“This is my job. I do this for money. It’s not the only reason for doing it. But if anybody comes along and gives any of us a chance at a pay rise, then you have to seriously consider it, don’t you?
Lee Westwood
I don't follow golf, but over the last few weeks I have been reading about a "break away" golf league being fronted by Greg Norman and backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, that purportedly has 3 billion dollars behind it - where the prize money for each of the current first 10 tournaments, is twice that of each of the PGA Majors.
This has created a strange dynamic, as it is being seen as a direct competitor for the PGA, which pretty much has the attention of the world on it and, all of the biggest names in golf - it is almost a monopoly. As such, a lot of FUD has been created to undermine the new league, especially around the morality of taking money from Saudi interests.
However, with the massive amount of money on the table - people are doing like Westwood above and asking for releases from the PGA so as to take part in these tournaments, because they are doing this for a job, this is their livelihood - they aren't casual players, they are professionals and therefore, will chase the best contract they can.
Can you blame them?
How come doing something for the money as a sportsperson is seen as such a bad thing, when this is what most of us do in one way or another, isn't it? And, much of our time is spent doing something we don't even like doing.
Of course, it is better when we get to do what we enjoy and earn on it, but in the corporate world or in the world of most employment, this is rarely the case. There might be parts of the job that we like and there might even be a lot of the job, but at the end of the day, we are still doing it for the money.
Perhaps doing it for the money cheapens it in some way, especially when what is being done is something that we wish we could do ourselves or, think that people who are doing it should be more grateful or be held to a higher standard - like a doctor. Sure, there are more reasons than the money to be a doctor, but if the job of saving people's lives was poorly paid and came with no social capital, would people be as keen to do it?
It is about incentives and in order to get the best people, the incentive has to be high or valuable enough to be desirable. This can come through a salary or prestige, or the added benefits and perks, like social desirability or power - that last one is a big one isn't it?
Many people say they don't want power, but give them a little and most will use it to the full extent, even if there is no need. It is like people speeding through suburban streets in cars that have no need to ever go that fast. What would people say if their cars were location speed limited, where for example in 40 zones, the engine would be automatically adjusted to not go over that limit? Would people agree?
Funny isn't it? I suspect that it would get a massive amount of push back, but if told to stay in doors or get fined - most people stayed in doors, regardless of whether it made sense or not. Give a little power and that power will look to creep and will start to apply itself in ways that it was never created to have power within - like a celebrity who is seen as an authority on climate science, because they are rich, famous and have a following.
As you are aware - everything has been politicized these days and sport is no exception and people are increasingly supporting this approach. Politicization of sport is power creep of those who want to control the narrative and the more we take part in it, the more controlled we become. At some point, there is no escape, no playing field where we can communicate and behave as equals with the same set of rules, because we are treated differently, depending on where we are from or what our government that we have no control over, is doing.
What is the most interesting is that all of the political narrative is developed entirely for the power and money and ethics or morality have no place in the process - it is a maximization approach and doesn't care what stands in its way. It is a stakeholder-based business with the same goal, to maximize stakeholder wealth and it is spreading well outside of its traditional domain to do so, at the expense of us, the people it was designed to support.
Sport is just another casualty to censorship, because it has become politicized to such a degree, that it is no longer safe to talk about socially. The decisions that they are making across all kinds of sports have nothing to do with sport itself, but instead hijack the discussion to support a political agenda of some kind in order to influence and sway the masses. It is not about seeing the best compete against each other, it is about seeing the approved.
I guess that is what life has become now - a process of getting approval from those who hold the reins of cancellation.
What a job.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]