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June 10, 2019 - Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin
23:12
Dodgeball is Oppressive
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Dodgeball is a tool of oppression used to dehumanize others, researchers argue.
I think they should probably lose their jobs.
Not because I hate them, not because I give a damn about them in any way, shape, or form.
It's because this is a conclusion so ridiculous, I do not think they are qualified for the work that they are supposed to be doing.
Any conclusion that ends with dodgeball is a tool of oppression, must have wildly faulty premises, must have poor data going into it, an inadequate interpretation, and people with a severe political agenda behind it.
There is just no getting around this fact.
No other people in all of history would have looked at throwing soft balls at one another on a school playground or in a gym and said, right, this is how we're oppressing each other through dehumanization.
I mean, I just, it's assumed, I would say, that every person playing dodgeball was a human.
A person.
The opposing team, in fact.
Like, we're not playing dodgeball with dogs or monkeys or something anymore, are we?
I mean, I thought that we'd stopped doing that centuries ago.
One of Jim Class's most common games is being used as a tool of oppression, according to a team of Canadian researchers.
TheWashingtonPost.com have unironically published this.
The Washington Post.
This isn't a parody site, I don't think.
At least it wasn't back when I used to read it.
Why?
Who cares?
Who cares what these people think?
These people obviously are morons.
There are some things so dumb only an academic could say them, or only an intellectual could say them.
Something like that from George Orwell.
And man, did he call it.
Like, dodgeball in phys ed classes teaches students to dehumanize and harm their peers.
Professors from three Canadian universities said in a presentation this week at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences in Vancouver to a riotous laughter from the room, presumably.
Everyone was just like, that is knee-slappingly funny.
How on earth did you get to this point?
A paper on the subject is set to appear in the European physical journal, European Physical Education Review.
When you're setting up the environment for students to learn, and you introduce the idea that it's okay to slam the ball at whoever you like, even if it's with a soft ball, the intention is there.
The intention to hit the opposing team with a soft ball.
Yes.
That's okay.
That's not a form of oppression.
That is not a form of cruel or unjust treatment over a prolonged period of time, which is the definition, the common English definition of oppression.
It's just not.
It's not a form of oppression.
It's not cruel and it's not unjust and it's not being done over a prolonged period of time.
It's just a game of dodgeball.
That's it.
That's it.
That's you being a total pussy, Joy Butler.
I wonder if any relation to Judith Butler, a professor who studies pedagogy and curriculum development at the University of British Columbia, who said this in a phone interview.
When students think it's okay because they're being told it's okay to do that, what do they learn?
They learn that it's okay to play a game of dodgeball.
They learn that.
That's something they learn.
Dodgeball, everyone walks away intact.
They're a 100% survival rate, as far as I'm aware.
Where's the data?
How many people are being crippled through dodgeball?
Just out of interest.
How many fatalities?
I really want to know.
Because as far as I can tell, they learned that dodgeball is not a dangerous sport.
And it might actually, believe it or not, be fun.
It might be legit fun to play.
Who knows?
I imagine that's where the kids do it.
And of course, the school makes them, but I imagine the school wants them to do it because it's fun.
And it's probably good exercise.
People say dodgeball is being used as an outlet for aggression or catharsis.
I suspect this is where they're learning that.
Yeah.
Because people's lives can be difficult.
Maybe they've got more energy than you would expect.
Maybe they're a bit angry about something and it helps them get it out of the system.
Maybe that's called just being human and not being some SJW robot.
But I suspect that is where they are learning this.
Oh yeah, my old noggins are jogging.
I suspect they're learning to use dodgeball as an outlet for aggression or catharsis because they're being told it's safe to play dodgeball.
But what they don't know is it's actually a form of oppression that dehumanizes people.
Like, come on.
What are we?
Why do these people have jobs?
Why doesn't the universities be like, you know what?
Let me think about this.
And I really don't think you're suited for this place.
I think that you're suited for a padded room or serving Starbucks coffees, something like that.
Like, why do we just allow this to be perpetuated?
And a lot of this is taxpayer funded as well.
There's an entire industry of people who are talking shit like this.
I mean, like, Heinlein was right, man.
Heinlein was just a bloody prophet in this regard.
The social sciences brought democracy to the brink of collapse.
Yeah, it bloody well will.
If playing dodgeball is a tool of oppression.
PE should be an arena where teachers are helping students control their aggression and move on instead of expressing themselves through anger.
Why?
This is controlling their aggression.
Here, here's a game that's safe.
You can be aggressive in this game.
Why?
Because you're throwing soft balls at each other.
Does zero damage per hit.
So you can do this all day and you'll just tie yourself out.
You're not going to be aggressive.
