I may have to take back some of my comments from yesterday's 2011 Stars and Stripes article. Yesterday, I was hyper critical of the MLB for only donating $1 from a $37 dollar hat to a Veterans fund, when the entire event is hyped around this idea of “charity”. I'm still not happy with the MLB as a whole, but today, after learning about what happened in Pittsburgh this past weekend, I'm a little more directed at my “anger”.
I guess I should first explain my position before ripping into the both the Pirates and Brewers organization, and the MLB as a whole. One attribute about American society that drives me borderline insane is the idea of passive service as a way to feel better about one's self and showing overt patriotism in the process. It does bother me people make a big deal about passively supporting a cause, like buying a $37 hat, because part of it goes to charity. If you like that hat because of it's looks, buy it! Don't rationalize it though. If you want to help out a charity, do it! But your flaunting of your help should match your impact.
Which is why the Military Appreciation Caps bother me.
I'm happy that the Brewers held this event. I'm happy the honored those who have fought for this country. I'm happy they gave them some free T-shirts, and I'm sorta happy, yet sorta disappointed they got a discount in the team shop.
I'm not happy at all about both the Pirates and the Brewers selling the caps on the purpose of Appreciation, and not actually helping.
Here's the Pirates Cap and the Brewers Cap if you want to look at them.
In short, I know by me pounding at the keyboard furiously that this collision of nationalism (that marginalizes minority opinions like peace, welfare, and other things that get you labeled as a Commie or Un-American) and sport capitalism will not end. I also know it might seem hypocritical of me to complain here about passive support, because this blog is sort of passive support*. So just to handle any objections, I am a huge supporter of critical thinking, and I challenge my peers and my students (Undergraduates right now, High Schoolers in the Fall) to think critically about the world around them, mostly in the lens of science, but also to question the impact they make.
*Of course this blog becomes my active support of a cause, if I challenge you to think critically about the Mets, the players, decisions, and the relationship of Sports in general. So I hope I do challenge you.
