Values in Sport (Ethics and Sport) by Edited by Claudio Tamburrini and Torbjorn Tannsjo

Values in Sport (Ethics and Sport) by Edited by Claudio Tamburrini and Torbjorn Tannsjo

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Last annotated on May 13, 2016

Chapter 1 Is it fascistoid to admire sports heroes? Torbjörn TännsjöRead more at location 225

Note: 1@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ LO SPORT È FASCISTA XCHÈ AMMIRA LA FORZA E TOLLERA LA LOTTERIA DEI TALENTI... IMHO: 1 PROBLEMI CON LA DEF DI FASCISMO 2 PROVA A DISCARICO DEL FASCISMO 3 DISTINGUERE TRA DIRITTO ALLA MEDAGLIA E MEDAGLIA MERITATA. Edit

IntroductionRead more at location 226

Note: TITOLO Edit

I realise that once again I was swept away with enthusiasm and admiration for those heroic athletes, who had stretched the limits of what is physically possibleRead more at location 228

Note: FATTO Edit

is my enthusiasm for Johnson, Lewis and all the other athletic heroes respectable?Read more at location 231

Note: È UN ENTUSIASMO RISPETTABILE? Edit

Upon closer examination, my answer is no, my enthusiasm is not respectable. On the contrary, it is of a fascistoid1Read more at location 231

Note: NO. È FASCISMO. Edit

There was a time in many European countries when the Workers' Movement fought actively against the growing focus on sports.Read more at location 235

Note: SPORT E MOVIMENTO OPERAIO Edit

team sports have often been used by nationalist governments to create a chauvinist zeal in their own populations.Read more at location 236

Note: NAZIONALISMO Edit

But what about the public interest in the individual athletes in the Olympics? Should that be condemned because it reinforces an unhealthy nationalism?Read more at location 241

Note: L ATLETA SINGOLO? Edit

Johnson and Lewis have reinforced US nationalist sentiments.Read more at location 243

Add a note

For my main interest is in the achievements of people like Johnson and Lewis. So perhaps much (the main part) of my admiration for their achievements is, after all, respectable?Read more at location 244

Note: E CHI AMMIRA I MIGLIORI? QUI NN C È NAZIONALISMO Edit

When big business in the form of international enterprises enters the arena, in the manner of sponsoring, advertising, and selling and buying television rights, national governments have to go.Read more at location 247

Note: GOVERNI E COMMERCIALIZZAZIONE Edit

Local teams turn into corporations.Read more at location 250

Add a note

My thesis here is that our admiration for the achievements of the great sports heroes, such as the athletes who triumph at the Olympics, reflects a fascistoid ideology.Read more at location 252

Note: TESI Edit

Our enthusiasm springs from the very core of fascist ideology: admiration for strength and contempt for weakness.Read more at location 254

Note: AMMIRAZIONE X LA FORZA Edit

the exclusive target of my criticism is what goes on within the enormous worldwide public, watching sports, usually through television, taking advantage of sports as a cultural phenomenon.Read more at location 257

Note: ACCUSA AL PUBBLICO Edit

Traditional team sports on an elitist levelRead more at location 260

Note: TITOLO Edit

The main problem with nationalism is its orientation towards abstract symbols - the flag, the team (seen as an emblem);Read more at location 264

Note: SIMBOLI Edit

When such entities are celebrated, the individual tends to become replaceable.Read more at location 265

Note: DISPREZZO X IL SINGOLO Edit

The nation can get strong, it can be successful, even if every one of its citizens suffers.Read more at location 266

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Young women are treated as potential instruments that shall safeguard the strength and survival of the nation, and young men are viewed merely as potential soldiers.Read more at location 270

Note: SOLDATI... FATTRICI... Edit

Why not stress the survival of a race or species rather than the survival of the individuals that make it up? The answer, as far as I can see, is that abstract entities as such are of no value.Read more at location 273

Note: LE ASTRAZIONI NN HANNO VALORE Edit

What matters, ultimately, from a moral point of view, is what happens to individuals, capable (at least) of feeling pleasure and pain.Read more at location 274

Note: PRIMATO DELL INDIVIDUO Edit

Even if this is conceded, it could be argued that the kind of nationalism fostered by the public interest in team sports events is innocent.Read more at location 285

Note: NAZIONALISMO SPORTIVO Edit

It might even be argued that nationalism in relation to sports is a good replacement for political nationalism,Read more at location 286

Note: UN SOSTITUTO O UN CORROBORATORE? Edit

I do not believe that this argument is tenable. The nationalism fostered by our interest for our 'own' national team, and the nationalism we exhibit in the political arena, tend to reinforce each other.Read more at location 289

Note: I NAZ. SI RINFORZANO TRA LORO Edit

But why is nationalism within sports becoming less important? This has to do with commercialisation and internationalisation.Read more at location 294

Note: LA COMMERCIALIZZAZIONE DELLO SPORT Edit

Contempt for weaknessRead more at location 299

Note: TITOLO Edit

in his seminal book, Our Contempt for Weakness, Harald Ofstad has argued, convincingly in my opinion, that the nationalism of the Nazis was only a contingent fact. Yes, Hitler did put the German nation before all other nations, and he put the so-called Aryan race before all other races. However, the hard core of Nazism was something different - a contempt for weakness.Read more at location 300

Note: HITLER E IL DISPREZZO DEI DEBOLI Edit

To Hitler, the defeat showed not that there was something basically wrong with the Nazi ideology, but that there was something basically wrong with the German Nation.Read more at location 303

Note: NN BISOGNA SAPER PERDERE Edit

My thesis is this: when we give up nationalism, as a source of our interest in elite sports activities,Read more at location 305

Add a note

we move from something that is only contingently associated with Nazism (nationalism) to something that is really at the core of Nazism (a contempt for weakness).Read more at location 307

Note: TESI RIPROPOSTA...IMO: SE DEFINISCI IL FASCISMO COME ANTI INDIVIDUALISMO IL DISPREZZO X IL DEBOLE CESSA DI COSTITUIRNR L ESSENZA Edit

It is one thing to admire the person who wins, who shows off as the strongest, but another thing entirely to feel contempt for those who do not win (and turn out to be weak). In order to reach my conclusion, I need the premise that, in doing the one thing, we cannot help but do the other.Read more at location 308

Note: AMMIRARE CHI VINCE SIGNIFICA DISPREZZARE CHI PERDE Edit

Admiration of the winner and contempt for the loser are only two sides of the same Olympic medal.Read more at location 311

Add a note

My argument relates to those who view sports, not to those who perform.Read more at location 313

Add a note

For simple phenomenological reasons we would be inconsistent if we did not feel any kind of contempt for the losers, once we sincerely admire the winner.Read more at location 318

Note: IMPOSSIBILITÀ LOGICA Edit

we should think critically about why we admire those who excelRead more at location 319

Note: XCHÈ AMMIRIAMO? Edit

Their excellence is, in an obvious manner, based on the strength they exhibit in the competition.Read more at location 321

Note: FORZA ECCELLENZA Edit

And it is a kind of strength with a firm genetic basis. The winners are born winners, or, at least, they are born with a capacity for becoming winners.Read more at location 322

Note: NATI VINCENTI. GENETICA Edit

But our value terms are comparative.Read more at location 323

Note: COMPARAZIONE Edit

(he is a winner in the genetic lottery),Read more at location 324

Note: LOTTERIA DEI TALENTI Edit

then this must mean that other people, those who do not win the fair competition (i.e the losers in the genetic lottery), those who are comparatively weak, are lessRead more at location 325

Note: CHI PERDE LA LOTTERIA VALE MENO Edit

contempt, which is expressed in the popular saying, 'Being second is being the first of the losers.'Read more at location 327

Note: DISPREZZO Edit

take very differentRead more at location 328

Add a note

Contempt can take an aggressive form, as was the case with the Nazis. They wanted to exterminate weaknessRead more at location 328

Note: DISPREZZO E AGGRESSIVITÀ Edit

Contempt can take a negligent form. We try not to think at all about those for whom we feel contempt.Read more at location 330

Note: DISPREZZO E DIMENTICANZA Edit

Contempt can assume a paternalistic form. We want to 'take care' of those 'poorRead more at location 331

Note: DISPREZZO E PATERNALISMO Edit

We admire Carl Lewis for his excellence and we feel some contempt for those who fall behind. However, we know that we would never stand a chance of beating Carl Lewis. Does this mean that we realise we are among those who are weak? It means, probably, that we fear this. But many of us believe we have other skills that compensate for those Carl Lewis possesses.Read more at location 338

