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Sometimes inspiration for an observation about how we think and believe, comes from seemingly trivial sources. In this case, Facebook.
A fun, and unexpected series of connect the dots led me to answer the following question:
"What could possibly be similar between sports and religion?"
You'll have to read on to find out...
SPORTS
Quickly glancing through Facebook posts during any sports season, I see a million pro-Broncos posts (yes, very good, I'm in Denver) and many other anti-Raiders and Vikings (fill in the rest) posts, or, depending on the time of year, pro Rockies, Nuggets and Avalanche.
"We're going to kick [rival team's] ass!!"
"I bet I can find 1,000,000 people who hate [random rival team]!!!"
The same is expressed in person.
...Well not TO me, but around me.
I see and overhear, quite often, people getting very worked up about their team, while talking negatively about "hating" a rival team, and wanting terrible violent things to happen to them. (very sportsman like).
Most everyone knows I don't give a shit about sports by now. But what does interest me, is why people are drawn to the team they like. (It's the colors right? Hey! Now I get why people like sports so much! Look at those awesome colors go!!!)
What became quite obvious, was the fact that most of the time, people do not actually choose the team they want to like. It is already chosen for them.
"Huh?"
Seriously. Did they spend days and weeks, combing through player stats, backgrounds, personalities, watching highlight reels (or reading Highlights magazine), and deducing which team really was the best, BEFORE choosing to cheer for that team?
Is there really a best team?
Well, one team will win the super bowl each year, but over time that team will change.
People seem to be unaware of the idea that they have not consciously chosen the team they become so passionate about, even when they cover their walls in Fathead posters of groin-bulging players and carnivore-logo'ed helmets (carnivores, you know, because they are aggressive predators, which makes them, you know, cool. I'd like to make a new team someday, with the logo being a smiling non-threatening grandmother next to a few blades of grass with motion lines. INTENSE!!!).
Sorry. Digression.
With so much passion and interest rooting for your team, it may come as a surprise that liking that team was not a choice at all. In fact, it may be completely subconscious and, in a sort of orwellian-sounding-way, programmed into you.
"WHO IS YOUR DADDY, AND WHAT DOES HE DO?"
As I thought about people's excitement for particular teams and passionate "hatred" of other teams, not being a fan of any of them, it seemed rather odd. And silly. (Mostly that).
Again, was one team objectively more "hatable" than another?
Some teams do not play as well as others, sure, but over time that can, and often does turn around with the addition of new teammates and coaches.
So why one team over another?
How do we "choose"?
I smiled when I saw the correlation between how one is raised, and what one tended to think, feel, and want.
Our upbringing plays a hugely significant role in shaping us as individuals.
In fact, a lot of what can make a romantic relationship work between two people can be a similarity in the way they were both raised, cared for, and encouraged as children. (Interesting eh?)
So, if your parents were big Broncos fans, what is the likelihood that you will become a Broncos fan?
Fairly high, my friend.
Such is the power of influence, especially at an early age.
Everything your parents do, say and think is right. They know everything.
If they tell you that "the president is an idiot," well, not knowing anything about politics, and not knowing how to research facts on your own to come up with a unique opinion, you might take your parent's statement to grade school, and tell all of the children that, "the president is an idiot!" with strong conviction.
Do you know why?
No.
But it does not matter to you.
After all, your parents told you that, and your parents do not lie.
DAD: "The Redwings suck! GO AVALANCHE!!!"
... SEVERAL YEARS LATER...
CHILD: My opinion, which I came to on my own, is that the Redwings suck. That's my PERSONAL opinion.
LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION
Obviously, people can make up their own minds about things, and do all the time.
As I paced around my room thinking about the influences that bring us to like one team over another, I thought it kind of funny that one of the main factors that likely influences your choice of team is simply location.
More than likely, you cheer for the team that represents your region, state, city, or college.
Though it is usually emblazened on the uniform of whatever team is playing, we have a tendency to ignore the significance of the location of the team, as being one of the primary factors in what gets us to feel part of something.
