Bill Sykes' - In Retrospect
V.
(January 2007)
Bill Sykes
looks back in retrospect at material which has been published
in previous editions of "View from America",
in an attempt to determine whether the subject matter
written then is still applicable in today’s world.
These observations have been extracted from Bill Sykes’ Newsletter “View
from America”. May
2005 Edition.
Article # 5A
Everybody loves a winner. (With the exception of
the loser, of course).
(Reference October 2001 Edition).
I have included this article in perhaps a vain attempt to try to explain
how the American "win at all costs syndrome" works
and how I think that it is applicable to the Iraqi war
and other wars, (or policing actions as many have been
called), that American forces have been engaged in.
Please bear with me as I try to connect the pieces of
the jigsaw in order to focus you the reader's attention
into recognising how the American "win at all
costs syndrome" or "appear to win at
all costs syndrome" mentality is applicable to
a war situation.
Have you ever noticed that America would appear to be
loathe to declare war - with perhaps the exception of
World War Two when the United States was forced to declare
war against Japan after the Pearl Harbour incident and
join the Allies in the fight against the Axis powers.
I cannot think of one other declaration of war. Was there
a declaration of war issued by the North against the
South, or vice versa, in the American Civil War - and
who really won, was it declared a draw??? (I’ll
have to look that one up).
Most of the wars fought by American forces have been
declared "Policing Actions".
Perhaps if one doesn’t conduct a declared war then
perhaps one can avoid the "Winner/ Loser syndrome".
Let’s take a look at the predicament in WW2. The
Allies won the fighting war against both Germany and
Japan, and because of vast reparations paid by the victors
to the losers, the losers won the peace!!!
Will the current war against terrorism also become known
as a Policing Action?
The "win at all costs syndrome":
This "win at all costs syndrome" is in general fostered
by the parents of American children from an early age
and is not only connected to the sports fields but also
to all other avenues of endeavour. Parents encourage
their offspring to strive not only for excellence in
the sports arena and academic fields, but also to be
fully aware of the "win at all cost syndrome" which
in their minds is a very necessary and dominating factor
in every aspect of the lives of their offspring - the
creed of the ambitious parents is for their offspring
to be #1 in everything that they tackle, which in many
cases places undue stress and strain on the less fortunate
children who do not have natural academic or sporting
capabilities to achieve a #1 status.
The reason that I decided to write this paragraph was
based upon the recent baseball bat killing in Palmdale,
a California desert city located approximately 40 miles
north of Los Angeles.
The incident occurred when a 13-year-old pitcher of a
junior baseball team, which had just lost for the first
time this season, was being teased at the concession
stand after the game by a 15-year-old spectator. It was
alleged that the 13-year-old player pulled a baseball
bat from his carrying bag and hit the 15-year-old across
the knees and on the head. It was stated that
the 15-year-old died later as a result of the attack
and the 13-year-old was placed under arrest for investigation
of murder.
The 13-year-old boy was said to be a competitive player
who did not have a reputation for violence. He was the
starting pitcher for his team and this was the first
time that his team had been beaten in eight games so
he was obviously very upset about losing and the teasing
was the last straw - but the question then arises as
to whether a "win at all cost syndrome" upbringing
played any part in this unfortunate incident?
The first time that I recognised this syndrome was during
the 1968 Olympics, (eighteen months or so after arriving
in America), when I watched the Olympic sporting events
being televised on American TV and was astounded to discover
the biased reporting by the American press. In general,
if there was not an American competing in any particular
sporting event then that sport was not given prime time
coverage - if there were American participants in any
particular sporting event the cameras deliberately focused
upon the those participants and very little else, and
if any one of the individuals who had been predicted
to win an event did not do so the after the event critique
was merciless considering that the individuals in question
had trained extremely hard and had given their all in
an effort to win but had been beaten on the day by better
contestants.
