which occurs this year on November 28^th. One reference on Urban Dictionary defines Black Friday, “should be renamed ‘black eye Friday’ due to the fact that thousands of americans forget the spirit of the holiday season by trampling ppl and giving black eyes while buyin stupid gifts that you didnt even mean to buy from stores who purposely hold sales the same day as everybody else.” While this reference may be irrational and contain a few spelling errors, it is still fairly accurate. Before you build your shopping plans this year, let’s taking a closer look on how Black Friday relates to Thomas Hobbes’ book, Leviathan, in his “State of Nature” theory. 

The True Importance of Sports

The South African rugby team that helped unite the country.

While reading Ariel Levy’s article, Either/Or, I thought about the importance of sports. As she mentioned in her article, sports play a significant role in society. Levy goes on to explain the history of South Africa and how sports helped them end the apartheid. This article made me look at sports in a new light. I never really considered sports to be something that was so powerful as to help prevent a civil war.

Government’s purpose is to curb the Selfish Man

I grew up in a small community where the teachings of general welfare and morality were preached by Rabbis every saturday morning. My Private Jewish Day school was rather conservative, and themes of morality consistently flooded the halls and the ears of my student body. Even high school was relatively sheltered to the cold wind of reality that beats my face every morning on the way back from Central Campus here at the University of Michigan. I am not speaking solely on the weather, although that too has been an extreme adjustment, but rather on the selfish tendencies of man in a state of Nature as described by Thomas Hobbes in Chapters XIII and XIV of the Leviathan.

Disabilities In Youth Sports

After reading the chapter, “Being a Woman and Other Disabilities”, from Professor LaVaque-Manty’s book, I found a plethora of relations to youth sports in the United States. Stemming from my own experiences with the sports I played growing up, and the knowledge I have of other sports, I find that opportunity and equality do not seem to coincide for youth athletics. The biggest, and rightly most important, factor for youth athletics is the necessity of safety. That’s great and all, but this commitment to safety actually hinders young players from reaching the aspirations they may have for themselves internally. The rules of youth sports don’t present children with equal opportunities to grow as athletes.

Caste-ation without Representation

Women are worth less than men. At least according to average salaries at this time. People with disabilities get less opportunities. This is true not only in the job force but extending as far as sports. Acts like the Americans with Disabilities Act are established on principles of social equality, yet injustice still prevails. Mika LaVaque-Manty’s book The Playing Fields of Eton expresses his belief that the ADA sets up an anti-caste system. I disagree. In a society based on merit, it’s impossible not to establish a social strata. Problems only arise when the realization of this merit is misinterpreted.

On the Topic of Privilege

Before I start this post, a few things must be clear. I do not hate straight white men, this post is not an attack on straight white men, and I myself am not straight. Though this may seem slightly personal, the topic of privilege and how straight

The rainbow flag, an international symbol of the LGBTQIA* community. Source – Wikipedia

white males are the alpha members of our society and experience little to no discrimination came up in my discussion today.  However, there are still those that doubt that this privilege exists. America is the land of the free, home of the brave, right? Additionally, some straight white men feel that yes, they do have some sort of privilege in society, but there’s nothing they can do about it and they can’t help those that may be discriminated against because they are not straight, white, and male. Both of these assumptions are wrong. 

Machiavelli’s Favorite Show?

Obviously, Niccolò Machiavelli wasn’t a big fan of television back in his day. However, in today’s world television has taken a large role in the entertainment of our entire world. So how does this relate to Machiavelli? Well, many television shows that we all are able to enjoy today portray ideas that Machiavelli famously wrote about in his book Il Principe. (A.K.A The Prince)

The beautiful Niccolò Machiavelli

So before I go off on my tangent, allow me to explain the main principle that Machiavelli outlines in his famous The Prince which was published not to long ago in 1532. The idea, for which Machiavelli received his own term, ‘Machiavellian‘, is that “The ends justify the means.” What this means is that achieving the goal, justifies all wrongdoings done in pursuit of that goal.

So my question to all of you is, what would television shows be like if they couldn’t include these Machiavellian ideas?

Following the rules can be fun too

What happens in the magic circle stays in the magic circle, or so it should. In Homo Ludens, or “Man the player” Huizinga describes the magic circle as a space that is marked off specifically for the use of play. He further defines play with the following characteristics:

1. Play is free and voluntary
2. Play is not “real” life
3. Play must take place away from “ordinary life” in terms of locality and duration
4. Play creates order
5. Play is connected with no material interests and no profit can come from it

Play as Huizinga sees it, however, is not the kind that we know today. This can be seen most notably in modern day sports. The common notion is that we participate in sports because we like it. Yet, there are many instances in which this is not true.