Seeing people post online about "GO THIS TEAM!!" and "THAT TEAM SUCKS!!!", I began thinking how different things would be for those same individuals if they had just been born in a different place.
If they are a Denver Broncos fan now, one would assume they live in Denver, or at least somewhere in Colorado. But what would happen if they'd simply been born, and then lived in another state, perhaps, I don't know, say, Wisconsin.
Would they still be a Broncos fan?
Probably not. There would be no reason to be. It would be like rooting for the enemy, for the outsiders. And one thing we don't do is root for is the suspicious, thieving, filthy, evil outsider.
They would be a cheesehead, a Packers fan.
Simply by changing where one is born and where one lives, changes very strong opinions about their personal passions.
We'd all like to think that we make a conscious decision to like what we like because it is the best choice. Unfortunately, we are much more subconsciously malleable than that (by the way, that means shapable, like clay. You're welcome).
All that passion and hatred for another rival team would probably be completely different if your parents had liked another team, and if you'd been born in another place.
So much for objectivity in what we feel and think, eh?
Location. Crazy.
Things suddenly don't seem so clear cut anymore.
WHERE IN THE WORLD....?
Take that same principle about location within a geographical area affecting your personal "choice" of teams, and let's move it onto the world stage.
Now let's imagine that hypothetical person who could easily switch their deeply-ingrained passion for the Broncos, just because of being born in another state, and move them to another country. (All expenses paid!)
No... being born there.
Now a big part of that person's former identity as a football fan, would now be morphed into their identity as a... football fan... but actual, literal football this time. Or for us Americans, Soccer. (Or for those in the deep south "Gay Foot").
American football is pretty much isolated to, you guessed it, America.
However European football is a phenomenon all across the world. (Which why I should not call it European. Whoops! Too late).
By being born overseas, the Bronco fan in another life could now be a Manchester United fan, with all the same passions, feeling of "choice", and hatred for rival teams they possessed before.
The more something stupidly-simple like location is examined as an influence in who we are, what we think, what we care about, and how we behave, the more I come to question how much of myself has been intentional.
And that starts to upset me.
How much of how I see myself, my values, my morals, my interests, my humor, and more are simply products of where I live, and how I was raised? Two things I have no control over.
Humbling stuff.
And then, as I sat down for my morning porcelain meditation, thinking about how sports fervor was entirely subjective and based upon upbringing and location, it struck me...
This sounds very familiar.
What else does this sound like?
Ah, yes. Of course.
RELIGION
Several of my more religious friends, along with countless religious people on Youtube, will often post that Jesus Christ, and The Holy Bible is the only way to truth.
That Jehovah/Yahweh/Jesus' Dad is the one true God.
They will put up quotes and defenses, and passionately proclaim their love of their faith.
At one point in my life, I would have wanted to post offensive, yet humorous replies to them, just because I'm that needy for attention (I did some of that in high school). Now, I'm more interested in the influences that bring us to believe one thing over another thing.
Is it stronger evidence for one belief over another belief?
Is it that one faith makes more logical sense than another?
Is one simply objectively true, while all the others are false?
And if so, how would we know?
"WHO IS YOUR DADDY, AND WHAT DOES HE DO?"
Hmmm... Deja vu...
As I thought about people's enthusiasm for their particular faith, and passionate "hatred" or "villianization" of other faiths, not being a believer of any of them, it seemed rather odd. And silly (even more so this time).
Again, was one belief objectively more "hatable" or demonstrably wrong than another?
Some beliefs are not as popular as others, sure, but over time that can, and often does turn around with the addition of new religious leaders, time and influence.
So why one faith over another?
How do we "choose"?
I smiled again when I saw the correlation between how one is raised, and what one tended to think, feel, and want. It worked here too!
Very interesting...
As I said, our upbringing plays a hugely significant role in shaping us as individuals.
Especially when we are young, our parents are infallible. They know everything, and never lie.
If your parents attend a Lutheran church, and bring you along every week, odds are you will probably be a Lutheran. (No, not always, of course).
One telling thing I noticed from browsing online dating sites, is that many women say a similar thing when given the opportunity to say something about their religion. (Sorry, I did not check the guy's profiles, but it's probably similar).
