/lit/ - Literature

Yep. RIP

>>10799340
I think its the exact opposite actually

>>10799366
Why?

were there sports fans in ancient times? something tells me they are a modern invention.

I may be badly educated but at least I'm alive.

>>10799385
Well, first, saying someone is "badly educated" is a complete "meme". Rockefeller, Edison, Bell, etc all had minimal education, and yet I'd consider them greater than someone today with a Harvard degree

Sports, politics, and religion have been the primary education for aristocrats since....well, the dawn of time. Babylonian murals of lion hunts date back to 1000 BC. Every ruler needs to understand how to rule. Religion was always the driving factor behind most human movements in history.


Which begs the question, what the fuck does he consider the passions of the "goodly educated"? Loathing, ignorance, and skepticism?

>>10799394
Yes, there were. Why would you think differently? One of the biggest revolts in Byzantium was after a sports game

>>10799394
You've heard of the Olympics right? The first one was in 776BC.

Sports, politics and religion were the most important things to the ancients.

>>10799405
>>10799409
Nice anecdotes fellas but the quote is still true.

>>10799418
I don't think you know what "anecdote" nor "truth" means. A fat 21st century American's opinion on what makes someone 'badly education' is probably the least valuable source of truth you could find

>>10799340
>fat dork doesn't like sports

>>10799405
That's not what "begs the question" means

>>10799340
>politics
Being knowledgeable in politics is actually a pretty good thing. Obviously I'm not talking about /pol/tier conspiracies or the usual shallow understanding.

>>10799340
Absolutely, but nosports losers are total faggots so it’s give and take on that one

Athenian festivals were the height of intellectual ability and wew they were literally only sports, politics and religion

>>10799405
Why did you skip Ford and Lincoln?

>>10799442
If you’re a dumbass with nothing better to think about, sure

>>10799340
Good God why is everyone on this board so fucking stupid? He isn't saying that you should ignore politics, he's making a fucking observation.
>>10799405
>>10799409
>>10799442
You can't fucking read.

>>10799449
I actually began typing Lincoln, but then backspaced, because he wasn't really an inventor, but more of a man with practical wisdom and a wide range of knowledge

>>10799458
its not really an 'observation". It's more like "retarded shit coming from my mouth"

>>10799394
Don't forget the circus maximus.

>>10799466
You still can't read.

>>10799458
So he's saying sports, politics and religion are the main passions of the uneducated. But they are also the main passions of the well educated?
>Thanks Gass.

>American "intellectual"
>is only remembered for snide remarks
how appropriate

Muh overgeneralization. But, I do think, there's a little bit of truth to it. I get caring about a football match in which you are not playing, if the players are mostly people you know personally, in that way it's even comfy as fuck. When discussing politics, people generally discuss the latest display of ignorance of some politician, in that sense, it's quite pedestrian. To say that the organization of society is something you shouldn't care about, is way more stupid. Religion, while I don't follow any, it's consolation for many who do not make any harm.

>>10799447
maybe the greeks were in the wrong?

All philosophical treatises about political topics have resigned

>>10799493
they weren't

Atheist trash.

>>10799340
I assume that he basically said that people who like popular shit are badly educated.
In a way, yes but nowadays religion is starting to become less popular in certain countries as well some sports will die in our lifetime.

>>10799340
Three very involved social activities. Why not value that? What is wrong with being badly educated? Power? There is more easily attainable power in these three passions than say writing. The bonds and community built is so much more desirable.

>>10799340
not all people who are interested in these things are stupid, but almost all stupid people are interested in at least 2 out of the 3

>>10799340
Yes of course
>>10799405
Rockefeller was a con artist with a high iq
>the aristocrats
you left out warfare, language, law and other subjects they also weren’t educated in religious matters to the degree the priests were at all

>The amount of butthurt ITT
Good job OP

>>10799340
There are quite a bunch of smart people passionate about politics, although I assume the author of this quote was referring specifically to people holding populist positions.

