Sports:Tribalism::Pornography:Sex

My Deep Thought for the day:

Those who think of the human sex drive mostly as a negative thing often view pornography as a negative as well. They say it will encourage thoughts about sex, which will lead inevitably to *acting* on those thoughts, and thus higher incidence of rape, STDs, and other things that most people would agree are negative outcomes. Their opponents argue (with statistics to back them up) that, contrariwise, pornography acts as an *outlet* for sexual thoughts, thus *reducing* the amount of negative sexual actions.

Those who think of the human tribal drive mostly as a negative thing (which, until this morning, included myself) often view sports as a negative as well. They say it will encourage thoughts about tribal conflict, which will lead inevitably to *acting* on those thoughts, and thus higher incidence of racism, genocide, and other things that most people would agree are negative outcomes. It seems plausible to me that, contrariwise, sports acts as an *outlet* for tribal thoughts, thus *reducing* the amount of negative tribal actions.

Not that is going to make me a Red Sox fan myself. But I don't think I'm going to be sneering inwardly at them any more, either.

Sports:Tribalism::Pornography:Sex

My Deep Thought for the day:

Those who think of the human sex drive mostly as a negative thing often view pornography as a negative as well. They say it will encourage thoughts about sex, which will lead inevitably to *acting* on those thoughts, and thus higher incidence of rape, STDs, and other things that most people would agree are negative outcomes. Their opponents argue (with statistics to back them up) that, contrariwise, pornography acts as an *outlet* for sexual thoughts, thus *reducing* the amount of negative sexual actions.

Those who think of the human tribal drive mostly as a negative thing (which, until this morning, included myself) often view sports as a negative as well. They say it will encourage thoughts about tribal conflict, which will lead inevitably to *acting* on those thoughts, and thus higher incidence of racism, genocide, and other things that most people would agree are negative outcomes. It seems plausible to me that, contrariwise, sports acts as an *outlet* for tribal thoughts, thus *reducing* the amount of negative tribal actions.

Not that is going to make me a Red Sox fan myself. But I don't think I'm going to be sneering inwardly at them any more, either.