"I was raised Lutherian"
Or
"I was brought up Catholic"
Not "I AM" this or that.
I was "RAISED" this or that.
Notice that the question they were answering was not, "What belief were you RAISED with?"
A subconscious giveaway, I think. (I love that stuff).
Most people do not choose what they believe (at least at the beginning), but I have to acknowledge, out of fairness, that many do (usually much later in life).
Not every Lutheran family will spawn Lutheran children, just as not every Broncos-rooting family will spawn Broncos fans. When people get out into the big bad world for themselves they have an opportunity to consider new points of view, new beliefs, and new ideas.
Some will change their mind, many will not.
But looking at the number one answer for why most people believe what they do, "My parents are Catholic," it seems to me that that response seems to justify it for us.
Why do you believe this?
"Because she does."
Why does she believe it?
"Because they do."
Well, that's good enough for me! Where do I sign?
LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION
Say, these headlines look awfully familiar...
Location plays a huge roll in determining what faith, belief, or religion you will adopt for yourself.
Though it may seem depressing to chock up such an important part of people's lives to a random event such as where you were born, and were you live, it does not change the impact of the location's influential power. (Its EVIL influential power!!! BWA HA HA HA HA!!!).
For instance, being born in one area of the country might find you deeply entrenched in the Southern Baptist culture, while being born in another puts you squarely into Mormon territory.
In other scenarios, where you were born and how you were raised would see to it that you were an evangelical creationist or perhaps even an orthodox Jew.
So many different variations just by location.
But all of these beliefs are supposed to be true, right?
So does that mean that Truth is relative to your geographical region?
Does being born in a different part of the country change the amount of truth your beliefs will have?
And if one belief is still more true than another, what happens if you are born into a "less true" or worse, a false faith? How would you even know? I mean, your parents believe it, and many other people believe it, how could they be wrong?
Is it all just subjective and relative?
WHERE IN THE WORLD....?
And that's just what's common for America.
Take the oft used example that we love to hate.
We've done a good job of demonizing Islam and Muslim culture. (It's pretty easy really).
After all, it's not like our culture or our faith, so it must be bad. (Yeah! Totally!)
But pretend, for consistency, you were born Saudi Arabia, and suddenly everything flips on its head. (Why that happens is still being tested by top scientists).
Because of your location, and how you were raised, Islam is now the one truth faith, and everything western is now wrong, and evil.
You believe the Qur'an just as strongly as you would have believed The Bible.
You would now likely be militantly against Christianity, the very thing you believed so strongly before, all because of where you were born, and how you were raised. Two things, again, very much out of your control.
And that's just one variation. A few hundred miles this way or that, and you could have been a Hindu or a Buddhist. (Dear God noooooooooo!!!!!!)
(God: Yeeeeeeeeppppppp!!!)
It really starts to seem arbitrary and pointless if it's just ascribed to location.
For a silly example (the best kind), how is this any different from a fiery war based on the prevailing geographical music style?
America hating Mexico because they don't believe that Blues is the one good form of music. Mexico passionately against America for their discounting of Mariachi. Ireland angry at Germany because they have not accepted traditional Gaelic folk music as their one true style, and Russia aiming missiles at Japan for listening to their false J-pop music.
Time for a musical cleansing!
CONCLUSION
Examining the origins of our most strongly and fervently held beliefs, opinions, and passions, makes me wonder how much of what and who we are is really of our own doing.
And that is not something I like the sound of.
Most of us, myself included, take great pride in our personal opinions and viewpoints, and to entertain the possibility that I'm not as in control of my own decision making process as I want to be, or think I am, is actually quite depressing.
How much of what we feel is really our own idea? How much is just a product of where we live, and how our parents raised us?
As a bigger question, how do we know if what we think and believe is truly our own?
And if something as profound as belief can be influenced by our upbringing and location, is there really anything that is universally true?
I'll leave that up to you.
Wait. Hold that thought... the game's on!
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blog philosophy psychology humor sarcastic sports religion football soccer broncos christian christianity islam muslim upbringing location belief faith truth
