COMMENTARY: The view from the cheap seats

COLUMBUS, Ohio (RNS) Mourning came to Ohio’s capital last Saturday (Oct. 16) when the Ohio State Buckeyes lost 31-18 to Wisconsin and immediately plummeted from No. 1 to No. 11 in the college football rankings. Sorrow in Columbus means joy in Madison, of course. That’s how it goes in sports, as teams square off in […]

COLUMBUS, Ohio (RNS) Mourning came to Ohio’s capital last Saturday (Oct. 16) when the Ohio State Buckeyes lost 31-18 to Wisconsin and immediately plummeted from No. 1 to No. 11 in the college football rankings.

Sorrow in Columbus means joy in Madison, of course. That’s how it goes in sports, as teams square off in win-or-lose contests, some of them delicious rivalries. Cities like College Station (Texas) and Tuscaloosa (Ala.) stop everything for college football weekends.

Every week, some favorites are upset, and some roll on toward post-season bowl games. Fresh rankings come out each Monday. Perennial also-rans like Oregon, Boise State and Texas Christian occasionally scale the heights.


To many Americans, sports are the perfect diversion. Outcomes are definite. Games have boundaries, rules and time limits. Referees keep games honest. Partisans bellow happily.

Sports are even better on television. Slow-motion replays show what you missed live. Advertisements allow time for runs to the refrigerator or bathroom. When the game ends or gets boring, you can simply change channels.

Electoral politics, too, has become a win-or-lose spectator diversion. CNN, for example, runs a countdown clock to Election Day, with scores (polls) and video clips of politicians running plays.

Vast sweeps of ideas, power alignments, class conflict, human welfare and government effectiveness are reduced to a smackdown pitting red Republicans against blue Democrats.

Election Day itself will be like the Olympics, with winners and team medal counts, and will rival the Super Bowl for fragrant reportage.

In fact, there isn’t much of American life that hasn’t been framed as a spectator sport. Movies, plays, TV shows and recordings are about winning prizes, not transmitting culture. Business means Oracle vs. HP, Apple vs. Google, not dull matters like inventions in the pipeline. Schools get graded, and colleges get ranked by U.S. News and World Report.


Religious institutions — my reason for coming to Ohio — want to be about engaging people, ideas, issues and ethics. Or at least they should be. But that takes work and risk, and many constituents prefer to watch. They treat worship as a spectator sport and church life as a contest.

I understand why. If we can watch events and people and not need to engage with them, we retain control, have a good time, and avoid getting embroiled in ambiguities and long-term outcomes. “I like to watch,” said the Peter Sellers character in “Being There.” So do many.

Politics isn’t a spectator sport, of course, at least not in a democracy. “Government by the people” doesn’t mean “government by celebrities while the people watch.” “Liberty and justice” don’t mean freedom to change channels and equal access to cable. “Allegiance” doesn’t mean painting oneself red or blue and bellowing.

Early leaders like Thomas Jefferson were vilified as scandalously as any target today, but they stood in the open and engaged the other side. They didn’t hide behind attack ads paid for by shadowy moguls seeking tax breaks. Their debates were open and exhaustive, not sound bites based on smarmy innuendo.

When we treat the vast sweep of ideas, power and human welfare as a spectator sport best enjoyed on television, we get what we deserve. If we want better than what we have — leaders, not demagogues, and policies grounded in values and reality, not giveaways to the wealthy — then we must engage, not just watch.

(Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant and Episcopal priest based in New York. He is the author of “Just Wondering, Jesus” and founder of the Church Wellness Project. His website is http://www.morningwalkmedia.com. Follow Tom on Twitter @tomehrich.)


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