Football and Other Violent Sports Need to Cease—But I’m a Hypocrite

The objects of football are scoring points and preventing the opposing team from scoring. I’m okay with that. But, the way defenses prevent opponents from scoring concerns me.

Unlike sports where physical contact between two opposing players constitutes a rules violation, contact is encouraged in football. Players seek to hit opponents hard enough to knock them out of the way, and in the case of the person with the football seek to tackle them and/or to hit the individual hard enough to cause them to fumble the ball. As a result, thousands of injuries occur each year.

Football Injuries to Youths

Since many injuries are neither recorded nor reported, there is probably no accurate record of the thousands and thousands of serious injuries occurring each year playing some form of football. But, a Centers for Disease Control Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report article[1] found football injuries to be the #1 cause of Emergency Department visits for persons under age 18 for “nonfatal traumatic brain injuries” related to sports and recreation in the United States for 2010-2016. A verywellhealth.com article [2] lists “11 Common Football Injuries.”

Safety equipment worn by football players helps reduce injuries. Rules changes in recent years also seem to help. The National Federation of State High School Associations in a February 2019 post[3] stated “the risk of serious or catastrophic injuries has never been lower in the history of high school football.” Still, far too many injuries occur playing football, despite the use of protective equipment like helmets with facemasks, pads, etc., and rules that prohibit certain types of physical contact.

Personally, I think it is wrong to participate in a sport where a primary object is to hit and tackle players on the other team. Therefore, I support abolishing football. But, I don’t expect football to be abolished immediately. It attracts huge fan support at the high school, college, and professional levels. Abolishing it at the high school level I’m guessing would in time lead to its elimination at the college and professional levels. And, I support abolishing it at the elementary school and junior high school levels first.

Although high school football currently still has more participants than any other high school sport in the United States, participation in high school football has been declining for a decade according to a Forbes piece[4] that cites data from the National Federation of High School Associations. As persons become more aware of the risks and (in my opinion) the superior entertainment options available, I think football will become less popular.

Why Focus on Football Rather Than Other Violent Sports?

Obviously, there are other violent sports besides football. And, I think they need to be abolished, too. But, they attract far fewer participants than football, so in this article my focus is on football.

For example, a relatively small number of persons participate in boxing or wrestling. Also, sports that are cruel to animals such as cockfighting and bullfighting are rapidly losing their public appeal and their legality.

Injuring an opposing team’s star player seems to be a goal of some football defensive players. Boxing with its emphasis on knocking out an opponent is even worse. But football is much more widely played and watched.

My Hypocrisy

I confess my hypocrisy. I am a University of Kentucky college football fan. As long as the University of Kentucky plays football, I may occasionally attend or watch games. Football can be entertaining and is a social event that attracts thousands of fans to attend or watch games. Even tailgating before games is a popular activity.

Still, it amazes me how persons (including me, I’m sorry to say) can find it entertaining to watch other people seek to tackle their opponents and to cheer when a quarterback is sacked.

When players seek to deliberately hurt others the sport becomes even worse. Fortunately, we fans do generally clap when an apparently injured player gets up and is able to walk. I sometimes say silent prayers for injured players on either team, as I’m sure others do. Furthermore, it’s heartening to often see players from an opposing team gather to offer emotional support to an injured opponent.

Alternative Sports and Alternative Activities

But, it will be great when we progress toward other forms of entertainment. Soccer, which is often called football elsewhere in the world, is apparently the most popular sport worldwide. It would be great in my opinion if soccer, baseball, basketball, and/or another sport replaced football in popularity in the United States.

My preference would be for basketball, which is fast paced, provides much scoring, and is likely already the most popular spectator sport here in Kentucky where I live. I love watching an exciting basketball game where few fouls are committed and those committed are called correctly by officials. Perhaps it is a nice twist that the inventor of the game of basketball, Dr. James Naismith, is one of the people considered the possible inventor of the football helmet.

At any rate, I think we need to take more action to promote safety in sports. Change takes time but it can come. I hope someday soon we come to realize that seeking to deliberately tackle and/or injure another human being (or even an animal) just to win an entertaining game is not appropriate.

Perhaps best of all would be if we treated sports primarily as a source of exercise for physical conditioning, and devoted the majority of our time to more constructive activities such as academics, work, volunteer activities to help others, and fellowship. I think that’s a nice goal to strive for.

ENDNOTES:

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[1] Kelly Sarmiento, MPH; Karen E. Thomas, MPH; Jill Daugherty, PhD; Dana Waltzman, PhD; Juliet K. Haarbauer-Krupa, PhD; Alexis B. Peterson, PhD; Tadesse Haileyesus, MS; Matthew J. Breiding, PhD; “Emergency Department Visits for Sports- and Recreation-Related Traumatic Brain Injuries Among Children — United States, 2010–2016”; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report; March 15, 2019; webpage accessed August 31, 2019; https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/wr/mm6810a2.htm

[2] Jonathan Cluett, MD; “11 Common Football Injuries”;  verywellhealth; updated June 28, 2019; webpage accessed August 31, 2019; https://www.verywellhealth.com/football-injuries-2548806

[3] Karissa Niehoff and David Jackson; “Injury Risk Lowest in History of High School Football”; National Federation of High School Associations”; February 6, 2019; website accessed August 31, 2019; https://www.nfhs.org/articles/injury-risk-lowest-in-history-of-high-school-football/

[4] Bob Cook; “High School Football Participation Is On A Decade-Long Decline”; Forbes.com; August 29, 2019; webpage accessed August 30, 2019; https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobcook/2019/08/29/high-school-football-participation-is-on-a-decade-long-decline/#69a0924b33de

NOTE:

This piece being submitted to Google Blogger on August 31, 2019 is virtually identical to one the author submitted to Craft News Report, a website operated by his friend Paul Craft, earlier on August 31, 2019. That article was updated from articles the author posted on other websites some years ago.

Drinking Water Shortages and Some Suggestions for Dealing With Them

As you probably have both read and heard, shortages of safe drinking water exist in many places around the world. The World Health Organization reports[1] “at least 2 billion people use a drinking water source contaminated with faeces [feces],” and also states that “By 2025, half of the world’s population will be living in water-stressed areas.”

In recent months numerous articles have reported on water shortages that exist in various places worldwide, including one from Reuters.[2] A list of “10 Cities Most at Risk of Running Out of Water” is provided by US News & World Report.[3] India is one of the countries already experiencing major water shortages, as reported by CNN[4] and other news sources.

Shortage Is of Drinking Water, Not Water Overall

It is important to remember that although the supply of drinking water is declining, there is no shortage of water overall. The oceans contain a huge quantity of salt water.

A 2008 Scientific American article[5] discusses why we don’t desalinate more ocean water to alleviate drinking water shortages. However, despite issues with desalination, it is becoming much more common.

Two big problems with desalination are its cost and the environmental damage it causes. A January 2019 Reuters piece[6] cites a UN study discussing environmental damage from the thousands of desalination plants in the world. However, Columbia University researchers reported[7] in May 2019 that they had developed a new desalination process that may make water desalination more feasible on a large scale.

Desalination is already widely used. A USGS webpage[8] states that “According to the International Desalination Association, in June 2015, 18,426 desalination plants operated worldwide, producing 86.8 million cubic meters per day, providing water for 300 million people.” And, an International Desalination Association webpage[9] states there are now 20,516 “desalination plants worldwide.”

Suggestions for Dealing With Water Shortages

·         As water desalination becomes cheaper, more environmentally friendly, and more widespread, it can do much to alleviate water shortages.

·         We can do more to conserve water. Let’s avoid wasting it.

·         Let’s devote more time, talent, and money to research into alleviating water shortages and less into military weaponry and wars. But, that’s easier written than attained.

·         Agriculture uses a huge amount of water to provide for livestock and the crops that we humans eat. Changing to a vegan diet that eliminates the need for huge quantities of cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, etc. could greatly reduce water usage according to a Guardian article[10] and other sources.

·         Reducing population growth through more sexual abstinence and/or consistent proper use of contraceptives could greatly reduce the increase in water consumption that is forecast for future years.