Otherwise this is on point. Sports and religions are fun but nothing to get overly committed to.

>>10799340
>Fat McFatso shitting on sports
Classic.

>>10799340
Of course.

Pretty sweeping generalization.

>>10799493
NOT POSSIBLE - I WORSHIP THE ANCIENTS - IT WAS ALL DOWNHILL AFTER PLATO - FUCK OFF

You guys are all idiots.
It's not even him saying it, it's from a short story of his where a character says it. That doesn't mean it's his opinion.

Am I right in thinking most people, no matter how outspoken, have a pretty basic, almost Harry Potter-tier understanding of politics? I keep quiet on the subject because I feel I have nothing meaningful to contribute, but is your average late teen-twenty-something self-assuredly sharing political content on their social media just as in the dark as I am?

>>10799672
>although I assume the author of this quote was referring specifically to people holding populist positions.
And from which depths of your ass did you pull out this assumption?

>>10799838
Yes, but you can't blame them, politics is a shitshow, and it can be quite depressing when you get moderately interested in it (although that feeling goes away if you keep up the interest)

there are different levels of education, sports (when you play them) and religion are deeper than philosophy.

>>10799340
sports and politics sure, religion is incredibly difficult to actually understand fundamentally, and just dismissing it one way or another (ala sciencefag saying religion is a bunch of subjective gibberish or vice versa a religionfag saying science is just materialist bullshit) is saying that you aren't smart enough to handle it.

>>10799838
At least in America 99% of people are stuck like flies on the right/left spectrum, which is depressing af to say the least.

>>10799493
he said something stupid that you took to be sincerely the case what do you think?

>>10799504
They were, that's what is so fascinating about them and the Romans. They were a glorious mistake.

>>10799447
greek sports != modern sports
greek politics != modern politics
greek religion != modern religion

Wew lad it's almost like concepts don't stay the same or hold the same significance just b/c the words translate into each other.

>>10800425
i see you are a dualist of culture as well.

Wishing to be thought of as an intellectual is a passion of the wrongly educated

>>10799340
No it's typical trash from the intellectual class

>>10799340
says the guy who
1. had a father who was a professional athlete
2. got kicked out of Purdue for protesting the Vietnam War
3. Had religion as one of his major thematics
Too bad no one itt will read this

>>10799340
Yes

>>10799815
Came here to post this. The narrator of the short story isn't supposed to be some sort of autobiographical stand in for Gass either. Having said that, I do agree with the the quote although liking one (or all three) doesn't mean you are badly educated, nor does the quote make this claim, so there's no need for any Christians or sports fans to get their undies in a bunch.

>>10799366
>>10799405
The exact opposite of this quote would be that sports, religion and politics are NOT the three passions of the badly educated (which is certainly false). Learn how to read a sentence.

>>10799657
Exactly.

>>10800455
Also true. Why are people making authority appeals to muh Greeks? This is clearly not what the quote is referring to. Are people honestly trying to compare some modern day mouth breather who sits around chugging Bud Light and watching football all day to fucking Aristotle or some shit?

>>10799340
Yes. If you’ve been immersed in them to any meaningful degree at all, it rings nauseatingly true.

>>10799441
it does if you're badly educated

*nobody asks for the full quote or even context*
I'm going to look back and regret not leaving 4chan earlier than I do

>>10801593
show me the full quote

>>10800563
No! I'm not falling for your bait. Have this hollow (You) and begone!

>>10801598
just looked it up. It's from one of his novels.

Great job, OP. Why don't you quote one of DFW's characters and attribute that to him?

>>10799340
>religion
wasn't he the same dude who praised The Recogitions as the greatest book ever written or something like that?

