Page 22 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 32
P. 22
Economy
Sports: The
pacification
of the
masses
By: Mukuyu, Kenya.
mock war scenario of scorched earth and
hy were the Aagĩkũyũ and other take no prisoners in the field appeal to the
traditional societies not interested masculine ego. This is so because men, rather
Win competitive sports. than women are the producers of most of
the adrenaline in a society which is what the
Ever since the Roman circus, the princes and controller targets to keep the mass of men in
emperors of the day have used sports as a control.
method of controlling the mass mind through
distraction and the release of excessive Sport is a good substitute for critical mental
energy that would go into the opposition. activity. It is a kind of escapism, a shot in
To control the energy of the mass they are the arm with a heavy dose of a mental drug,
given sport and circuses that keep their minds dulling and and intellectually neutralizing the
occupied, the main method today being masses.
through television. Imagine the amount of
mental energy that goes into the football The Aagĩkũyũ were a chiefless society and
menace for example. No revolutionary army control of one man over another was farthest
can allow such waste of energy. from their minds. The Nyakerũ have always
The obsession with the fruits of action rather been interested in control whether of other
than the process, the orgasm rather than the men or of nature. He is a control freak. In
nguĩko, make sport the perfect metaphor for sport and especially football today, they have
the He-men, Superman, male chauvinism the perfect control mechanism. Better than
and conquest, imperialism and war. The soma.
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