Note: AMMIRARE CARL SMITH NN POTENDOLO BATTERE Edit

But what if we do not? I believe that some of us may fear that we might fail on all relevant accounts. Those of us who do are the people who cheer loudest for people like Carl Lewis.Read more at location 341

Note: I DEBOLI SONO ANCORA PIÙ FAN Edit

Person S is 'better', in the relevant sense, than Person P if, and only if, S is more praiseworthy, admirable or deserving of the good things in life than P. This notion is given a fascistoid twist when betterness is conceived of in terms of strength.Read more at location 349

Note: IL MIGLIORE NELLA FORZA Edit

But must we feel contempt for those who are less successful (valuable)? Can we not just admire them less?Read more at location 351

Note: IMPOSSIBILITÀ DI FARE ALTRIMENTI Edit

when resources are scarce, treating one person well is tantamount to treating another person badly.Read more at location 353

Note: ROSORSE SCARSE Edit

Olympic medal (and the money and reputation that go with them) is a scarce resource.Read more at location 354

Add a note

we ought to resist the idea that excellence consists of strength. The idea of excellence as a matter of strength of some kind is an idea with deep roots in the history of philosophy, and played a crucial role in the ethical thinking of Aristotle.Read more at location 356

Note: RESISTERE AL IDEA DI ECCELLENZA NELLA STORIA. ARISTOTELE E L ECCELLENZA Edit

The utilitarian tradition,Read more at location 358

Add a note

even a utilitarian must concede that a person can be more or less virtuous, depending on whether he or she has a character conducive to general happiness in society.Read more at location 359

Note: L UTILITARISTA CHI ELOGIA? Edit

There is a point in praising him or her, since this may encourage others to develop the same kind of character.Read more at location 360

Note: L ESEMPIO X GLI ALTRI Edit

But there is no similar point in praising strength, since strength, in the relevant sense, is not a moral quality.Read more at location 364

Note: U. E FORZA Edit

The capacity for strength is genetically determined, so we cannot gain strength if we do not already have the genes for itRead more at location 365

Note: LA FORZA È GENETICA. NN È UN ESEMPIO Edit

obviously there is no point in praising a person for his or her good genes.Read more at location 365

Note: CHGE SENSO HA LODARE I GENI DI UNA XSONA? Edit

Objection: similarities in the arts and scienceRead more at location 368

Note: TITOLO. ARTE E SCIENZA Edit

They may want to argue that, even if there is something fishy about the reaction of the sports public to athletic achievements, it is unfair to single out sports for exclusive concern.Read more at location 370

Add a note

it is unfair to single out sports for exclusive concern. After all, even within science and the arts we meet with the same phenomenon. Some people exhibit an unusual scientific or creative skill (strength). They make important contributions to science or create valuable pieces of art. They are then met with admiration.Read more at location 371

Note: OBIEZIONE Edit

Note: L OBIEZIONE Edit

Do we not exhibit contempt for weakness, when, for example, we give Nobel prizes to some 'outstanding' people?Read more at location 374

Note: NOBEL Edit

I consider this argument sound, at least to some extent. And to the extent that it is sound, we ought to be ashamed of ourselves. But I think it sound only to some extent. For when we become enthusiastic about scientific and cultural achievements, we need not have scientists or artists as the focus of our attention.Read more at location 375

Add a note

But I think it sound only to some extent. For when we become enthusiastic about scientific and cultural achievements, we need not have scientists or artists as the focus of our attention. We can admire Wittgenstein's theories and Mozart's operas without feeling that Wittgenstein and Mozart are valuable persons. We can value the products of their ingenuity, but not necessarily their genius.Read more at location 376

Note: LA DIFFERENZA Edit

Note: RISPOSTA. VALE L OPERA NN LA PERSONA Edit

They are merely instrumental to things of importance in themselves.Read more at location 380

Note: L ARTISTA COME UNO STRUMENTO Edit

We can and we ought to admire the products of skilful scientists and artists, not the persons themselves, at least not because of their skill (perhaps some of them deserve our admiration because of their moral qualities, but Wittgenstein is not among those).Read more at location 386

Add a note

Objection: we admire results, not athletesRead more at location 390

Note: TITOLO Edit

I believe that there may be something to the objection that sport is not very different from art. In both cases there is excitement over the results of people'sRead more at location 391

