This really is a quick flash. Watching sport roundup on the news - I'm not into sport at all but I like to keep at least a basic picture of what's going on - and suddenly the thing that's apparently been subconsciously niggling me popped to the surface:
What I will remember 2007 for is the number of football players of various codes, who have injuries which have them down and out for the count, sometimes to the point of having to retire. And then my second flash of understanding:
This is happening more this year, not because the players concerned are clumsy or weak or inept - this is happening because over the last few years, football hasn't been played so much to win the game as to win the game by inflicting the maximum harm on opposing players.
Somewhere along the line, our football teams stopped playing football to win at football and started playing to maim and injure. And concurrently with that, we're seeing a spike in savage unprovoked bashing attacks on our streets and in home invasions.
Last time I heard of that kind of behaviour was an experiment done some 20 - 30 years ago with a colony of rats. They were given plenty of food and water, but crowded into a limited space, and left to breed. Within a few generations, apparently they started "mobbing" to death random rats, mother rats would abandon litters and go off to mate again right away, and all of the rats exhibited antisocial, even sociopathic behaviour.
Hmmmm....
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