·         Also, we need to plant billions more trees worldwide. According to a piece on the North Carolina State University website[11] “Trees . . . help increase ground water recharge, reduce soil erosion and storm water run-off thus reducing the amount of water we consume and the need for new water treatment plant and storm water structures.”

Closing Thoughts
I think cheaper more environmentally friendly desalination on a large scale, slower population growth, persons eating vegan diets, and a massive increase in tree planting would go a long way toward solving our water problems. Progress is being made in all these areas and in others, but we have a long way to go. What do you think?

ENDNOTES:           

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[1] “Drinking-water: Key facts”; World Health Organization; June 14, 2019; webpage accessed August 25, 2019; https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/drinking-water

[2] Laurie Gerring; “Running Dry: Competing for water on a dry planet”; Reuters; June 3, 2019; webpage accessed August 25, 2019; https://www.reuters.com/article/us-water-global-scarcity/running-dry-competing-for-water-on-a-thirsty-planet-idUSKCN1T41AT

[3] Wilson Chapman; “10 Cities Most at Risk of Running Out of Water”; US News & World Report; June 21, 2019; webpage accessed August 25,2019; https://www.usnews.com/news/cities/slideshows/10-cities-most-at-risk-of-running-out-of-water?onepage

[4] Jessie Yeung, Swatie Gupta and Michael Guy; “India has just five years to solve its water crisis experts fear. Otherwise hundreds of millions of lives will be in danger”; CNN; July 3, 2019; webpage accessed August 25, 2019; https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/27/india/india-water-crisis-intl-hnk/index.html 

[5] Peter Gleick; “Why don’t we get our drinking water from the ocean by taking the salt out of seawater?”; Scientific American piece (written by Peter Gleick of Pacific Institute);July 23, 2008; webpage accessed August 25, 2019; https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-dont-we-get-our-drinking-water-from-the-ocean/

[6] Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent; “Too much salt: water desalination plants harm environment, UN”; Reuters; January 14, 2019; webpage accessed August 25, 2019; https://www.reuters.com/article/us-environment-brine/too-much-salt-water-desalination-plants-harm-environment-u-n-idUSKCN1P81PX  

[7] Holly Evarts; “Radical Desalination Approach May Disrupt the Water Industry”; Columbia University Engineering Press Release; May 6, 2019; webpage accessed August 25, 2019; https://engineering.columbia.edu/press-releases/ngai-yin-yip-radical-desalination    

[8] “Desalination”; USGS.gov; webpage accessed August 25, 2019; https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/desalination#targetText=According%20to%20the%20International%20Desalination,water%20for%20300%20million%20people.

[9] International Desalination Association website; webpage accessed August 25, 2019; https://idadesal.org/ 

[10] John Vidal; “Meat-eaters soak up the world’s water”; Guardian; August 23, 2004; webpage accessed August 25, 2019; https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2004/aug/23/water.famine

[11] Compiled by Erv Evans; “Americans are planting TREES OF STRENGTH: Community Benefits”; North Carolina State University College of Agriculture & Life Sciences Department of Horticulture Science; webpage accessed August 25, 2019; https://projects.ncsu.edu/project/treesofstrength/benefits.htm#targetText=Trees%20increase%20the%20humidity%20in,plant%20and%20storm%20water%20structures.&targetText=By%20absorbing%20and%20deflecting%20falling,reduce%20the%20severity%20of%20floods.

NOTE:

This piece being submitted to Google Blogger on August 26, 2019 is very similar to one the author submitted to Craft News Report (a website operated by the author’s friend Paul Craft) on August 25, 2019.

Buy Greenland? Is President Trump's Idea Foolish or Thoughtful?

President Donald Trump has considered offering to buy Greenland. You can read more about this in various news articles. I especially like CNN[1]’s nice analysis of Trump’s idea.

Critics criticized the idea as ridiculous. But, is it really?

Benefits of Buying Greenland

Greenland apparently has a huge amount of natural resources. And, with global warming, its climate may become more inhabitable in the future. If available at a reasonable price, buying Greenland could be an excellent investment for the United States. A Washington Examiner editorial[2] hails Trump’s idea as “a great idea” in its headline, then goes on to discuss why.

Is Greenland Available?