And then after you're tired out, you've got all of this out of your system, all this excess energy you had, then you're probably not going to go and beat someone up afterwards.
Why would you?
You're probably not in the mood.
Why should it be an arena where teachers are helping students control their aggression?
Aside from the fact it already is, why should it be?
Why shouldn't it be for developing competitive skills?
Why should it not be that?
Who decides?
Why is this person's opinion on that more important than literally everyone else's opinion?
Researchers sat out to interview middle school-aged students about broader questions in physical education courses, but kept hearing the same things from certain students.
They hated dodgeball.
Well, those certain students can toughen the fuck up, can't they?
Deal with it.
I didn't like maths.
I fucking hated maths.
Wait a minute.
I'm being oppressed by mathematics.
I've decided mathematics is a tool of the patriarchy used to dehumanize people who don't like mathematics.
That's what this is.
That's what I knew it.
I always knew it.
You know what?
Let me whip out the five faces of oppression by Iris Marion Young.
I'm sure that's going to be really important.
Justice in the politics of difference.
Yeah, this is it.
I'm just different because I hate maths.
It's not that I should be forced to do things I don't like just because that would actually benefit me.
Oh, no, no, no, no.
And just because everyone else has to do it as well, like going to my maths class or playing dodgeball.
Oh, no, this is actually a form of oppression.
We need to change this because some of the students don't like it.
Get fucked.
That's part of life, dumbasses.
That's what's character building.
That's why you have to do it, in fact.
Just so you know.
But anyway, these five, these five oppressions five faces are exploitation, using other people's labors to benefit for oneself.
Oh, yes.
Very relevant to dodgeball.
I can see why you're bringing this up.
Marginalization.
Ah, here we go.
Relegating a group of lower standing to the edge of society.
Yes, that's definitely what I, that's definitely how I view dodgeball.
It's a way of marginalizing those people who keep getting hit by the balls against the people who manage to avoid them.
Even though, let's be honest, the people who avoid the balls are probably in the minority.
But anyway, powerlessness.
Powerlessness.
Those relegated to have a lack of autonomy.
Anyone can throw the ball.
The question is, how good are you at throwing the ball?
How is anyone powerless in a game of?
Maybe the people who aren't currently holding a ball.
Maybe.
Maybe they're waiting for a ball to be thrown at them so they can pick it up and throw it back.
Maybe that's the powerlessness.
But even then, you've got the autonomy, the agency of your own person to move out of the way of the ball that's going to be thrown at you or catch it or whatever.
I mean, why?
How?
How are they framing this?
Cultural imperialism.
Establishing the rules and customs of the ruling class as the norm.
The ruling class of a game of dodgeball.
Honestly, I'm just saying, I just don't know why people voted for Hitler.
Just nothing was going wrong.
And then suddenly, Hitler pops up.
Violence.
Oh, here we go.
This is the violence of dodgeball.
Members of a group of lower standing know they may be subject to random unprovoked attacks.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's unprovoked.
It's not a game of dodgeball.
It's random.
We just don't know when this is going to happen.
And it's only members of a group of lower standing.
It's not that everyone is subjected to these unprovoked attacks.
It's only the group of lower standing.
This is quite spectacular.
I can see why this was published in the Washington Post.
This isn't total lunacy.
Those matched up with some of the underlying messages communicated to researchers by the students, Butler had said, well, there we go.
If some of the students are saying basically, oh, yeah, well, I feel like I am a group of a lower standing because I'm less good at dodgeball and I might be subject to random and unprovoked attacks.
And my God, I just don't know how I'm still here.
This is cultural imperialism, where the people who are good at dodgeball establish the rules and customs of dodgeball and then impose those on me.
Even though the rules are already preset, pick up a ball, hit someone with it, and don't get hit yourself.
Because I'm shit at it, that means that this is a ruling class that are exercising cultural imperialism over me.
And marginalization, man, I'm getting hit by dodgeballs all the time.
Then I've got to sit on the sidelines until everyone else is out.
I'm totally marginalized.
And that means essentially that I'm being exploited in some way.
I'm being used as a target for the ruling dodgeball class to throw and use me as a as a point of ridicule because I get hit and I have to go out and they go ha ha at me.
That's what that is.
I'm being oppressed by fucking dodgeball.
I think of the little girl who is running to the back to avoid being targeted.
That's a smart play, is it not?
Like, what's she learning in that class?
Avoidance?
Yes.
She's learning how to be tactical.
If she's only a little girl and she doesn't throw very well, and she's like, right, okay, so my best chance in this game of dodgeball to last as long as I can is to basically make sure that everyone else is hit with balls first, then yeah, why wouldn't I run to the back to avoid being targeted?
She's learning that that's how that game can be won, possibly, or at least advanced significantly in it.
