Society & Culture Role Models?

[XFactor1979]

ahah!

an antiquated concept in today's society dont you think?

but in my day and age, it was thought by my folks that the tv could raise me on the back of movies starring michael j fox

or the good ol sporting stars of yesteryear for us to look up to. back in the day i collected a few west coast eagles players cards courtesy of hungry jacks, and on the back of the cards the player information file for brett heady said: "occupation: insurance salesman", wow! he works as well as play football

but nowadays footballers and sportstars are fulltime professionals in the sport, and they do this in order to improve the quality of the sport you are watching. and if you found out what these professional sportstars are making you start to scratch your head to know how much someone gets paid to merely "catch a football"

actors? thats no good either! um, whats paris hilton (why do girls look up to her?) doing? whats lindsay lohan (of the disney franchise) doing? or how about jordan (better known as katie price) saying she doesnt mind her baby daughter grow up to be like her and be a page three model.
does anyone really want their daughters grow up to be like them? or even from the men's side: do you really want your sons to grow up to become todd carney or alan didak?

the turning point with regards to the concept of role models: when basketball player "sir" charles barkley made the infamous comment that sportstars and actors are not meant to be role models- their parents are!


the catch 22 is both parents these days (if they stay together!)work full time, its an antiquated concept to have just A breadwinner. all the kids are raised by nannies


*peers through the lens* ... i can see the fall of the roman empire!

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

Sports players should not be role models. They are generally self-indulgent and arrogant and it leaves kids aspiring to be something that most of them will never be.

Here in the UK it is far worse than it is in Australia. Especially for women. The number of young girls who simply aspire to be a footballers wife or a Page 3 model is astounding, I dont have sauce but I've seen articles and surveys on the topic over and over. The BBC love a good whinge.

The Europeans have it right when it comes to their attitude towards footballers et al. I heard a good interview with a Spanish journo after John Terry was caught dipping his wick elsewhere. He said that had that been a player in Spain, he would of ben lauded as 'one of the boys', a bit like a rock star may as he is seen as simply an entertainer. His captaincy of the national team would never had been brought into question anyway..

This is because they understand the need to keep sporting lives and private lives seperate. They understand that most pro footballers have left school at 16, are spoilt, bratty and immature with more cash than they can handle and are NOT something to have the youth aspire to be like.

Leave it to the parents to explain that 'Terry is a spoilt dog' and 'Paris is a filthy **** with no self respect' and kids can grow up with real values without the need to be sheltered. That way kids can still have a natural childhood - girls can enjoy the gossip mags, boys can put posters of footballers on their wall - while retaining a sense of perspective.

 

[skilts]

Red Symons said it best about twelve months ago, on his radio show. Some sports correspondent started talking about how footballers were role models for the youth of Australia. Red said, "Yep, I can see that footballers would be role models for youth...on how to play football."

If the youth of Australia is dependent upon footballers to show them how to conduct their lives, we're in more trouble than I thought.

 

[the_fresh]

Anyone who blames a sportsperson for not living up to being a good role model is a lazy parent.

Sportspeople are most of the time great at one thing, avg. at best at most other things. Thats why out of 44 players on a AFL list, you only have 5 or 6 in the leadership group, the rest are too dumb to think about things other than game plans.

 

[aussiedude]

society as a whole is too judgemental now, and i will be the first to admit that i think of my self as a good judge of people when i first see them with stance, and what they have with them. it gets me in shit at times but i dont care about that so i do like a Shaun Spencer look over from Psych just with out the hands on my head

 

[jeemak]

Anyone who blames a sportsperson for not living up to being a good role model is a lazy parent.

Sportspeople are most of the time great at one thing, avg. at best at most other things. Thats why out of 44 players on a AFL list, you only have 5 or 6 in the leadership group, the rest are too dumb to think about things other than game plans.

A lot of the 44 (38?) players on an AFL list would have been captains of their junior clubs, league rep sides etc. They are also probably a chance to have finished high school and do tertiary study. But they are all working in a competitive environment where there's too many candidates for the spots available. I think you're selling most of them a bit short. Plus, you have to be a regular senior player to even be a look in. Football ability plays a massive part in whether or not you get to be in the leadership group.

I agree that parents are lazy in some ways nowadays. For me any time a sportsperson stuffed up I'd look at it as another opportunity to talk to my kid and educate him/her about how bad stuff can happen to anyone. Even those who's lives seem perfect.