Note: OBIEZIONE DEL RISULTATO Edit

both cases there is excitement over the results of people's strivings.Read more at location 392

Note: SECONDA OBIEZIONE: RISULTATI Edit

However, while the results are often, and should always be, the main focus of our attention within the arts, sports are different. Certainly, there is an aesthetic aspect even to sport. Some people are met with admiration not only because of their strength, but also because of the beauty with which they perform.Read more at location 392

Add a note

Certainly, there is an aesthetic aspect even to sport. Some people are met with admiration not only because of their strength, but also because of the beauty with which they perform.Read more at location 393

Note: IL LATO ESTETICO DELLO SPORT Edit

In the final analysis, whoever breaks the tape is the person who counts.Read more at location 397

Note: ALLA FINE CONTA CHI VINCE Edit

in the final analysis even their interest in the aesthetics of the play tend to be secondary to the outcome of the match.Read more at location 400

Add a note

During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, there was a period when soccer competitions were reviewed with no mention of the final outcomeRead more at location 401

Note: CINA E CALCIO Edit

To remove our admiration for the winner of the genetic lottery, who has proved his or her superiority in a big sports manifestation, and you take away most of our interest in the manifestation.Read more at location 407

Add a note

But could we not argue that what we admire is not really the excellence of the winner, but what the winner has achieved, given his or her natural endowments? And wouldn't this kind of reaction on our part be morally more acceptable? There is a grain of truth in this objection - a grain of truth explaining that there is a public interest in such things as female competition, competition between seniors, competition between handicapped persons, and so forth.Read more at location 410

Note: TERZA OBIEZIONE: LA META Edit

There is a grain of truth in this objection - a grain of truth explaining that there is a public interest in such things as female competition, competition between seniors, competition between handicapped persons, and so forth.Read more at location 412

Note: OBIEZIONE PULCINI E DONNE Edit

When someone wins the Olympics for handicapped persons, and we admire him or her for winning, we admire the achievement (given the constraints).Read more at location 414

Add a note

However, the relatively weak public interest in such competitions, as compared to the interest in competitions of the absolute elite, shows that this kind of public interest in sports is of minor importance.Read more at location 415

Note: SCARSO INTERESSE Edit

even if we are prepared to admire people who have worked hard, at least if they succeed in the competitionRead more at location 420

Add a note

I believe that we will have added admiration for a person who excels without having worked hard.Read more at location 422

Note: AMMIRIAMO CHI LAVORA DURO O CHI HA TALENTO? Edit

Furthermore, the training of top athletes has now reached a point where all the best athletes train in an optimal fashion (given the scientific knowledge at hand). This means that moral characteristics, such as a readiness to work hard in order to obtain excellence, is of no decisive importance.Read more at location 426

Note: IL LIVELLAMENTO DELLA VOLONTÀ Edit

All who compete try hard to become the best. It is the genetic lottery, not their ambition, that decides who will succeed.Read more at location 428

Add a note

This elitism of ours is also revealed by the way we react to doping: we want the competition to be fair. We are not prepared to admire Ben Johnson only because he has run 100m faster than anyone before him. Why? We suspect that Carl Lewis is genetically more fit than Ben Johnson.Read more at location 429

Note: DOPING RIVELATORE Edit

Note: DOPING E LOTTERIA DEI TALENTI Edit

If everybody were free to use whatever drugs he or she finds helpful, then the crucial test, the competition, would show who is most fit. The competition would then become fair.Read more at location 433

Note: DOPING CONCESSO: TUTTI ALLA PARI Edit

After all, there was a time when training was looked upon with suspicion.Read more at location 436

Note: UN TEMPO IL TROPPO ALLENAMENTO ERA VISTO MALE Edit

No one questions training today, and all athletes engage in it.Read more at location 437

Add a note

I can vividly recollect the disdain with which swimmers from Eastern Germany were regarded by the Western media during the 1960s.Read more at location 438

Note: GERMANIA EST Edit

Today all successful athletes train on a professional and scientific basis.Read more at location 439

Add a note

A special problem, of course, is posed by the possibility of genetic engineering. What if those who win the Olympic Games in some not-too-distant future are not winners in a natural genetic lottery, but have been genetically designedRead more at location 444

Note: INGEGNERIA GENETICA Edit

Would we still be prepared to admire those who make the best achievements?Read more at location 446

