Notes on the World Cup: A Good Sport...?

I enjoy a good soccer match.  The athleticism and teamwork are, at times, awe inspiring.

Yet, the patriotic jingoism emerging during the World Cup is deeply disturbing. As I sense it, the emotional excesses of nationalism that continue to erupt in this spectacle, like those that increasingly pervade the Olympics these days, are just tragic manifestation of what Spiritual Teacher Eckhardt Tolle terms the  "collective ego". As J Krishnamurti notes in the meme to the right,  the "us-them" mentality of nationality and religion are a  fundamental source of violence. The mind state that is fanned and inflamed and exploited (and commercialized) during these sporting events is the psychic structure that supports ongoing warfare and senseless bloodshed.

It seems to me that it has gotten a lot worse over the years in the culture of sports.  I used to roll my eyes when my dad talked about "the good old days", but...
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Iraq Then and Now

In the commentary below, Bill Moyers reflects on a headline as the US invaded Iraq in 2003. 

Like so many of us back then, Moyers cast his gaze on the Big Picture as US troops poured into the desert of Iraq:  the cruel cost of senseless hubris and thirst for empire strewn along the sands of time in the MIddle East.

A decade before, though, during the 1st Persian Gulf war, George Bush the First had chosen not to invade Iraq. His advisors knew that toppling the Iraqi Ba'ath regime would create region-wide havoc, the empowerment of radical Islamist forces, civil war, and uncontrollable sectarian bloodshot.

In their zeal for the "New American Century" of US world domination, however, George W and the Neo-cons disregarded that advice.
 
And there's been hell to pay -- mostly on the part of innocent civilians.

Don't let Fox News and the Right Wing blame the current situation on today's administration. What is happening is the direct result of the invasion of Iraq. It was predicted by a wide array of middle eastern scholars and diplomats -- not just us old hippies and peaceniks and the millions of others worldwide who demonstrated against the imminent invasion.

Don't let Fox News and the Right Wing craft our response today as they did back in 2003. 

Addressing the situation today through another round of military action will only add more fuel to the fires of a continuing nightmare. Our resources should be turned to fostering region-wide diplomatic solutions instead. 

Casting our gaze at the Big Picture, have a look and a listen to broadcast journalism at it's best as Moyers contemplates US Marines Crossing the Euphrates: