MEN!!!
Listen, I know lots of really great men. My father is extraordinary. My boss and mentor, Artie Isaac, is an extremely dignified man. My new friend, Ryan Morgan, is a caring philanthropist. Many of my male friends, such as Shannon and Joshua, are accomplishing unfathomable feats for the greater good of mankind. I’d even risk saying that I know more amazing men than women.
The majority of men, however, are nothing like the men I engage with. Of course, it takes a certain kind of man to handle me. I’m not the easiest spitfire witty spirit for men to get along with. In order for me to really develop a relationship with a man, he must respect that fact that I am a human being and no less significant because of my XX chromosome.
For every step that our race takes forward in the battle for equality, we seem to take a huge leap backwards. A recent article in the NY Times discussing a half time ritual of Jets games evidences this. In what has become a rather appalling ritual at Jets home games, men gather at the Gate D pedestrian ramp and shout obscenity-laced chants at women, demanding they expose their breasts. Some women even get groped.
The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which provides security at Giants Stadium for Jets and Giants games, is aware of the raucous and raunchy halftime show. What they do to prevent, counter, and resolve these acts is hazy. “The problem is, you got to watch four or five hundred people sometimes in the one particular spiral,” the authority’s vice president for security said, “What do we do, arrest everybody that starts chanting?” The NJ State Police staffs every Jets home game as well. They do not make an attempt to prevent fans from congregating in the stairwell and view the matter as being one strictly of security.
Sadly, crude fan behavior is not uncommon at other sporting events in the United States, like Nascar races and the infield at the Kentucky Derby.
There are many theories in psychology and sociology regarding crowd behavior. The main idea of Sigmund Freud's crowd behavior theory is that people who are in a crowd act differently towards people than those who are thinking individually. The minds of the group would merge together to form a way of thinking. Each member's enthusiasm would be increased as a result, and one becomes less aware of the true nature of one's actions.
This is in no way meant to justify the behavior at Jets home games. It is only one explanation of how seemingly rational humans are capable of making poor decisions.
Sad.
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