>>10801598
“Sports, politics, and religion are the three passions of the badly educated. They are the Midwest's open sores. Ugly to see, a source of constant discontent, they sap the body's strength. Appalling quantities of money, time, and energy are wasted on them. The rural mind is narrow, passionate, and reckless on these matters. Greed, however shortsighted and direct, will not alone account for it. I have known men, for instance, who for years have voted squarely against their interests. Nor have I ever noticed that their surly Christian views prevented them from urging forward the smithereening, say, of Russia, China, Cuba, or Korea. And they tend to back their country like they back their local team: they have a fanatical desire to win; yelling is their forte; and if things go badly, they are inclined to sack the coach.”

“Sports, politics, and religion are the three passions of the badly educated. They are the Midwest's open sores. Ugly to see, a source of constant discontent, they sap the body's strength. Appalling quantities of money, time, and energy are wasted on them. The rural mind is narrow, passionate, and reckless on these matters. Greed, however shortsighted and direct, will not alone account for it. I have known men, for instance, who for years have voted squarely against their interests. Nor have I ever noticed that their surly Christian views prevented them from urging forward the smithereening, say, of Russia, China, Cuba, or Korea. And they tend to back their country like they back their local team: they have a fanatical desire to win; yelling is their forte; and if things go badly, they are inclined to sack the coach.”

>>10799340

No, not really. Let's come at the prompt in several ways.

First, I look up this Gass. I recognize pictures that I may have seen on /lit/ and in related contexts. He's a contemporary American now-dead, okay, fine. The point being that in principle, he's speaking my language and isn't being "mistranslated." Next is the simple fact that quotations are notoriously badly cited or misattributed in general, therefore I will take the quote on its own merits with a healthy skepticism that Gass did in fact say or write the quote unless someone cares to positively and categorically prove that he did. This healthy approach to quotes on the internet leaves us with the content of the idea itself: the thing hasn't been mistranslated (presumably contingent on my same culture as the would-be author), and the thing comes from a culture and language which I immediately understand. So I can just go straight to the language and ideas as presented.

1,2 and 3 are the A of the B. This is the form. It compares directly with the other quote, attributed to lenin et al: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_of_the_people#Lenin . The Gass quote can simply be taken to be a swipe at bread and circuses (sports), or middle class plebs who think their everyday lives are soooo fucking important (politics), or just straight-up contempt for believers (religion). All three conceits are perfectly stereotypical of the contemporary first-world view of the leftist, elitist academic.

cont.

>>10801626
Jesus this sounds like Ernest Cline affecting a slightly higher diction. /lit/ has pathetic taste.

>>10799394
Socrates was literally an avid wrestler

>>10799340
He's right with regards to politics and religion, but baseball is a passion of the thinking man.

>>10801918

Getting to the meat of my own view: it's perfectly all right to identify sports as a pleb interest, and given my own sincere fedora contempt for religion itself, yes, I agree with the stereotypical leftist professor dismissal of religion itself, so (presumably) nakedly on view here. But the politics thing rings hollow. The rejection of politics itself sounds like some wannabe who imagines himself into an ivory tower which doesn't exist in order to make a literary conceit about a specific /form/ of politics (his own, American politics), which he understandably holds in contempt. But in general, the flight from politics which the quote suggests is both untenable and idiotic per the greeks, as has already amply been suggested ITT.

>>10799340
>seriously discussing a quote that isn't even an opinion but just a fedora pandering attempt
classic /lit/

>>10801918
>>10801946

It's from a short story about small towns. It is actually really fucking beautiful, the quote is more of a decoration in context, it is not dwelt on or re-mentioned and he goes on to say a bunch of good things about simple folk as well.

>>10799394
>Gymnasium, large room used and equipped for the performance of various sports. The history of the gymnasium dates back to ancient Greece, where the literal meaning of the Greek word gymnasion was “school for naked exercise.”

>>10799340

Take one look at social media and it's not hard to see that this is indeed the case

>>10799405
>Religion was always the driving factor behind most human movements in history
Absolute brainlet