It is no shock to me that sports teams use certain names such as those that infringe on the dignity of Indigenous persons... I mean, Edmtn OILERS?

I wrote an essay awhile back about sport and the mentality of it. Competition is inherently destructive. Much like oil has been.

The oil derrick is so phallic too. I mean. Really. And no offense to sports lovers, I'm not here to take anyone's enjoyment away, these are just thoughts that have occurred to me when I ponder things.

This team mentality is part of the problem in politics, too.

I did a little research into where organised sports came from. The Greco-Romans built massive structures for it. They came about to give the armies something to do when not on campaign, to keep them fit and they would be less prone to running amok amongst the population.

Olympics... Olympus was the mountain where the gods lived, ofc. It's steeped in Greco-Roman history. I wish I had read more on it so that I had more details but there is only so much time in a day.

It's a pity that these ancient cultures didn't instead make the human representation of the gods from those who were the philosophers and humanitarians, the great thinkers. But here we are.

My own personal feelings is that sports make no sense to me.

Govts build huge stadiums with tax then teams play there, charge people to watch, upper echelon gets massive amounts of money and are recruited from other places, even nations. They don't even play for the team where they LIVE/grew up. Uhh... alright. Whatever

They get traded so some guy who is born in Woodchuck NH ends up playing for a Californian team. Then gets traded to play for an Edmonton AB team. It makes no sense to me, the 'representing your city' is just meaningless.

Anyway those are just highlights from my essay which is a lot more coherent. I wrote it a year or so ago and that's all I can remember. My premise was that competition has infiltrated other parts of the world such as politics and we are better and stronger when we collaborate

and work cooperatively instead of fostering competitive mindsets. Capitalism has done us very wrong as humans which this virus is now putting in a stark focus. I think that it is a good first and necessary step to have these teams rename themselves to something that

doesn't rob entire cohorts of people of their inherent dignity. Some say it is petty and maybe so, when there are countless more imminent egregiencies (neologism) going on but it too, is an important step to de-competition the world, and part of de-colonisation efforts.

and of course, capitalism is founded on imperialism/colonialism which in essence, groomed.

It makes me sad because the UK was colonised too - by the Romans. They were occupied and seem to have carried on many fine Roman traditions through centuries.

I have Pagan blood in my veins. It is my ancestral birthright, so to speak.

Anyway, this thread might make sense to historians/sociologists/archaeologists and our fellow ilk but perhaps not many outside these disciplines.

The Romans really did leave their mark on the timeline of civilisation, though. And this mark persists after millennia.

I can't wait to truly shake off the shackles of this imperialistic past and have a more holistic society.

Fin