Philocrites

Red Sox foreign policy watch.

by Philocrites

Andrew Pulrang finds in Game 3's ugly brawls a key to George W. Bush's behavior:

What support he got for the Iraq adventure was, I believe, mostly from people's desire for payback. A bunch of Arabs threw a pitch at our head, and automatically, everyone in our dugout came out spoiling for a fight. As ballplayers know, we all knew it was against the rules. We also knew, as ballplayers do, that fighting never results in any change in the circumstances, but useful change is never the real objective. We responded because that's what you do when the other team insults you.

Sox hormones.

Meanwhile, my friend David Ropeik writes in the Boston Globe:

If you're rooting for the Red Sox these days, the team may be doing more than driving up your expectations. They may actually be affecting your testosterone levels, pushing them up when they win and down when they don't, changing all sorts of behaviors in the people who consider themselves part of Red Sox Nation. . . .

Sociologist Robert Cialdini of Arizona State believes testosterone may play a role in another set of behaviors that increase our chances of survival. "People feel victorious themselves by basking in the reflected glory of others," he says. "If your surrogate warriors win a battle, you feel like you are personally better than a member of the tribe that lost."

("Hope and testosterone, rise and fall with Sox," David Ropeik, Boston Globe 10.14.03)

Copyright © 2003 by Philocrites | Posted 14 October 2003 at 5:34 PM

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