There are two things I have a pretty low opinion of: Times of India and the Indian media’s coverage of cricket in general. Put the two together and it’s something I’d avoid like the proverbial plague. Which is why I was pleasantly suprised to see a couple of sane opinions in the View/Counter View section of the op-ed page ysterday.
Responding to the the current (very distressing) trend of viewing agression as desirable and as a positive personality trait, Amit Saxena wrote:
[There] is a difference between team intensity and aggression that stems from individual or mob fury. Indians can be unfocused as a team but can break into uncontrolled, often unwarranted, rage in other situations. We Indians do not introspect on our violent tendencies, overt or latent. Aggression is cowardice by another name. It points to a basic lack of respect for another individual. It reflects a kind of mental laziness.
Finally, someone standing up and saying that! Read the entire piece, in its correct context, here. He was representing the Counter View, but the View is interesting to read as well.
~PD
I liked this bit of the article at the end here too: “To take a stark example, policemen are aggressive because they would rather beat suspected criminals to pulp than put them through a meticulous investigation to extract a confession. Whether in sport or in other fields, aggression affects one’s ability to concentrate on the task at hand. It is not just objectionable; it is also foolish and counterproductive.”
We would be wise to learn the same here. I agree, aggression of this kind is only a tool of the mindlessly lazy and cowardly (i.e. mob mentality, as they were saying 😉 ).
Yes, that’s so true — like saying, “I’m at my wit’s end; I can’t be bothered to use my brains to think of anything intelligent to say or do, so … *BIFF*”!!
Yes! Couldn’t they just teach handling things a different way in practice so that they have options later? *talking about anybody’s team that acts like that*