Persons in both Greenland and Denmark, which owns Greenland (as an autonomous country according to Visit Greenland[3] and other sources), have responded that Greenland is not for sale, according to various news articles, including a BBC piece[4] and a New York Times piece[5].

It would have been nice if President Trump had sought out information on whether Greenland was potentially for sale before tweeting or otherwise publicly expressing interest in buying it.

But, who knows? If the price is right and conditions change, maybe someday a deal can be worked out. However, currently Denmark and Greenland may be in better shape than the United States in several respects, so a U.S. purchase of Greenland doesn’t seem likely in the near future.

Thinking Innovatively

One think I respect about President Trump is his inclination to come up with new ideas, unusual ideas, things the typical Republican or Democratic politician would not come up with—or at least not express publicly.

I voted for a minor party candidate instead of either Trump or Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. And, I still dislike several things about the President.

Indeed, some of Trump’s ideas and comments do seem ridiculous. But, others are insightful. I count this idea among the insightful ones.

Trump Visiting Denmark Next Month

President Trump is scheduled to visit Denmark in September according to various news sources, including a Reuters article[6] and one from the Associated Press[7]. I wonder if the possibility of purchasing Greenland will come up during the visit?

Maybe the President will simply state that if Denmark ever changes its mind about selling Greenland to contact the President, or maybe the President will be bold enough to throw out a dollar figure in case Denmark might change its mind about interest. At any rate, I doubt that Greenland will be offered for sale—reports from Greenland and Denmark seem clear about that.

Land Acquisitions in History

In recent centuries there have been numerous land purchases by various countries, including the United States’ purchase of Alaska from Russia and its Louisiana Purchase from France.

But, it sadly seems that land is more often obtained by one country from another via war. To cite two major 20^th century examples, World War I and World War II and the divisions of land afterward led to numerous changes in countries and the land they possessed.

Indeed, wars often are fought over rights to lands rich in natural resources, etc.

Open, honest discussions about possible land acquisitions that are accompanied by a respect for the rights of the peoples of the nations involved are far preferable to wars that damage property, kill and injure people, and lead to divisions that can last generations.

Closing Thoughts

As a proponent of freedom of speech and open discussion, I support President Trump’s idea, while thinking it could have been expressed better. I think he could have made it clear that he was interested in purchasing Greenland only if Denmark and Greenland were interested in selling. And, I hope he will respect the rights of Greenland and Denmark to turn down his offer if indeed he ever formally makes one.

              

 

ENDNOTES:

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[1] Chris Cillizza; “Five questions about Donald Trump’s interest in buying Greenland, answered”; CNN; updated 4:36p.m. ET August 16, 2019; website accessed August 17, 2019; https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/16/politics/greenland-donald-trump-denmark/index.html

[2] “Buying Greenland isn’t a good idea – it’s a great idea”; Washington Examiner editorial; August 17, 2019 12:00 a.m.; website accessed August 17, 2019; https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/buying-greenland-isnt-a-good-idea-its-a-great-idea

[3] Nellie Huang; “10 Facts About Greenland That You Might Not Know”; Visit Greenland, a website owned by Greenland’s government; website accessed August 17, 2019; https://visitgreenland.com/articles/10-facts-nellie-huang/

[4] “Greenland: Trump warned that island cannot be bought from Denmark”; BBC; August 16, 2019; website accessed August 17, 2019; https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49367792

[5] Martin Selsoe Sorenson; “ ‘Greenland is not for sale’: Trump’s Talk of a Purchase Draws Derision”; New York Times; August 16, 2019; website accessed August 17, 2019; https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/16/world/europe/trump-greenland.html

[6] Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; “Greenland tells Trump it is open for business but not for sale”; Reuters; August 16, 2019; website accessed August 17, 2019; https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-greenland/greenland-tells-trump-it-is-open-for-business-but-not-for-sale-idUSKCN1V60AQ

[7] Zeke Miller and Matthew Lee; “AP sources: Trump has talked about buying Greenland for US”; Associated Press; August 16, 2019; website accessed August 17, 2019; https://www.apnews.com/65a521dc605e43bd972ba6fcf36a5713

NOTE: 

This piece being submitted to Google Blogger on August 18, 2019 is virtually identical to one the author submitted to Craft News Report, a website operated by his friend Paul Craft, on August 17, 2019.