In 1968 when my family and I moved from Seattle, Washington
State, to San Diego, California, I joined a group of
British, European, and Mexican coaches to form a YMCA
soccer league, [This was before the American Youth Soccer
Association, (AYSO), came upon the scene in San Diego],
and we formed a league consisting of several teams of
ten and eleven year old boys.
Many of the boy’s
mothers used to attend the games but very few of the
fathers, (perhaps the reason being was that the connecting
towns of Chula Vista and National City housed the families
of Navy personnel, and a number of the player’s
fathers were away on duty serving with the American navy),
but never-the-less the story concerns the sensitivity
of the young players to losing.
After one grueling match
where my team gave their all but eventually lost the
game by the only goal, several of my players went off
the field in tears. I gathered the players together and
my message to them was that soccer is a hard physical
game to be enjoyed regardless of the final score and
that I expected 100 percent effort from all the players
all the time and would under no circumstance allow or
condone foul play - subsequently we had a great team
who enjoyed every minute of their endeavours to win.
Getting back to the story - Scene: Last game of the
season, we lost a very hard fought and excellent game
finishing up in the top half of the league table and
seeing that it was the last game of the season I had
arranged for a small celebration after the match and
provided ice cream and soft drinks - just then a heavy
set American male came up to me and said, "Are you the coach?",
I said "Yes, are you one of the fathers?" - all
he could say was, "They lost and look at them running
around enjoying themselves". So I responded by
saying what else would he have them do as they had a
great game and deserved to enjoy themselves.
Much to my surprise he then started to rant and rave
that because they lost they should be slinking away with
their tails between their legs in disgrace.
I gave him a few choice words of advice as to his ungentlemanly
conduct and had him forcibly ejected from the grounds
by a couple of equally burly navy personnel who were
very glad to do so.
The "appear to win at all costs syndrome"
pervades the whole structure of American society from
top boardroom executives down through lower management
and also to the various military excursions that have
been undertaken by American forces.
The disastrous Vietnam policing action, that caused the
deaths of 57,000 young American soldiers, could be illustrated
as a prime example. The war against Communism, (or was
it just a red herring policing conflict), continues to
be claimed by most Americans as a victory, even though
within weeks of the American troops pulling out of South
Vietnam, the North Vietnamese invaded the country and
Vietnam has been unified ever since.
Let us take a look at another illustration of the important
part that sports play in the American College and University
systems.
When my grandson, accompanied by his father, were viewing
prospective Colleges for potential entrance, (some five
plus years ago), the first thing that the college did
was to show films indicating the prowess of their college
football, basketball teams, etc. My son-in-law then suggested
that even though physical fitness was a worthy part of
the curriculum why did they give so much priority to
sporting activities and not enough to their academic
prowess - considering that the general idea of attending
college was to educate the individual and not to occupy
them in a great deal of time associated with sporting
activities.
The obvious answer, which really was
not forthcoming, is that renowned college teams generate
a great deal of money and prestige in the eyes of the
sporting public hence the promotion of their athletic
capabilities.
Of course many sports capable minorities get athletic
scholarships which enable them, if they are good enough,
to compete for very lucrative multi-million dollar professional
team contracts upon college graduation.
My grandson eventually went to the college of his choice
and to my surprise took up one of the most violent of
sports, English-type rugby - well he is of pretty
good physique and it is a game that he really enjoyed
playing even though he did break his nose several times
and suffered other injuries associated with rugby, such
as a dislocated collar bone, etc.
Occasions of players fighting amongst themselves at American
professional basketball games, baseball games, and football
games are becoming more and more prominent, and worst
still brawls between players and spectators are also
occurring on a more frequent basis. What a terrible example
these people, (players and spectators), are setting for
the enthusiastic youth participating in sports.
But, whilst on the subject of sports and sportsmanship,
in all fairness I have to comment on the past and present
hooliganism and drunkenness of English and European football
spectators. I was appalled at the disgraceful incident
which occurred during a recent Newcastle football game
where fighting erupted between a couple of the Newcastle
players - -no wonder Newcastle are struggling in the
English, top flight, Premiership league, and yet at the
start of the season I thought that they were doing so
well.
