Is Watching Sports an Activity that Engenders Community or Something that Inspires Unnecessary Hatred and Competition among Strangers?
Universally, watching sports is a factor that brings people from all backgrounds together as they get to share their support for a particular kind of sport or team. Sports are linked to community engendering on various levels. When they are effectively harnessed, sports can improve the bonds in a community and encourage the development of a healthy culture. A community can be defined as a group of people with shared interests (such as sports) living within the same area (Braden 19). Over the years, sports have been associated with violence and hatred that arise over individuals cheering for different teams and being passionate about the games in general. However, it is important to observe the positive aspect of sports, particularly relating to the socio-cultural development rather than the hatred that sprouts out of it. Community engendering can be defined as the uniting of a group of people, which consequently leads to the formation of a society because of various uniting factors such as sports, ethnicity and many others.
To start with, sports encourage the development of a community. Development of a community is defined as the positive progress towards the sustainability of a community. Sports create a platform where people of all levels and backgrounds in the society can interact freely, and provide a way of safety for the population at risk. The sports they watch have emphasis on rules, values and exclusive sportsmanship (Gau 79). As such, sport fans feel obligated to follow the same rules and regulations from their particular venues and, thus, generate a culture of respect and equality within a community. For example, watching a football match at a sports bar unites people together and even reminds them of the code of conduct followed by the players as is expected in life. People also get to learn that there are consequences from playing foul. This helps in engendering a community of individuals willing to follow rules, as well as encourages equality, which can be related to fair play in the field. Values, such as sportsmanship, shown by players in the playing field demonstrate the importance of following rules and the consequences of breaking them.
However, it may be argued that instead of bringing in positive values to a society, watching sports encourages the splitting of people depending on their teams, thus, leading to hatred among society members. However, hatred arises only in case members of the society do not see eye to eye in other concerned fields, and eventually end up settling their scores after defining what team is the best. For example, over the years, various sports fans have been noted to cause chaos and even lead to the death of individuals. Rivalry among people watching a game should not be made physical by giving the fans basic aspects that they can bond about. For example, while watching a game from a bar, viewers might observe a television commercial that encourages them to watch favorite sport peacefully while enjoying drink together.
Another point of argument is that watching sports prevents the youth from being idle and getting into destructive activities. Youngsters find something to relate to as they watch sports and learn moral values that may help them in deciding how to change their lives in a positive way. In addition to that, it gives them a positive way of passing the time that would otherwise be spent on carrying out harmful activities, such as taking drugs and being involved in crimes within the society. The sporting event also allows the elderly to interact with the youth and give them an insight to positive aspects of living. The rising generation learns how they could benefit from their youth. Eventually, it develops a community of individuals who want to get the best out of life without harming other people and breaking the law.
It may also be argued that watching of sports does not influence the youth to commit crimes and harm their bodies by taking drugs. However, this is not the case because when individuals from socially and culturally diverse societies interact to watch a game, they could extend their passion for the game by creating their own institutions. It happens within the community where interested youth are recruited to train and eventually compete with other teams. This takes up their time preventing them from being involved in other activities, such as misdemeanors and drug abuse.
In a socially and culturally diverse society, watching sports plays an important role in bringing people of different cultures together and helping them to overlook their differences as they share the love for the game. People of different cultures meet at various places, such as bars, where they discuss competitions and even have positive arguments about an impact of the result of the game on the future of each team. According to one individual, analyzing a game after it is over helps people within a given setting to bond and share ideas on how their teams performed or what mistakes were done during the game that should have never taken place (Sugden 93). Eventually, such discussions make people end up creating social relations, developing a community of dedicated individuals who can apply their critical thinking and skills effectively when it comes to societal matters.
Despite the positive influence on social diversity, some individuals might refuse to see eye to eye with others because of the physical differences of the teams they support in a game. For this reason, watching sports actually leads to fights, and people end up injured, especially when taken to the extremes. As a result, the community disintegrates due to hatred and competition among ravers. However, if all games are monitored, it is rare for fights to occur. It can be then asserted that it provides security for fans of the game and guarantees peace is encouraged all through the game. Monitoring of the game involves keeping an eye on extreme fans that might start brawls, and even at times asking them to leave the vicinity in case they seem to be about to bring up fights with other viewers.
Another important point to note is that competition arising from watching sports could actually be constructive to the losing team. Viewers might help in analyzing the game and sending their feedback to the responsible authorities. This goes a long way as to ensure that the team benefits positively from their results rather than complains and fights with other people. The unification of fans in order to come up with effective ways to help their team makes them feel that they have an impact on the society and are not outcasts. This applies particularly to the minority groups. This gives them a sense of responsibility towards their community and an urge to maintain peace and avoid harmful competition with other members of the society.
In summary, sports have been viewed as a platform for individuals to express their hatred towards each other and start unconstructive competitions among themselves. Nonetheless, based on this essay, it is evident that watching sports also has a positive side that is always overlooked. Societies should focus on the positive aspects of sports to strengthen the community and ensure positive development, especially in terms of cultural and social diversity.
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