Posted on 11/13/2013 2:47:35 AM PST by markomalley
A Denver Broncos lineman is quitting the NFL — and walking away from an additional $1 million he would have made if he’d stayed through the end of his contract next year — because he’d begun reading the works of liberal linguist Noam Chomsky and the Dalai Lama.
Guard John Moffitt called the Broncos from his home in Seattle last week and said he wouldn’t be back.
Unlike Miami Dolphins offensive tackle Jonathan Martin, who famously quit the team amid allegations that he was being bullied and harassed by teammates, Moffitt told the Associated Press that he was simply no longer all that thrilled to be playing football.
“I just really thought about it and decided I’m not happy,” he told AP. “I’m not happy at all. And I think it’s really madness to risk your body, risk your well-being and risk your happiness for money.”
“Everybody, they just don’t get it and they think it’s crazy,” he said. “But I think what I was doing is crazy.”
He also cited the works of Noam Chomsky, who once said that cheering for your home team was a way of “building into people irrational submissiveness to power,” as part of his decision.
The prolific author, media critic and liberal activist and commentator is quoted in his 1992 book “Manufacturing Consent” saying that sports are part of a propagandist “indoctrination system” meant to distract “Joe Six Pack” from “things that matter.”
“The purpose of those media is just to dull people’s brains,” he said. “This is an oversimplification, but for the 80 percent or whatever they are, the main thing is to divert them. To get them to watch National Football League.”
“[I]t’s a way of building up irrational attitudes of submission to authority, and group cohesion behind leadership elements — in fact, it’s training in irrational jingoism,” Chomsky wrote. “That’s also a feature of competitive sports. I think if you look closely at these things, I think, typically, they do have functions, and that’s why energy is devoted to supporting them and creating a basis for them and advertisers are willing to pay for them and so on.”
Moffitt has only played two games for the Broncos after being acquired from the Seattle Seahawks in August. AP reported that he’s earned $1.8 million in his two and a half NFL seasons. He’s leaving the Broncos during an 8-1 season in which they’re in second place in the AFC West. The team has a real chance to make the Super Bowl.
Moffitt shrugged it off.
“I don’t care about the Super Bowl,” he told AP. “I don’t need the Super Bowl experience. I played in great stadiums and I played against great players. And I had that experience and it’s enough.”
Moffitt didn’t say what new career he’ll pursue, but said he plans to spend more time with his parents, his girlfriend and her 5-year-old daughter.
Liberal deep-thinking ...
The health concern makes perfect sense to me.
Chomsky? Not so much.
He read that book by Chomsky about some guy named Galt.
Now what John? That's right - go get yourself a real job. Good luck with all that.
THIS GUY WAS A BRONCO?????? I DON’T THINK SO!!!!!!!
And that should be the end of it.
How many of US have read something that changed our minds and hearts ?
If Chomsky changed him, he was destined to quit anyway ... or worse
Leave the guy alone.
Wow, the Dalai Lama couldn’t be more philosophically different than Chomsky.
I can respect that. Even if the realization came from reading Dr Seuss, which is not far from Chomsky.
well, sports due seem to dull us and keep us simply minded no doubt...we're not about buying pro tickets to anything but we do enjoy our local small college basketball, and watching on tv....
you have to have some diversions in this world...
I think there was another reason he quit the team.......and he just doesn’t want to say.
>>The prolific author, media critic and liberal activist and commentator is quoted in his 1992 book “Manufacturing Consent” saying that sports are part of a propagandist “indoctrination system” meant to distract “Joe Six Pack” from “things that matter.”
Every now and then, a liberal gets something right.
A sure sign that he's already suffering neurological damage.
We’re missing the point-A pro football player is reading a book that doesn’t come with crayons.
Every now and then, a liberal gets something right.
Exactly. I've had many frustrated mornings at work, listening to non-stop sports talk. There are several HUGE sports fans that do not even follow news or politics. I'm very frustrated with the bread and circuses going on, and everyone's addiction to them. Don't get me wrong, I love sports, but I haven't had TV in over a decade, and I can still follow sports, but politics is far FAR more important. Sports are a pleasant distraction. Hey! My Cardinals went to the world series again! Didn't see a minute of the games.
The story reports, "...said he plans to spend more time with his parents, his girlfriend and her 5-year-old daughter.
The story does not report the child to be his.
Big hitter, the Lama.
Of course the Dalai Lama's a Marxist
Dalai Lama and Chomsky sing from the same hymn book.
Sounds like this guy doesn’t want to serve his country anymore as a football hero... I wonder what Al Bundy would have to say about this?
Being 6’4”, 319 lbs and playing professional football for a living doesn’t make someone an idiot.
Citing Noam Chomsky as a life-changing influence certainly does.
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