The "I’ve gotta have it syndrome":
The two wage earner, upper yuppie, generation have developed
over the years of prosperity in the United States since
World War Two the "I’ve gotta have it syndrome",
where they have got to have the largest houses with
all mod cons, the latest, huge, bigger and better,
gas guzzling sports utility vehicles, (SUVs), expensive
designer clothes, etc, even though many have huge mortgage
debt and have maxxed out a whole string of credit cards.
You must realise that my description applies only to
some of the young two wage earner families who are
currently in good jobs earning relatively high salaries
and fortunate, or unfortunate, enough to be in the
upper tax bracket, and certainly does not apply to
the lower echelon people working two jobs and yet barely
existing upon minimum wages, these are the people who
can readily attest to the fact that it has become exceedingly
difficult for them to make ends meet.
It would appear
that the upper yuppie craving for materialistic things
exceeds no bounds - but there again, they have only
seen prosperity in their short lives and are following
the "spend now, pay later" economy that
developed after World War Two. They have yet to realise
that the people of America suffered great hardships
before, during, and after the1929 depression that did
not ease up until way after World War Two ended. They
have yet to realise that in general what goes up eventually
comes down and situations have been known to occur
where their once more than adequate pay checks do not
support their debt laden purchases of materialistic
things. When their debt exceeds their salary income
and house values tumble to a point where their mortgage
is higher than the current selling price of their residence,
and jobs become scare or non existent, as was experienced
a few years ago when the dot.com companies went belly
up, then they are in big trouble and in many cases
seek the protection of bankruptcy.
I’m
not predicting that another great depression is rapidly
approaching and is going to happen soon but I would
suggest that the buyer beware the current situation
where the Bush administration is still promoting the
idea that the American economy is strong even though
the United States has become the largest debtor nation
in the world and the national debt gets larger every
month.
The "anything goes syndrome":
The world in general is losing its grasp on
law and order and the anything goes syndrome now appears
to be the norm for the current day generation who act
as though they have the right to do whatever they please
whenever they please. Discipline is sadly lacking
in the home, in the schools, and practically every other
location. Television sit-com's have in many cases
become crude and distasteful attempts at low class gutter
humour, extreme and horrific violence is the theme of
many current movies, and games console computer games
teach the youth of today how to kill by extraordinary
acts of violence - no wonder that the sanctity of life
has been degraded to a point where acts of violence are
taking place in the schools and on the playing fields
and what better example of the degradation of the sanctity
of life than the extreme violence taking place in Afghanistan
and Iraq.
I recently read a report which bolstered my statement
that discipline should begin in the home, but unfortunately
in many cases both parents are out working to fulfil
their dream of the good life of the rich and famous,
or on the other hand pay off their accrued debts, and
the latch key kids, some as young as ten years of age,
come home to empty houses and in many cases are left
to their own devices for many, many, hours at a time
so why should one be surprised when discipline goes down
the drain and some young people find many extracurricular
activities to entertain themselves which has been known
to include sex, drugs, and alcohol.
When you look at the Columbine High School shootings,
the pedophile killings of young girls, and the gang
killings in the inner cities, then surely the above criticism,
which obviously does not apply to all parents, is a dire
warning that the lack of discipline has reached a point
where changes have to be made, as the provision of generous
amounts of money by parents in order to shunt their teen
age children off to throng the malls of this county is
not the answer.
To view the complete May 2005 Edition please click HERE.
(To view initial "Everyone loves a winner" reference
material please go to the October 2001 Edition by clicking HERE.)
Disclaimer:
Some of the information gathered for this newsletter
is gleaned from American and International media sources,
(including the Internet), and as such is quoted as
accurately as possible. I try to obtain confirmation
on each subject from several outlets, so the text is
a mixture of composite news items and personal comments
and therefore the reader must make his/her own judgment
as to the reliability and degree of accuracy of the
subjects discussed.
We
welcome feedback about any of the contents of these articles.
Please send all correspondence to bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
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