The Philosopher King - Soccer Style

Generally I don't understand philosophy. The tools and techniques that philosopher's use leave me cold. But I have found that philosophy's Solipsism provides the fundamental underpinning for the job of the referee.

Solipsism can be expressed as the view that 'I am the only mind which exists.' This point of view comes about because the only mind we can ever be sure of is our own. This is obviously not a viewpoint shared by many people...except on the field of play (kind of).

You see the referee is the ultimate Solipsist. Only his/her viewpoint truly matters. It is the referee who decides when the game starts and ends, who is offsides, who's ball it is, who committeed a foul, did they do it in the box, etc. We encourage our referee's to exercise their Solipsistic (I think that's a word) point of view. Ideally we (players, coaches, spectators) willingly give up our Solipsistic right to have our viewpoint count because we know that if everybody's viewpoint or perspective counted then chaos and anarchy would reign and the game just couldn't be played.

Most of the behavior problems at a soccer field occur when we forget that the referee is the Philospher King. Many coaches, players, and parents get out of hand when they try to exercise and impose their own Solipsistic viewpoint onto the pitch. These attempts conflict with the viewpoints of others (including the all-important referee's) and lead to screaming matches, fights, and red cards.So before and during every match this important tenent must be remembered.

Long live the king.

The Seven Shoulds

The following nugget is from a great piece of cultural analaysis that my friends at the Center for Cultural Studies & Analysis recently did for NASA. Although in the appendix "The Seven Shoulds" provides the beginning of a cultural template for any marketing of products to the American Mainstream.

Cultural values are simply broad tendencies by members of any group to prefer one state over others. Values are rarely articulated, since they operate at a pre-conscious level, but they are instantly recognized in their violation. They are expressed over time as a consistent pattern of movement in the direction of a desired state. They express a deeply held feeling for the way things “should” be.

In the US, some of the key “shoulds” are:
1. Individuals should determine their own destiny.
2. Individuals should control their social and physical mobility.
3. Actions should be judged in a moral light.
4. Authority or “bigness” should be viewed with suspicion.
5. We should have as many choices as possible.
6. Anything can and should be improved.
7. The future should be better than the past.

From Appendix A of the 2004 report to NASA "American Perception of Space Exploration" by the Center for Cultural Studies & Analysis