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Dodgeball Is "An Unethical Tool Of Oppression"

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
So now the game of Dodgeball, which is fun to play, is the sport of bullies, oppressors and dare I say, racists?

I even know schools that hold Dodgeball tournaments to raise money for school activities.

I don't even know how to take the news seriously anymore.

LINK to one of several stories I've seen today ==> https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019...tUdA5fgf_6Kc61-hz0GvRTuQ8mQDZVGfbDDlMcFT7V0fQ

The National Post released an article earlier today by Joseph Brean explaining how “dodgeball isn’t just an unethical tool, it’s a form of oppression.”

This week, three education theorists will present the premise that dodgeball is “miseducative” and teaches athletic privilege to the Canadian Society for the Study of Education at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences in Vancouver, Canada.

The presentation argues that physical education is supposed to empower children via ‘democratic practices’, and dodgeball’s underlying message of athletic hierarchy and reinforcement of oppression undermines this.

Although dodgeball is the focus of the left for the time being, Brean points out fault in many childhood games, proving them to be similarly problematic. He describes capture the flag as ‘militaristic’ and says tag “singles out one poor participant, often the slowest child, as the dehumanized ‘It,’ who runs vainly in pursuit of the quicker ones.”

The idea that a games used to get children to exercise, work as a team, have fun, and discover their athletic abilities is secretly training them to oppress those they deem weak is a stretch at the very least.

Dodgeball, along with many other physical and intellectual games, is centered around the construction of a balanced team that is capable to handle the task at hand: winning. It’s not about participation trophies. The American football team the New England Patriots wouldn’t choose a lifelong accountant who has dreamed of being on a professional sports team over a football player that has trained since grade school, yet this does not make the Patriots ‘oppressive’ – it makes them winners.

According to Brean’s article, the educational theorists say that dodgeball impairs the creation of “decent citizens of a liberal democracy.” If a liberal democracy is threatened by juveniles playing dodgeball, maybe a reevaluation of the democracy is in order rather than one of a schoolyard game.

Brean references the comedy movie Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story with Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller in an attempt to highlight how dodgeball is a danger to the development of children’s character:

“Sport can teach ethical behaviour and give students the chance to practise it and, in this sense, it is important training for citizens in a democracy. This goal is impeded when cruelty, oppression and violence are built into the rules. Games become more like cruel initiation ceremonies into a brutal world in which might makes right. As O’Houlihan puts it, before he starts throwing wrenches at his players as a form of training: “If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.””
To emphasize the ‘athletic privilege’ the game supposedly teaches kids, Brean once again quotes the comedy film:

“Dodgeball is a sport of violence, exclusion and degradation. So, when you’re picking players in gym class, remember to pick the bigger, stronger kids for your team. That way, you can all gang up on the weaker ones.”

It may be time to reconsider your premise when you’re citing a 2004 comedy film to back your thesis.
 

mla2ofus

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
When we played dodgeball there were no teams. It was every man for himself, if you got hit you're out 'til there's only 2 left and the quickest or most accurate of the two won.
Mike
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
When we played dodgeball there were no teams. It was every man for himself, if you got hit you're out 'til there's only 2 left and the quickest or most accurate of the two won.
Mike

We played it several different ways when I was a kid.

Teams in gym class on a basketball floor using the center line as dividing line between the side.

We played individual, which was pretty much a free-for-all game using an entire floor (or an area of a parking lot)

We also played individual on a gym floor with a dividing line that was sort of a hybrid between team & individual rules above.​

But in every way we played it was a FRIGGIN' GAME and not a tool of oppression!
:hammer:
 

FrancSevin

Proudly Deplorable
GOLD Site Supporter
Dodge ball was My personal favorite gym activity. It was one game at which I, and underweight skinny little kid, was AWESOME. I even beat the class bullies. Being a little target, but a quick opponent, they couldn't hit me hiding behind a big ball and I could safely approach them with a kill shot.

Later, they chased me home from school and generally got even.

This article is BS. Lefties don't like competitive anything. Winners and achievers are a real threat to cheaters. liars and control freaks.
 
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pirate_girl

legendary ⚓
GOLD Site Supporter
The sisters of Notre Dame wouldn't let us girls play dodgeball.
Only the boys got to, and they had to stay on their own side of the playground.
 
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