What's wrong with that?
Why?
Why are we why are we saying, oh, by the way, you just don't have to start thinking critically about the things around you.
And I know that you're looking at your situation, you're looking at the options, you're thinking, well, this seems like the best option.
I'm going to try it, see how it goes.
Why would she not want to learn that?
But I love it.
What is she learning?
Avoidance?
No, critical thinking.
Like, she's learning to think on her feet.
She's learning what it's like to play a competitive sport.
Why is that hard to understand?
Who are these absolute robots who have clearly never met a human being that are doing this research?
Is this AI?
Are these people actually computer simulations that are highly advanced AI that are literally saying, tell me about more of your human activities such as dodgeball?
Well, that sounds like a tool of oppression and dehumanization.
My goodness.
Come on.
This is.
Researchers observed that the more athletic and authoritative students in the class established rules and practices without input from the other students, including creating their own teams which allowed them to gang up on the other students.
My God, it's like being in South Central LA, isn't it?
It's just awful.
I can't believe there are patterns of behavior that humans mimic when they're having cooperative and competitive sports.
And we can point that out.
That's okay.
That's what they do.
That's how the winning team wins, I guess.
Big deal.
So what?
It doesn't matter.
It's okay to do that.
There's nothing wrong with that.
That's perfectly fine.
Cooperation, teamwork, success.
These things are all fine.
I know they marginalize losers, but that's too fucking bad.
Being a loser is not a form of oppression.
It's not cruel or unjust.
You did it to yourself.
Get good, scrub.
Holy fuck, this is, the message is that it's okay to hurt or dehumanize the other, but no one's getting hurt.
And no one's being dehumanized.
The competition are taken to be human by virtue of them playing the game of dodgeball with you.
They are not getting hurt.
So it's not that the message is okay to hurt.
The message is it's okay to be competitive.
And you can be competitive without hurting people, as shown in the example of dodgeball.
The competition is about annihilating one's opponent.
That's right.
when you're playing dodgeball and you hit with one of the balls it's actually anti-matter there's that's it the per The child is gone.
And before long, it's literally down to the last team standing, the last few bloodied, bruised, and murderous dodgeball players who claim the crown.
And they presumably loot the spoils after the battle.
I mean, you know, after the opponent has been annihilated.
Why are they using this kind of extremist language?
Why are they doing this?
Why would you use the term annihilating in connection with dodgeball?
I mean, no game of dodgeball is that exciting that you could even say one team annihilated another, surely.
But it's obviously inappropriate to do this.
And the reason that you would do this is to try and make people afraid of dodgeball.
Oh, God, they use big scary words like annihilating.
I mean, that's the sort of thing that bloody, you know, we annihilated Hiroshima.
You know, then, you know, Hannibal annihilated the Romans at Canae.
Oh, God, this is all starting to sound a bit serious.
Cancel these dodgeball games fucking the true definition of competition.
Oh, oh, good.
You've got, you've redefined another word.
I'm glad to hear this.
You're like, hmm, the word competition allows people to play dodgeball.
We find dodgeball dehumanizing and oppressive.
Therefore, this is not the true definition of competition.
I know it's the definition that everyone else is using, but we have a new one now.
So, the true definition of competition is between two evenly matched teams.
How do you fucking know?
That's not the case.
No one is actually evenly matched.
We find out which team was better through the competition.
for fuck's sake it's oh god it's i i don't even know why i'm getting angry It's just so ridiculous.
And the redefining of language as if as if the whole thing is actually prescripted.
We didn't know who was going to win.
This is the point.
We think, well, if we can measure all of these certain variables, then we know that we're going to win.
But you don't know.
You don't know that there isn't a variable involved that will be key to the victory that you haven't planned for.
Do you know what strategies are going to be?
Do you know how long they've been practicing?
Do you know about the luck and the fluke of people's random shots where they take a wild shot and actually bounce off a wall and hits three people, annihilates three people, and then wins the game for a fun.
oh, but they weren't evenly balanced if one team won in an Annihilation.
You can't try and plan the world this way.
It's not going to work.
Well, kids stack their teams.
Oh, yeah, I see.
This is really important.
And they really enjoy beating the other team.
What's the enjoyment of that?
The thrill of victory?
I guess that we're talking about the people who lost the games of dodgeball when they were in school.
They were suddenly, well, I've never felt the thrill of victory, to be honest.
I always just got annihilated and dehumanized and oppressed when I was playing dodgeball.
And I went on to become a professor who got to research how oppressive dodgeball was.
So now, I'm going to...
And I bet it ends with them saying dodgeball has to go.
I mean, I read about half of this and I was like, right, okay, this will do.
Yeah, let's just read through this.
