(published 4/4/00)
  Root for the underdog
  by Mischa Gelman

   As another baseball season is starting, perhaps it's time to focus on a
dying part of American culture, which connects sport, politics, economics
and almost every aspect of society. What is dying, you see, is the idea
that we should root for the underdog. In politics, this is evident in the
media worship of Al Gore and George Bush, the front-runners and the
children of powerful elites themselves. In sports, we see a sick
bandwagon-jumping tendency wherein a dynasty like the Chicago Bulls gets
cheered on (until the dynasty ended, when silence replaced the cheers),
rather than booed like the "Damn Yankees" of old. In economics, we see a
class envy at work where a newspaper like the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
prints a "Seen" section that is filled with unhealthy envy and praise of
the rich and not-so-famous. Whatever happened to pulling for the little
guy or the mediocre team to overcome the odds? Aren't the Miracle Mets a
better story than the Braves and Cowboys of the 90s? Isn't Harry Truman
a greater historical icon than Herbert Hoover?
   The problem, as far as I can tell, is the recent resurgence of social
darwinist thinking. We are taught to celebrate the winners, regardless of
how easy the race was for them, and to scorn those who are less likely to
succeed. We are taught that money, rather than morals, is the measure of
mankind, and thus to respect those with more money, even if they got it by
peddling sleaze or monopolizing a market and charging exorbitant prices
consumers can barely afford. If we are taught that winning is the only
thing (something even Vince Lombardi would reject, after his famous quote
was issued), we distort our view of the world, becoming too ready to be
apologists for those in power, even if they are deserving of rebuke. We
are thus treated to the spectacle of the media looking at what's good for
big business rather than for small businesses or what's good for business
rather than what's good for workers or consumers. Injustices cannot be
solved if we spend our time comforting the comfortable and afflicting the
afflicted (and hence blaming the victim) rather than the more traditional
approach of afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted.
  Another part of the problem is the increasing elitist composition of the
media. We have gone from the days when reporters lived in poorer
neighborhoods to when they are college-educated and this is rarely the
case. Whose problems do you think they will be covering in sufficient
detail? How is Peter Jennings or Tom Brokaw to accurately report on the
economy when they are multi-millionaires, raking in tons more in a year
than the average citizen will in a lifetime.
  Also, the two primary parties have abandoned the cause of those in need.
We once had the Great Society and the New Deal. Now we have, according to
political commentator Arianna Huffington, the pro-choice corporatist party
and the pro-life corporatist party (though Pennsylvanians like Ron Klink,
Tom Ridge and Bob Casey don't fit their party profiles, practicing free
thought). Given this scenario, we lack a major party that would offer
appropriate concerns about a living wage or other issues of economic
fairness.
  Our histories and fables are full of the right outlook. Robin Hood stole
from the rich and gave to the poor. Yet today we take from the middle
class and give to the rich via corporate welfare and tax breaks aimed at
the upper brackets and a president who preaches supply-side economics of
taking from the poor and giving to the rich gets elected to two terms. The
American Revolution consisted of the underdog taking action, as did the
Civil Rights Movement or the Suffragette Movement. Yet today we cut back
on programs designed to help the poor, in an unvoiced declaration of class
warfare. We rooted for the tortoise to beat the hare and for the little
pigs, not for the big, bad wolf. Today the media, though, roots for the
wolves, seeing the world through the social darwinist-libertarian lens of
"competition" and "survival of the fittest." G.K. Chesterton pointed out
that it seems like certain folks would be on the side of the dragon
against St. George.
   Let's not root for dragons, okay?

  Mischa Gelman misses the days of Raffy Belliard being in the Pirates
lineup or in major league baseball period.