Add a note

This question is discussed in Chapter 15. My conjecture, which is not shared by Christian Munthe, its author, is that we would not.Read more at location 447

Note: PROB. NN AMMIREREMO.IL MUTATE VINCENTE. PER NOI LA LOTTERIA È CRUCIALE Edit

Objection: contempt for weakness is human natureRead more at location 450

Note: TITOLO Edit

Is not our admiration for strength, and a corresponding contempt for weakness, simply natural?Read more at location 451

Note: NATURALEZZA DELL AMMIRAZIONE Edit

In that case, is not a criticism of them misplaced?Read more at location 452

Add a note

It may be true that most of us are, by nature, competitive. We compete with each other and we enjoy doing so. But there is nothing wrong in this, or, at least, this competitiveness is not the target of my criticism.Read more at location 455

Note: COMPETITIVI X NATURA? IRRILEVANTE Edit

What I protest against is the admiration we show for the winners,Read more at location 461

Note: È L AMMIRAZIONE CHE SI CRITICA Edit

This reaction of ours, not the natural pride felt by the winner himself or herself, is immoral.Read more at location 462

Note: COS È IMMORALE? LA MEDAGLIA! Edit

However, isn't this admiration for the winner, and the corresponding contempt for the loser, also only natural?Read more at location 464

Note: MA ANCHE L AMM. È NATURALE Edit

One way of talking about 'natural' dispositions is this. A certain disposition is 'natural' if nature (evolution) has provided a species with it in the form of a blind instinct. If this is how the disposition is given to the species, then there is no room for blame when individual members of the species act on it.Read more at location 465

Note: NATURALEZZA COME ISTINTO. Edit

Note: ISTINTO CIECO Edit

There is no point in blaming the lion for preying on the antelope, for example.Read more at location 468

Add a note

Another way of understanding the idea that a certain disposition is 'natural' is as follows. Evolution has provided the species with the disposition, but not as a blind instinct.Read more at location 469

Note: INCLINAZIONE. LA CULTURA PUÓ AGIRE Edit

And there exists a good evolutionary explanation for why they do.Read more at location 471

Add a note

an explanation cast not in terms of evolutionary biology but in cultural or psychological terms.Read more at location 472

Note: CULTURA E NATURA Edit

It seems highly implausible that our admiration for strength and contempt for weakness is natural in the former sense.Read more at location 473

Note: AMM. È SOLO UN INCLINAZIONE Edit

If contempt for weakness is immoral, in particular when it is directed against individuals who are 'weak' in a very literal sense of the word (people who are physically or mentally handicapped), does this mean that selective abortion (of foetuses with defected genes) is not acceptable?Read more at location 485

Note: DEBOLI E ABORTO Edit

some grounds for selective abortion are not respectable.Read more at location 487

Note: CULTURA DELLO SCARTO Edit

It is not respectable to abort a foetus because one feels a 'natural' contempt for the kind of handicap one knows it will be born with.Read more at location 488

Add a note

But then the abortion would be carried out not because of contempt for this (possible) child but, rather, out of compassion.Read more at location 491

Note: ABORTO: DISPREZZO O COMPASSIONE? Edit

There may also exist selective abortions that are morally legitimate on the ground that they save the family from unnecessary burdens or, simply, because it allows a healthy child to be born rather than a handicapped one.Read more at location 492

Note: UTILITARISMO E ABORTO. IMHO: ERRORE Edit

However, in all these kinds of selective abortions, as has been repeatedly and correctly noted by representatives of the disabled people's movement, there is a risk that we might well be acting on an immoral contempt for weakness, rather than on a morally admirable compassion.Read more at location 494

Note: RISCHIO Edit

ConclusionRead more at location 497

Note: TITOLO Edit

Recommendation for the futureRead more at location 510

Note: TITOLO Edit

Suppose we are now convincedRead more at location 511

Add a note

What should we do about it?Read more at location 512

Note: CHE FARE Edit

There is little help in imposing sanctions and using force.Read more at location 512

Note: SANZIONI? Edit

The only way to make someone give up a bad habit is to convince the person in question that the habit is bad.Read more at location 514

Note: CONVINCERE Edit

That is why it is not an exaggeration to say, in closing, that if we are to grow as moral agents we need to cultivate a distaste for our present interest in and admiration for sports.Read more at location 518

Note: DISPREZZARE LO SPORT

Michele Bacuni ci mette la firma

Michele Bacuni è a casa sua, legge e rilegge la mail certificata ricevuta da poco: vogliono da lui una firma e 5.800 euro. A chiederglieli è la Bellavista SPA. In  cambio realizzerà il progetto urbano in allegato alla PEC.

