演艺者vs.运动家
Entertainers vs. Athletes


每日一语：

What we have in us of the image of God is the love of truth and justice. --- Demosthenes

上苍在我们心中的形象是以我们对真实与正义的热爱而体现出来的。 --- Demosthenes

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Dear Visitors:

Have you ever wondered why there are so many leftists in the entertainment world, such as Hollywood and media, besides a few exceptions such as Mel Gibson, Ronald Reagan, Clint Eastwood or Ron Silver. But in the athletic world, such phenomenon is not as obvious. People like Charles Barkley, Michael Jordan tend to stay away from the left.

I now offer my own explanations on this observation for you to ponder on:

Entertainers tend to deal with subjective standard and popularity. People's pleasure or displeasure has always been their only preoccupation and standard to judge their own worth. In short, their personal values often depends upon other people, on the ever-shifting tastes and whims of men. Very few in the entertainment field have strong beliefs and faith. Their individual integrity is often shaky since one whim from a director or producer will prompt you to heaven or beat you into limbo.

Athletes are entirely different stories. They first and foremost deal with objectivity and absolute standard. This standard has never been up to other people's pleasure and whim, up to popularity. It is endowed by God. If you run a 100 meter-dash in 10' while I run the same distance in 9'9", I win, regardless how many people like me or dislike me. If my team beat your team under the same rule on the basketball court, the score will tell the story. No athletes will ever depend on popularity or bribery, or selling their own integrity (except the Chinese athletes nowadays maybe) to win. In short, God is the only judge in the athletic competition.

If we say that the ultimate judge of one's worth in the showbiz is other people's tastes and likings, comparing to oranges and apples, the ultimate judge for an athlete's worth is God himself with an objective standard for everyone.

It is no secret that all the socialists, communists, leftists in the world worship "people". Power based on majority has become their God and absolute judgment. Working the crowd, working to please others, working to manipulate and reform people are the prominent features in the leftists' obsessions. People on the right, the conservatives, are never concerned about their popularity or image among the majority. If they are popular, it is because they are doing the right things. The primary concern for the people on the right is how to observe the absolute moral values, the God's laws.

I love the American Western movies. The rugged individualism that oozes out of the Western spirit attracts me immensely. In the vast prairies individuals face first the nature, God and themselves, not other people. Only reason, rationality and their own inner values and conscience direct their own actions and judgment. This is the true American spirit, true American values. Maybe this explains why nowadays the American left only bases their operations in the big cities where crowds gather while the American right is mostly in the rural area.

This dichotomy of entertainers vs. athletes may provide some insight to help you understand where people come from view-points wise. Maybe my background as a pro-athlete, regardless what skin-color I have, influenced my political and philosophical leaning. I now throw this point out there for you to think about.

Best. Kai Chen 陈凯