The American culture’s grim determination to raise a race of wimps, weenies, hysterics and delicate snowflakes continues apace. Or is this a necessary adjustment to our growing incivility?
In Ohio, the Thunder United Metro Futbol Club, a kids’ soccer league, held an experimental “silent soccer weekend.” Parents and fans were told that there would be no shouting or cheering at the games. Clapping was permitted, but not whistling or using noise makers. Team coaches were instructed to keep shouted instructions to a minimum. Printed signs and rally towels got a green light, since they are quiet.
The objective, of course, was to combat negative shouts and other demonstrations by parents and fans that might bruise youthful egos and squash self esteem.
Your Ethics Alarms Ethics Quiz for today:
Is banning crowd commentary at youth athletic events responsible, or irresponsible?
I guess I telegraphed my reaction at the beginning, but: Are you kidding me?
This is a variation on the Communist-inspired fad in the 70’s of kids sports without keeping score movement, which seems to have abated, thankfully. This is better, but still an attempt to re-engineer human nature at the price of making children overly vulnerable to the realities of life. Success and failure garners praise and criticism. This is immutable. The earlier an individual learns to do his or her best and not be intimidated or discouraged by jeers from the madding crowds, the better. Silent soccer, which is being tried in more places than just Lebanon, Ohio, is just a way to postpone enlightenment and experience, and teaches the false message that we can isolate ourselves from the consequences of our conduct by controlling the environment in which it occurs.
Sports is invaluable for the development of courage, character, sportsmanship, grace, values, the understanding of culture, the ability to collaborate, and the skill to handle “triumph and disaster, and to treat those two imposters just the same.” The undoubtedly well-meaning adults who devise such monstrosities as “silent soccer” think that they can preserve the pleasures of competition while minimizing the pain. It is a hopeless quest, and in this case, a cowardly one, where the “solution” is to diminish the full experience of participating in a spectator sport for the young athletes because it is deemed less confrontational than addressing the real problem: jerks on the sidelines.
_______________________________
Pointer: Fred
Ethics Alarms 
“because it is deemed less confrontational than addressing the real problem: jerks on the sidelines.”
Bingo.
Correct. I will vote irresponsible because I think it’s an overreaction to the real problem. For some reason, we seem to overreact a lot in this country.
Ya think?
“…teaches the false message that we can isolate ourselves from the consequences of our conduct by controlling the environment in which it occurs.”
Bingo, Bango, Bongo.
Who knows the rest of the refrain from the politically incorrect popular song of the Forties to which Alias Eyeore refers?
I don’t wanna leave the Congo…
Give that man a Daniel Webster see-gar….
The song is “Civilization,” a hit for The Andrews Sisters.
Yes, indeed. The inestimable, fair and fetching Ms. Dyan Cannon reprised the song on the Muppet Show. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le5bzS4gOGw, check it out at the 5:35 mark. There is no higher comedy. Mel Brooks eat your heart out! I recommend this version to all others. What is better than a stylish, accomplished and stately Dyan Cannon dressed in jungle attire carousing with Muppets? None, I tell you. None.
jvb
Thank you! My mother used to sing me that song! She really did. This explains a lot..
Haha thanks, although I no longer have a waistline like him.
I know it, but only because it was played to death in Fallout 3. :p
Two years ago, my child’s soccer team did this for an early season game. The kids were 7 years old at the time. I made my objections known, but not wanting to be “that parent” I reluctantly abided by the silent soccer rules. There was no cheering, no signs, and no real direction given by the coaches either. The whole experience was unnatural. The kids were rather quiet too. I hated it and was thankful when the game ended. Well, this is California, and as you might guess, a few weeks later we were told that we’d have a 2nd silent game. A lot of us live vicariously through our kids, and I eagerly await weekend soccer games. The though of missing my kid play because I couldn’t cheer was not a step I could go, but i considered it. Instead, I showed up with a few beers, and sat up on a hill by myself, letting it be known before and after the game that I thought silent soccer is stupid.