Improved Access to News and Facebook's Plan for "a News Section"

I love the expanded news coverage available in the 21^st century via the Internet. Growing up in the 1960s and early 1970s my news typically came from reading morning and afternoon newspapers and sometimes watching the evening news on one of the three major television networks at the time (CBS, NBC, and ABC).

Now newspaper stories, television news stories, and other news sources from around the world are available online, and most of them seem to be free of charge. However, despite the wealth of news stories available free online from relatively reputable sources, a July 2018 survey by the Pew Research Center[1] found that 20% of people “often” get their news from social media—with even more getting it from there at least occasionally. Facebook was the most common social media source used. As I see it, social media is not a reputable source.

Facebook’s Plan for a News Section

The Wall Street Journal reported[2] last week that Facebook “is offering news outlets millions of dollars for the rights to put their content in a news section.” If it works out, this can potentially provide persons who depend on Facebook for their news better access to reputable news sources.

I urge persons to read the Wall Street Journal article, which states that Facebook may even pay for just showing news headlines and brief excerpts that many other websites (probably including Craft News Report, though I’m not sure) provide on their websites without paying for them—though such websites typically include links back to the original news sources where readers can read the entire articles.

I think Facebook is taking a step in the right direction that will help those who depend on social media for news. Also, it can provide needed revenue for original news sources. Facebook’s plan will be even better if it expands it to cover more newspapers, many of which are struggling, but often remain the best source of information. And, it will be a big plus if the selection of which stories get posted is done well.

My Typical Approach to Accessing News Stories

Personally, I typically read news online from my local newspaper and television stations, and a few major national and international news sources (AP, NYT, WSJ, Reuters, BBC, Bloomberg, CNN, Guardian, Daily Mail, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, etc.).

For breaking news, to get additional details, I sometimes read stories online from newspapers or television stations in that area. So, regardless of what Facebook does, it may not impact my reading and viewing of news stories much.

I find it wonderful that it is reasonably easy to type in the URL for local news sources and well known national sources, and then quickly go to their websites to read news pieces. Furthermore, thanks to the search engine Google (and occasionally other search engines), I can often search easily for other news sources from various places around the world. Google often even offers to translate pages in other languages into English free of charge—and does so quickly—and I hope reasonably accurately.

Potential Bias, the early 1800s, and the Future

The potential exists for bias from any source, and a few websites like Google have a lot of control over what we find when we search online. Furthermore, some national governments limit access to the Internet and/or limit access to certain sites for persons in their countries. And, in some places the Internet is not readily accessible at all to most people for economic and/or geographic reasons.

But, overall, I think the Internet gives us much more freedom to access news in the 21^st century than persons had in the past. For example, back in the early 1800s, before the invention of the telegraph, and long before radio, television, or the Internet, timely news was limited. Advances since then have improved things. And, I look forward to even more positive changes in the future.

But, one key to further improving the widespread availability of quality news is to reward producers and distributors of this news. And, despite their errors, omissions, and sometimes bias, the major newspapers, television stations, journals, magazines, government websites, local newspapers, etc., are better news sources than blog posts by liberals or conservatives deliberately writing to attain some self-motivated purpose rather than to report the facts.

I hope Facebook moves ahead with its plan. And, I hope other websites consider following its example.

ENDNOTES: 

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[1] Katerina Eva Masa and Elisa Shearer; “News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2018”; journalism.org; September 10, 2018; website accessed August 11, 2019; https://www.journalism.org/2018/09/10/news-use-across-social-media-platforms-2018/

[2] Benjamin Mullin and Sahil Patel; “Facebook Offers News Outlets Millions of Dollars a Year to License Content”; Wall Street Journal website; updated August 8, 2019, 6:37 p.m. ET; website accessed August 11, 2019; https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-offers-news-outlets-millions-of-dollars-a-year-to-license-content-11565294575

NOTE:

This piece being submitted to Google Blogger on August 11, 2019 is virtually identical to one the author submitted to Craft News Report, a website operated by his friend Paul Craft, earlier on August 11, 2019.