Tree of Knowledge

I’ve been meaning to weigh in on a fantastic post at SkepticLawyer on probably the most spectacular public display of cultural snobbery in recent times (first eviscerated at Tim Blair)

Robert Nelson, a Melbourne art critic is pictured below (centre). I pass no comment on his personal appearance, other than to say that for someone whose professional vocation demands some kind of aesthetic sensibility, his sartorial style is a disaster on many
fronts.

Despite his dress sense, Mr Nelson thinks that his appreciation for art makes him ‘better’ than those Australians who enjoy watching sport. In fact, those who watch sport are ‘brainless”idiots’:

The social role of sport is to provide an outlet for intelligent people to behave like brainless people. Everyone knows there’s no intrinsic point in shifting a leather ball from one post to another, no matter how energetic or invested the contest. Nothing is achieved outside the game; no one is wiser or can add a benefit to the world beyond the fury of the struggle…

The habit of getting excited and screaming for no good reason creates a momentary dome of ignorance; it’s a hallowed asylum of folly, a carnivalesque institution of mania against the onus of wisdom.

Important and urgent questions should be discussed, such as global warming; but the clamorous distraction of sport assures even the brainiest people that they too can enjoy the mind of an idiot …

Of course, art is something else entirely according to Mr Nelson:

Art engenders speculation, a portal to new insights and imaginative growth. Like music, science and philosophy, art promotes an intoxicating wonder for where the mind can reach. Sports offers no similar transcendence because it lacks any admirable purpose beyond its own arbitrary exertions.

Sport is the antithesis of art, because art is all about the purpose behind the work.

My goodness.

SkepticLawyer very amusingly ponders the kind of childhood that Mr Nelson must have endured to produce this kind of thinking and goes on to argue that polemics like this aren’t the best way to improve the standing of the fine arts in Australia relative to sports. I agree that labelling those you’re trying to win over ‘brainless idiots’ isn’t exactly the best way to increase the size of your flock, however I’d also add that Mr Nelson is wrong to think that sport is a mindless and meaningless vocation.

In my view, sport and the arts have exactly the same meaning for their aficionados – they offer insights into the human experience and offer a sense of identity within this context. Nelson’s comment that there is ‘no intrinsic point’ to a sporting match could equally be made about the arts. Why do we bother designing buildings that are not simply functional, but also inspiring? What’s the point of a bunch of squiggly lines on a page? As Mr Nelson recognises, art offers ‘a portal to insights’ about the human experience and allows us to wonder and dream. I would argue that sport offers exactly the same experience for its followers.

If sport had no meaning beyond ’shifting a leather ball’, the sole measure on which those participating in sports would be judged would be achievement. In such a world, Wayne Carey, as one of the greatest AFL players in history, would be a hero rather than a sad embarrassment. But achievement is not the sole benchmark for the value of a sporting encounter. The most famous sporting stories are rarely those of technical excellence or even achievement in ’shifting a leather ball’, but are rather those that reveal something about the human experience. Overcoming adversity is an obvious narrative in this regard (think Lance Armstrong, Jason McCartney, Mohammad Ali), but also think about triumphing through solidarity (Qld State of Origin), teamwork (Brisbane Lions) and sacrifice (Gillian Rolton), breaking stereotypes (eg Jackie Robinson, Cathy Freeman), heartbreaking vicissitudes (Jane Saville, Scott Prince), pride coming before a fall (the 2005 Ashes), natural geniuses (Michael Phelps, Ian Thorpe), hard-working heroes (Michael Jordan), fallen heroes (Marion Jones, Floyd Landis), flawed heroes (Shane Warne) and good guys that don’t quite come first (Pat Rafter, Shaun Hart, Andy Bichel).

These stories tell us something about what it is to be human. They help us to understand the human experience. To reduce them to the level of ‘arbitrary exertions’ is to miss the point. At the end of the day Robert, you’re no different to me than Rex Hunt – tour guides through a shared cultural experience. From my perspective that’s no insult, but if you want to take it that way that’s simply your lack of perspective.

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