A little boy in Eastern Oklahoma is riding a bicycle for the first time, when suddenly he falls to the ground. His father running behind him tells him to get up and not to cry. A little girl from the same city is playing on the playground at school; she falls out of the swing and scraps her knee. She cries for hours, while her mother tells her, It will be okay. From the time little boys are young they are taught to be tough, to withstand pain, and not to give in to anything.
In todays society males are rewarded for aggressive and intimidating behavior. Intimidation takes place in many aspects of life, even though it is not always caused by aggressive behavior. Athletic events always seem to reward males for aggressive and intimidating behavior. Football games are a great example of the kinds of rewards males receive for their aggressiveness. Coaches teach their players to be physical and tough, but two of the essential elements of football are aggressiveness and intimidation.
Football is an aggressive sport in many ways; a ball carrier must attack the line of scrimmage aggressively, or he will be tackled in the backfield. Defensive players must be aggressive also, so that they can make tackles. Basketball is another athletic event that rewards aggressive behavior. Although basketball seems harmless, it is a sport that requires a tremendous amount of aggressive behavior. When I was younger, before basketball game I would always get a pep talk from my dad.
He would tell me to be aggressive and to take the ball inside. He always told me to play tough, work hard for rebound, play good defense, and when somebody came into the paint make them pay for it. Our basketball coaches in junior high taught us that when a player came inside the paint, knock them down and next time they would not be as eager to take the ball inside on us. When we would exhibit this behavior we would be rewarded with a pat on the back, a high five, and sometimes even a water break.
It seems like every time the television is turned on, there are at least three wrestling programs going on at once. At one time, wrestling was on the television only once a week, but now it is on three or four times a week. The ratings for the stations that show wrestling have skyrocketed, and some have even had better ratings than 20/20, or Monday Night Football. Intimidating behavior is not only rewarded in the sports world, but also in the military, in politics, and in the work force.
Military leaders must use aggressive techniques to keep order in the world. Political leaders must be aggressive in their campaigning, so that they will be noticed and respected by the public. Aggressiveness is also necessary in the work force to receive promotions, meet deadlines, and run a business. Aggressive or intimidating behavior is seen in many different parts of life: sports, the military, business, and even politics.
Some of the rewards that are given for this behavior may be questionable, such as; placing professional athletes up on a higher ground making them seem superhuman, or electing a candidate into office not because he is more qualified for the job than the other candidates, but because he is more aggressive or intimidating. Though many of these rewards are seemingly harmless, such as; letting children wear wrestling t-shirts or the attention and respect that is given to an aggressive high school football or basketball team.
