My pal Iggy already jumped on the way sports media overplayed the extent to which Michigan State's success in the NCAA tournament could offer hope to Michigan residents struggling in this wretched economy. While the initial story was nice enough, the more sportswriters and talking heads emphasized it, the more it reminded me that no number of Spartan victories would result in people finding jobs or homes.
If the Michigan State storyline has been the most obvious version of the "sports can distract you from your problems" narrative, it is not the only one. In the new issue of ESPN The Magazine, Rick Reilly writes about the "scholarships" that the Arizona Diamondbacks have been giving to fans who lack the means to attend games. Team officials have awarded 18 families ticket and food vouchers worth almost $100,000. These families have legitimate hard luck stories and so, on the one hand, this story is as nice as it sounds.
However, on the other hand, there is an undercurrent that repeats the failed logic of the Michigan State story. Yes, it is a generous gesture that the Diamondbacks organization has provided these folks with a way to see some baseball games (oh, and they've generated lots of good PR, too, no?). But does this gesture land someone a job? Pay their mortgage? Heal their physical and emotional wounds? In other words, the reason Arizona management identified these individuals is that they have fundamental material issues--i.e., they need income and security. No doubt, they are all appreciative and will enjoy the ballgames. But if we really want a feel-good story, maybe the Diamondbacks--and the rest of Major League Baseball--could use their resources to address the conditions that have placed so many in dire straits to begin with.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
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2 comments:
Thanks for the shout out. :)
When I first saw Reilly's headline, I thought the Diamondbacks were giving away college scholarships and was hopeful, but then I was disappointed to find out exactly what you mention. Like you said, it is a type of generosity, but it's not the same as addressing the systematic and structural elements that have contributed to the problem in the first place.
It reminds me of the idea of noblesse oblige--the concept that suggests that it is the duty of the wealthy and privileged to give back to the community and help the less fortunate. On the one hand, this is a type of generosity. On the other hand, it reinforces the privileged position of the privileged themselves and it does nothing to challenge or address structural and systemic elements that create inequities. Indeed, it can very much be argued that, in hegemonic fashion, noblesse oblige reinforces social differences and inequalities, particularly as it allows the privileged to "give to others" without having to really sacrifice much themselves. In fact, it makes them look good, which often only leads to reinforcement and potential increase oftheir privilege. The Diamondbacks are doing just that, being celebrated for doing good in a way that, as you point out, creates great PR and can easily lead to ticket sales, merchandise purchases, etc.
To go back to your connection, along similar lines, when Michigan State plays for the whole state, it, in essence, sells the university as a product. So, people buy tickets to games, buy MSU merchandise, and potentially even pay to go to school there. And, speaking of universities, to go back to one of your previous posts, it aligns with the Stroh Center as well. (And, for the record, I really do love my alma maters, including BGSU and MSU; indeed, maybe that’s why I’m so ready to talk about what I perceive to be problems involving them.) The "generosity" of students, as President Cartwright explicitly said it, will help give back in the form of a building that much of the community will not use or will use sparingly and that, among other things, as the arguments for the building go, will help make the university look better and, thus, be attractive to more students. In a phrase, this will sell the school.
The BGSU administration's handling of the Stroh Center just didn't get it that there's something more substantive and structural than that going on here. As you said, their actions "affirmed the initial complaint made by the protestors--that their voices were being ignored by an administration that already had made its decision." And while I have no desire to demonize any of these folks, I do think these noblesse oblige forms of generosity warrant significant examination and I think a common theme here is that many individuals and groups who are privileged, even in their generosity, just don't get it, nor might they really want to get it because that would mean much more significant sacrifice. And so, to borrowing the words of F. Scott Fitzgerald, our liberal capitalist society "beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
Yeah, I thought college scholarships at first, too.
Thanks for weaving together these recent posts. I like the overlap.
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