Now I also coach baseball, and know full well how awful parents can be. Baseball parents are worse than just about any other sport because most everyone has just enough knowledge of the game to believe in the opposite of whatever decision the coach makes, and do so loudly. But they have a right to say whatever they choose. If rooting crosses certain lines, it must be up to officials, and more importantly, other parents to reign in, or ostracize offending parties. All the while, the kids learn to play through adversity, to tune out their parents/crowd, and that the world is full of all kinds. I say bring the noise and deal with it rather than stay silent….
I KNEW you had to be a baseball fan.
The only way to stop these “silent & scoreless” children’s leagues is to ostracize them in turn. They destroy the entire purpose of athletics. Character and competitiveness is not only the goal of sports, but the fundamental concept of citizenship in a free society. This concept has faltered in this country in so many ways and on so many levels. This, however, may be the worst of them all. If we train our children- almost from the cradle- to be silent sheep in a flock, we’ve undermined our nation’s future. If freedom’s enemies can accomplish this, their goal of a docile populace to rule will be achieved in a generation.
Well, I remember in high school there were always a few restrictions such as no noisemakers and no foul language – and the deans of discipline stationed themselves up and down the sidelines to enforce these rules. However, we still found creative ways to give the opposition a hard time. We were an all-guy college preparatory school, so when an opposing team chanted “What’s a girl, BC, what’s a girl?” we simply responded “Who’s going to college? We’re going to college!”
In college of course, all bets were off. As a member of the marching band (yes, I am a band geek) we got VERY creative with some of the things we yelled, like “What’s the color of dog shit? Brown! Brown! Brown!” when playing Brown University, and variations on the standard “Metamucil, ex-lax, run! run! run!” like “Kaopectate, Imodium, block! block! block!” or “Pepto bismol, enema, pass! pass! pass!” We all turned out OK.
I don’t think it goes far enough. It isn’t just critical comments that hurt children’s feelings, it is positive comments to others as well! Why is there a federal law against posting grades now? Because it will hurt people’s feelings if they know others are doing better than they are and if people know that they aren’t doing as well as others. The same thing is true of sports. Sports needs to adopt the philosophy behind FERPA. NO ONE should know what anyone else is doing in sports. That means NO spectators, no pictures or videos. The coaches need to sign nondisclosure agreements. The goals need to be shielded so that even someone shooting on goal doesn’t see if it actually goes in or not (only that player will be informed if they do) and the goalie definitely can’t know the identity of the player shooting at the goal. Each player will get individual, confidential comments about their performance after the match, but no one will know how well (or poorly) any other player did. This should result in players with higher self-esteem who achieve higher levels of performance, just like we have achieved in our school systems!
You know, up until about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way through, I wasn’t sure if it was sarcasm or not. In part because the people behind Silent Soccer probably would actually support such a thing for the sports their precious little snowflakes are playing.
What? How awful! I can’t believe something like this goes on in this country? This is incredible that organizations would go this route and have children do this and even involve the spectators. Dastardly and full of societal rot. This kind of conduct will lead to a dismal civilization for everyone; it is completely irresponsible, socially reprehensible and utterly devoid of values to allow these children to play soccer.
Got me.
Had to toss in a joke. I don’t see anyone rational actually arguing against the stance. The only disagreement I see is Neil arguing tangential concerns about your form, not your conclusions.
Such a KIND and GENTLE totalitarian state we are nurturing here!
Jack,
I agree with your assessment as far as it goes, but comparing it to communism, totalitarianism, or wimp-ism, are all cheap shots. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar — why do you always seem so eager to make larger comparisons? This was a bad idea, so condemn it, but don’t start looking for larger connections that just aren’t there. People have been trying different variations of this self-esteem nonsense for decades (even before Nathaniel Brandon decided to start boinking Ayn Rand).
Seriously, not everything is a slippery slope; sometimes they’re just annoying detours.
-Neil
Why do you “always” lead with an accusation? In fact, in cultural matters, it is not so much a slippery slope as that the same developments, agenda and attitudes that lead to one cultural aberration lead to another, and another. I’m correctly flagging where this comes from: the whole “competition is harmful” and the “every child is beautiful and talented and brilliant despite all indications to the contrary” movements were unimaginable before that leftward revolution in the Sixties, when the children who became today’s sociologists were singing the praises of communalism and Ho Chi Minh. Let’s not allow kids to choose up sides. Let’s not keep score in T-ball and soccer. Let’s give out awards to everyone on the team. Let’s not reward excellence or show that mediocrity isn’t appreciated. These were Mao’s thoughts before they became US “experiments.”
