When seeking pleasure, or to getaway from life, humans beings in Western civilization strive for things that make them happy. Most classes of people turn to pop culture for simple pleasure. Men and women tend to gravitate towards different areas of pop culture. Men turn to the arena of sports, while women tend to look in the area of entertainment.
Although it certainly isn’t a competition, which is better? As a guy, I am affirmed in the previous statement as I love sports. And I believe that sports is a much better arena than entertainment is for people to ‘waste their time’ in.
Sports are able to give or distribute that unquantifiable, but, very necessary ingredient in any person’s well-being: hope. Entertainment let’s us see what the stars are doing and how they’re living their lives… big deal. So what?
“Sports serve society by providing vivid examples of excellence.”
--George F. Will
George is on to something… Think about it, if you want to find success-stories, where are you going to look? Amidst the ‘News’ stories of loss, remorse, pain, and shame there is the Entertainment section which will likely show the latest actor involved in a scandal for cheating on his wife. Or, if you keep turning, there is the sports section. Here, most of the stories come gift-wrapped with an ultimately ‘feel-good’ element to them; whether it be stories of ‘against-all-odds’, or of great accomplishment, sports is the section you want to turn to if you want to feel good.
I think sports save us and our world more often than we give it credit for. The beauty of sport, its grace, parody, the chance, allows people to escape into them as a refuge; an escape from reality. It is an arena where anything can happen at any given time.
What else can it do? Internationally, think how the Olympics unify the planet into one for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Can entertainment do that?? So what if Brad Pitt’s pants are tight, or Lady Gaga has a package? Sports ‘save’ people in many ways, as a much needed escape from the complications and problems of modern living for example. Or it also can be a glimpse into a person’s childhood.
Sports are the most potent, and yet easily and readily dispensable anti-depressant. You see someone playing in dirt-fields, living in the worst conditions possible, and then you see them succeed at the highest levels. When they excel, you could think, I had more than that, so that could be me. Probably, that could more easily be me with that success.
I mean, why not? The hope is unlimited.
What does entertainment do? Even things that appear ‘live’, including reality television shows, like Survivor, are scripted and rehearsed. Another example is some artists’ lip-synch their songs (Ashlee Simpson and her SNL blunder comes to mind). Really?? I mean, you can’t sing? That's like your job, no? It's not a terribly demanding task. On the other hand, in the sports arena, at any given moment, something out of the ordinary, miraculous, and moreover, completely unscripted and spontaneous may occur. Random occurrences take place all the time in the sporting arena.
What does Entertainment have for you? I bet nothing like this...
I think it’s fair to say that women indulging in entertainment is worse then men indulging into sports.
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