Vediamo: un sacco di strade nuove, illuminazione avveniristica, un parco da sogno, una piscina con palestra annessa, una biblioteca, un centro culturale con sala congressi, un cinema, Chiesa e Scuola ristrutturate e arredi urbani interamente rinnovati.

Mmmm... proprio quel che ci vorrebbe, per la cadente  Calilandia, il paesino di cinquemila anime in cui vive da sempre la famiglia di Michele, sarebbe un vero restyling. È  un bell'impegno economico per lui ma tutto sommato perchè no?: vivere in un bel posto è essenziale per il benessere personale.

Una firma in calce basterebbe ad impegnarlo, con una riserva ragionevole: se non aderissero almeno 4350 dei 5000 abitanti, allora la cosa andrebbe a monte e amici come prima. Tutti hanno ricevuto il modulo e ci sono solo 30 gg di tempo per chiudere. E’ già prevista un’ assemblea civica all’Oratorio per settimana prossima, e un’altra tra dieci giorni all’ex Municipio. Senza almeno 4350 moduli firmati (non importa da chi) la Bellavista SPA lascerà cadere la cosa per tentare la fortuna altrove.

Ma attenzione, il contratto riserva una piacevole sorpresa: se non si raggiungono le 4200 adesioni chi ha sottoscritto il contratto riceverà comunque   150 euro  (offre la Bellavista!). A questo punto Michele Bacuni firma senza bisogno di partecipare ad alcuna assemblea: ci guadagnerà in ogni caso. Anzi, quasi quasi firma anche il modulo arrivato alla cugina che ora naviga in cattive acquee, sono sempre stati in buoni rapporti e troveranno delle forme di compensazione. 

Questo contratto non è un contratto qualunque, è importante per un motivo fondamentale: trattasi di un sostituto della politica.

Niente più politica, niente governi, niente consigli, niente parlamenti, niente democrazia, niente più “… un sistema pessimo tuttavia il migliore che conosciamo”.

Ma soprattutto niente coercizione: solo firme da apporre liberamente.

Il mondo senza politica è un mondo anarchico, e a Michele Bacuni non dispiace affatto, fosse anche solo un omaggio all’illustre antenato. Certo, l’anarchia se la immaginava più eccitante ma anche questa forma addomesticata ha i suoi pregi.

A proposito, chi farà applicare il contratto con la "Bellavista SPA"? Ma naturalmente la "Giustizia & Sicurezza SPA", la società con cui i cittadini di Calilandia hanno chiuso l’anno scorso un contratto formalmente simile.

P.S. Il contratto di cui si parla si chiama: “contratto di assicurazione dominante”. Il termine “dominante” viene dalla teoria dei giochi, in poche parole significa che la strategia ottima consiste nel scegliere cio’ che si preferisce senza bluffare. Per approfondire: A. Tabarrok,  The private provision of public goods via dominant assurance contracts. Groupon, Kickstarter e Quora sono alcune società che utilizzano il “cad”.

La natura nazista dello sport

Tesi: in ogni persona che si entusiasma per le imprese sportive dei grandi atleti riposa un nazista.

Di sicuro i regimi dittatoriali sono ricorsi in modo massiccio alle manifestazioni sportive per  raccogliere consenso e rafforzare la coesione popolare, ma qui vorrei evitare impropri sillogismi del tipo: “siccome Hitler amava gli animali, chi ama gli animali è un criptonazista”. No, qui vorrei tirare in ballo l’essenza del nazismo al netto, per esempio, delle forme contingenti di propaganda che ha utilizzato per affermarsi.

Il problema fondamentale di tutti i nazionalismi è l’adorazione di astrazioni come la Bandiera, la Nazione, il Popolo. Ma questo è esattamente cio’ che fa un tifoso: adora la sua squadra, la Nazionale... Quanto più cresce questa adorazione, tanto più gli individui singoli diventano intercambiabili, l’unica cosa che conta è servire la causa: l’uomo è visto come soldato e la donna come fattrice. Questo, secondo me, è un atteggiamento sbagliato poiché l’individuo è l’unico soggetto concreto, l’unico in grado di provare piacere, dolore, soddisfazione, tristezza eccetera, cosicché dovrebbe essere la squadra al servizio dell’individuo e non viceversa. Ma questo è inconcepibile sia per il nazista che per il tifoso. Qualcuno, in un disperato tentativo di salvare lo sport, sostiene che i due nazismi sono sostitutivi ma la mia idea è che invece si rafforzino l’un l’altro.