If you want to think that these misguided, ever-so-well intended forms of indoctrination don’t lead to adults who see nothing wrong with receiving government assistance indefinitely and union members who believe jobs are a right rather than a privilege, not to mention Occupy-style “what right to they have to be rewarded for working hard?” politics, go ahead. You are naive.
There are larger connections; there almost always are. The Broken Window Phenomenon is more forceful in cultural rot than in urban rot. The goal of pointing out where these detours emanate from and why is critical so they remain only annoying. Parents need to know enough to say, no, this is not healthy, Louise, and here is why.
At the Little League my son played in, (and I think this is true nationwide), it is against the rules to heckle or make negative comments directed towards a specific player or position. The age group is 4-12.
I see this as a more limited form of “banning crowd commentary”, but I think it is appropriate. I agree in principle with your statement, “The earlier an individual learns to do his or her best and not be intimidated or discouraged by jeers from the madding crowds, the better.” But I think kids this young benefit from a more protected environment, giving them a chance to learn fundamental skills and to play in front of others without being mocked or teased incessantly by players or parents from the opposing team.
It’s understood that as they move up to more competitive travel teams or into the age groups past 12 that the protective cocoon will no longer exist.
I do agree that this idea of silent sports is ridiculous, though. It seems really unnatural, like an Outer Limits episode.
The amazing thing is that anyone HAS to tell parents not to be negative. It’s wrong to shout negative stuff at a major league game. But such a Rule is certainly legitimate. Banning cheering or commentary on ref/umpire calls—as you say: “We have taken control of your television….” Creepy.
I will bet that next year (hell, next week’s game), you won’t see much of this again, even in the highly sophisticated and gentile game of soccer, save and except the English and Belgian soccer hooligans busting up the place after a win, loss or draw.
When our son was a mere 5 years old, his school adhered to the “Fun, Fair and Safe” soccer rules. They didn’t keep score. Everybody won. The parents weren’t allowed to cheer. Well, guess what? The parents may not have kept score but the kids surely did:
Me: “Great game! Did you have fun?”
Son: “Yeah! I scored a goal and we won 4 to 3!”
Me: “Really?”
Son: “Yes. Their goalie was pretty good because we should have won by 7 points. He blocked two of my shots on goal! Let’s go eat ice cream.”
Me: (To my wife: “Take THAT collectivists! A 5 year old gets it. Too bad you don’t!”).
jvb
I imagine things like this quietly die out, except amongst the most sterile of pussyfooter families. I’d imagine most kids would rapidly become bored of no recognition or adversity. The parents also. What is life without resistance? No goal is achieved, no fulfillment reached, no challenge to overcome.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” -TR
Yet, removing those critics, removing those sideline observers, and in the extreme points, removing the obstacles of the man in the arena would be devastating to a child’s ability to learn how to be the Man in the Arena who doesn’t wish to reside with those cold and timid souls.
WOW!!! I actually took TR’s greatest quote out of my original post because I thought it was a stretch! Now I’m kicking myself…
Well, I hesitated also. As I added it, I worried that people would use the “critic doesn’t count” bit to justify the whole “then let’s just silence the critic if he doesn’t count” angle to defend the silent soccer stance.
But I don’t think TR’s quote should be used that way, TR wasn’t denigrating the critic… He was extolling the doer.
There is a place for critics, and protecting them ultimately protects the trash talkers. But that TR, acknowledging there will always be critics and trash talkers, praises the doers who get final credit for pushing past adversity and the trash talkers and achieving what they only talk about.
Which led me then to worry that my defense of his quote would open up the argument about “then you need the trash talkers so people can excel”. Which is another fallacy. There will always be obstacles to overcome even if there weren’t trash talkers… I don’t much care for the “there would be no good if there wasn’t evil to contrast it” arguments.
Great comment. That is a great quote, too.
jvb