And I bet they're going to end with the Washington Post saying we need to get rid of dodgeball.
because the girls don't like, some of the girls don't like it.
Some of the girls suck at competitive sports and that's not okay.
A couple of the boys suck at competitive sports too, and that's not okay.
Why?
Fuck them.
They can get good at maths, can't they?
When Butler in a focus group asked the class to create a brand new game, the only requirements were that it involved the ball and two goals and the entire class had to form a consensus about the rules.
The same group of students split off to develop a game without consulting peers.
So you're talking about the Pareto curve.
So the 20% that get everything done, they split off and thought, right, we can actually make something good without these losing whiners complaining at us with the fact that they always lose.
She said it showed the culture established by, holy fuck.
She said that it showed the culture established by dodgeball spills into other activities and physical education.
These enterprising entrepreneurial types who when presented with the game of dodgeball were like, Hey lads, right?
Shall we form a team ourselves?
We're all pretty good.
And we can win this quite convincingly because frankly, the rest of them are either fat, lazy, or scared of dodgeball.
Why don't we do this?
And then they're like, oh, yeah, good idea.
That's a really competitive way to win.
We're going to win this.
This is what this is.
It's not that that happened.
It's the other way.
It's that they were just blank slates until they arrived at the dodgeball court.
They picked up the ball and they're like, right, this has done something to me now.
This is like the one ring.
Oh, God.
This is turning me into a monster.
Oh, God.
Now we're going.
It's not the culture established by dodgeball for fuck's sake.
You've got that the wrong way around?
That's troubling, she said.
No, it's not.
No, none of this is in any way troubling.
None of it.
None of it is troubling.
There is no implication.
We have arrived at a society that is mostly peaceful, violence-free, calm, happy, healthy, wealthy, prosperous, and still, for the most part, free.
And you've come to this point and go, hmm.
But people are being oppressed by playing games now.
No, no, no.
They're not doing it.
They're not oppressed.
They're not oppressed.
Shut up.
But it's troubling because many Canadian schools are making great strides to improve physical education classes They seem pretty good.
I don't see the problem.
What needs improvement here?
Administrators are taking solid steps to reverse the trend of girls dropping out of PE.
Okay.
Then maybe Badminton or something.
Like fuck me.
Who knows?
Okay, a lot of the girls don't like dodgeball.
They can just deal with it.
I'm sure a lot of the boys don't like hockey or whatever it is that the boys are doing and they don't like.
I don't know.
More courses focus on health, wellness, and fitness and not just sports.
Are you saying that there is a biological difference between men and women?
Men happen to be more competitive.
They prefer being competitive when they're doing sport.
And some of the girls don't like it because they're not very competitive.
They're more cooperative.
They would like to focus on health, wellness, fitness, and not just sports.
Are you saying that men and women are different?
Because it really sounds like it.
Gym classes are largely centered around games, she said, which can be great, but can also exclude students with different strengths.
And you know what?
That's okay.
It's okay if we're different.
It is okay to have a diversity of ability.
It is okay if some people just don't really like dodgeball and go, okay, yeah, just hit me great.
Now I'm out.
You know, that's fine.
We didn't actually have dodgeball over here.
Well, in my schools.
So we don't really have, I don't really know the rules of it.
I assume that when you get hit, you're out or something.
Who knows?
But are you, it's okay if not everyone does everything.
That's okay.
It's okay if some people do something, some people do something else, and some people, like if you were to merge the group together, some of them just wouldn't do either one.
That's okay.
You don't have to have something that's all-inclusive.
This is a weird pathology.
I don't know why this is something that you just take for granted.
But anyway, if one thing was to come out of this, it would be PTT.
If one thing was to come out of this, it would be you guys all just being fired.
You're clearly a waste of money and time.
And you seem to be just constantly trying to erode the standards that we have in the West.
And it's the standards that made us great.
But anyway, if one thing was to come out of this, it would be for PE teachers to look at their curriculums and look for balance.
And that could mean dropping games.
Oh, that's very balanced.
We're looking for balance.
What do you want to do?
Well, we want to get rid of one side of it entirely.
We think that would be balanced.
You're like George Lucas.
Oh, I'm here to bring balance to the force and destroy the Sith.
Doesn't sound very balanced.
What the hell are you talking about?
Half Sith, half Jedi by your standards.
Surely.
Anyway, that could mean dropping games and including other activities.
Outdoor education, fitness, gymnastics, aquatics.
You know what?
You get a lot of that playing dodgeball.
Not the aquatics bit, obviously.
But to butler, oh, here we go.
To butler, it also means getting rid of dodgeball.
Basically, it's a tool of oppression by the patriarchy.
Girls don't like it.
The boys do.
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