I support Liverpool Football Club and have my whole life and if anyone else has been watching them recently, they will notice a real resurgence. People who know about football bang on about 'gegenpressing' or Brazilian magicians. (Don't even get me started on the annoyance of how experts can use the word magician instead of properly explaining why he is good in functional terms. I guess that's what you get when you want to listen to ex-footballers, instead of football tactical experts who use data to provide meaningful insights)
Whilst this has definite truth to it, but for those who don't know football, Liverpool FC doesn't have the best squad or best players in the league. So it's clear the tactics are a large part of what have taken Liverpool FC onto this next stage, and at its core, the theme behind it, is teamwork.
Before someone who knows about football says 'Klopp' or 'Gegenpressing'. Yes, Klopp (An individual) has implemented 'Gegenpressing' (A tactical concept). I don't take away the value of the individual or the tactic, but this individual has implemented an artefact (Gegenpressing) that is based on the concept of teamwork and the Greater Good.
Without the whole team working to this agenda and being 'in sync' this tactic would not work. Great individuals like Daniel Sturridge, who can sometimes win games single handedly have been sidelined due to the fact he doesn't fit into the system; The greater good trumps individualism.
Hollywood has been peddling this with almost every sports movie you watch, no matter how good the superstars are, true benefit is only realised when the individual adapts to benefit the team, thus creating the Greater Good.
You probably learn this at work, it's the reason you go on a team building events, it's the reason Mario Balotelli is at some small football club in France instead of Real Madrid.
We understand , even if it's implicit that we as humans work more efficiently and better when we think in collective terms and work together.
Klopp (LFC Manager/Leader) doesn't care when the defence of the team complain his tactic means they let more goals in and this obviously makes this smaller group look bad. This is because it is about the greater good, his job is not to pander to certain smaller groups. The question is and should be: Does this benefit the team overall (Do they get more points?)
The answer is yes, now it seems obvious in Football. So if at work and sports we know a collective mentality benefits groups, why oh why are we and our politics so focussed on this individualistic mentality?
Why do I care what the individual impact is to me, rather than the group? (My neighbours, our area, our country, our world)
It is because we are selfish, we care about ourselves, we care about our smaller groups. This inherent selfishness or base desire is used in marketing and sales to peddle us products, it is an inherent human weakness. Once you accept you have a weakness only then can you mitigate against it.
Our leaders, to obtain our votes, focus on this appeasement of the individual, whether it's Corbyn indicating his policies benefit the working class, or May appealing to the richer in society (At least, from her voting record, not from her discourse).
If we could just stop listening to politicians and listen to some scientific data crunching experts we may realise that actually we should care about what benefits the greater good. 50 years ago, I think this concept was more accepted, it's why the economic basis of both right and left-wing politics, used this is as their raison d' etre. Both Keynesian and trickle down economics argued it was for the greater good. (You can find data and evidence to see which is more analogous to the greater good.) Yet now, people no longer even think with this focus.
Individualism is celebrated, it is a concept that is no longer shunned or looked down on, other than in football teams it seems. Contrast this approach to other more collective societies, or even our own Western societies back in the day.
If the example of Football, a popular sport in the pysche of the average person can't be used to illustrate to people that this concept should be the way we would be best placed to move forward, what else can convince the lay man? Other than copious amounts of propoganda, but that costs money, money that doesn't benefit from the creation of a fairer or better society.
Unfortunately, I don't see how else you can convince a populace, so indoctrinated with this acceptance of individualism trumping collectivism.
The only option I then see left is if some strong leader stops pandering to groups and cliques but implements policies that benefit the greater good because that will lead to a better society, a better country and better world.
Maybe Klopp for PM. Of course, this lack of pandering may mean he is un-electable. An un-electable politician who votes on issues that tantamount to the greater good, if only we had one of those lying around!
Whilst this has definite truth to it, but for those who don't know football, Liverpool FC doesn't have the best squad or best players in the league. So it's clear the tactics are a large part of what have taken Liverpool FC onto this next stage, and at its core, the theme behind it, is teamwork.
Before someone who knows about football says 'Klopp' or 'Gegenpressing'. Yes, Klopp (An individual) has implemented 'Gegenpressing' (A tactical concept). I don't take away the value of the individual or the tactic, but this individual has implemented an artefact (Gegenpressing) that is based on the concept of teamwork and the Greater Good.
Without the whole team working to this agenda and being 'in sync' this tactic would not work. Great individuals like Daniel Sturridge, who can sometimes win games single handedly have been sidelined due to the fact he doesn't fit into the system; The greater good trumps individualism.
Hollywood has been peddling this with almost every sports movie you watch, no matter how good the superstars are, true benefit is only realised when the individual adapts to benefit the team, thus creating the Greater Good.
You probably learn this at work, it's the reason you go on a team building events, it's the reason Mario Balotelli is at some small football club in France instead of Real Madrid.
We understand , even if it's implicit that we as humans work more efficiently and better when we think in collective terms and work together.
Klopp (LFC Manager/Leader) doesn't care when the defence of the team complain his tactic means they let more goals in and this obviously makes this smaller group look bad. This is because it is about the greater good, his job is not to pander to certain smaller groups. The question is and should be: Does this benefit the team overall (Do they get more points?)
The answer is yes, now it seems obvious in Football. So if at work and sports we know a collective mentality benefits groups, why oh why are we and our politics so focussed on this individualistic mentality?
Why do I care what the individual impact is to me, rather than the group? (My neighbours, our area, our country, our world)
It is because we are selfish, we care about ourselves, we care about our smaller groups. This inherent selfishness or base desire is used in marketing and sales to peddle us products, it is an inherent human weakness. Once you accept you have a weakness only then can you mitigate against it.
Our leaders, to obtain our votes, focus on this appeasement of the individual, whether it's Corbyn indicating his policies benefit the working class, or May appealing to the richer in society (At least, from her voting record, not from her discourse).
If we could just stop listening to politicians and listen to some scientific data crunching experts we may realise that actually we should care about what benefits the greater good. 50 years ago, I think this concept was more accepted, it's why the economic basis of both right and left-wing politics, used this is as their raison d' etre. Both Keynesian and trickle down economics argued it was for the greater good. (You can find data and evidence to see which is more analogous to the greater good.) Yet now, people no longer even think with this focus.
Individualism is celebrated, it is a concept that is no longer shunned or looked down on, other than in football teams it seems. Contrast this approach to other more collective societies, or even our own Western societies back in the day.
If the example of Football, a popular sport in the pysche of the average person can't be used to illustrate to people that this concept should be the way we would be best placed to move forward, what else can convince the lay man? Other than copious amounts of propoganda, but that costs money, money that doesn't benefit from the creation of a fairer or better society.
Unfortunately, I don't see how else you can convince a populace, so indoctrinated with this acceptance of individualism trumping collectivism.
The only option I then see left is if some strong leader stops pandering to groups and cliques but implements policies that benefit the greater good because that will lead to a better society, a better country and better world.
Maybe Klopp for PM. Of course, this lack of pandering may mean he is un-electable. An un-electable politician who votes on issues that tantamount to the greater good, if only we had one of those lying around!
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