Fortunatamente, la commercializzazione dello sport ha attenuato lo chauvinismo: oggi la Nazionale conta meno di una volta e parecchi atleti arrivano a rifiutarne la convocazione per curare meglio i propri interessi e la propria carriera. Resta però intatto il concetto di squadra e di tifo e forse i localismi sono ancora peggio che i nazionalismi.

Ma che dire dell’interesse per l’atleta singolo che compie un’impresa alle Olimpiadi? Qui non sembra che possano applicarsi le categorie di “squadra” e di “nazionalismo”. Si tratta allora di una “sana” ammirazione?

No.

Per capire meglio questa risposta lapidaria bisogna tornare nel Fuhrerbunker a Berlino nell’aprile del 1945. In quei momenti drammatici, cosa pensava Hitler della sua “squadra”, ovvero della sua Germania che stava soccombendo? La disprezzava. Perché? Aveva forse abiurato al Nazismo? No, usciva invece la quintessenza del suo nazismo, ovvero l’amore per la Forza. E’ la Potenza del vincente che ammira il nazista prima ancora che la comunità d’appartenenza: Hitler esaltava la Germania perché la riteneva Forte e Vincente, nel momento in cui si mostrò debole e perdente cominciò a disprezzarla.

Ma cio’ a cui dava valore Hitler è proprio cio’ che valorizziamo noi quando ammiriamo le imprese di Carl Lewis e soci: un’esibizione di una forza senza pari che ci lascia estasiati.

In un mondo di risorse scarse all’ammirazione per il Forte segue necessariamente il disprezzo per il Debole. Le medaglie sono scarse e noi decidiamo che a meritarsele è il Migliore.

La Forza e il Talento sono essenzialmente doti genetiche ma noi non siamo interessati a questo fatto: Carl Lewis merita in pieno la sua medaglia poiché riteniamo implicitamente che chi perde alla lotteria dei talenti valga meno di chi vince. Tanto è vero che con disdegno consideriamo dopato il boxeur che per vincere la paura altera il suo carattere naturale assumendo droghe come il Modafinil.

Il disprezzo verso i deboli puo’ prendere diverse forme che vanno dall’aggressività (Hitler), al paternalismo (democrazie contemporanee). Nello sport moderno il disprezzo verso i deboli si esprime attraverso la dimenticanza: di loro non c’è traccia nell’Albo d’Oro. Ma ai nostri fini cio’ che conta è che esso esista e costituisca l’essenza della mentalità nazista, nonché di quella di chi gode in modo disinteressato delle imprese sportive.

Personalmente, penso di essere immune allo chauvinismo ma rientro in pieno tra i cosiddetti “adoratori della forza”: guardando le Olimpiadi provo una sincera ammirazione per le gesta dei grandi campioni. Oltretutto, lo ammetto, non mi sento molto colpevole per questa forma di cripto-nazismo (per quanto la riconosca come tale) e non intendo fare nulla per frenarmi, cosicché penso che quanto affermato in questo post più che un auto-accusa sia una prova a discarico dell’ideologia Nazista, una dimostrazione della sua umanità. Nell’anno della Misericordia dobbiamo avere il coraggio di dare un’interpretazione caritativa dei fenomeni che ci disturbano di primo acchito, e chi ci riesce col Nazismo puo’ riuscirci con tutto.

Per approfondire sulla natura della passione sportiva: Values in Sport: Elitism, Nationalism, Gender Equality and the Scientific Manufacturing of Winners di  Claudio Tamburrini, Torbjörn Tännsjö

P.S. Un modo per riconciliare il buon senso con la tesi espressa ci sarebbe: basta distinguere il diritto alla medaglia dalla medaglia meritata. E' la teoria morale del Just desert: abbiamo pieno diritto sul nostro corpo anche se non ce lo siamo meritato. Ma forse è "straussianamente" meglio far coincidere i due concetti.