The extroverts scream; the introverts scowl. “There he goes again! Can’t everyone see it?? It’s so obvious… so manipulative!” It’s also — sadly — part of the game.
For years, grown, seemingly mature adults have “flopped.” They fake injury by another in order to draw a sympathetic, perceived foul.
Watch the current, uniquely exciting FIFA World Cup, for example. While never accused of any soccer fanaticism, the Intramuralist is repeatedly baffled by the feigned fraudulence on the professional futbol field. The number of times the players attempt to seduce the officials into flagging the opposition for wrongdoing is astoundingly frequent! I will, in fact, admit to a hearty chuckle last week, when Uruguay’s star striker, Luis Suárez, actually bit another player (the 3rd such incident of his career), and then immediately fell to the ground, as if he was the one most hurt… feigned foul… at least exaggerated emotion… all in a desire to seduce a sympathetic response.
Hardly indigenous to soccer, with the foul forgery increasing with ample frequency, the NBA has instituted fines for flopping. Talented stars such as Manu Ginobili, LeBron James, and Dwyane Wade, who are known for their professional prowess, are also each known for their penchant for faking the foul. Note that the motive is to create an offensive advantage by having observant others wrongly conclude you were mercilessly attacked. You draw the foul; the opposition is penalized; and the entire process is intentionally inauthentic. It’s manipulation by mature and even intelligent adults.
The NBA identifies “flopping” as the following: “any physical act that appears to have been intended to cause the referees to call a foul on another player.” They add that “the primary factor in determining whether a player committed a flop is whether his physical reaction to contact with another player is inconsistent with what would reasonably be expected given the force or direction of the contact.”
The Intramuralist poses that flopping is not primarily a “physical act.” Perhaps such is true in athletic arenas; however, my sense is that the most frequent societal flopping is rhetorical. Politicians and pundits and ordinary people — again, often grown, seemingly mature adults — embellish injury by another in order to draw a sympathetic, perceived foul. One politician claims another hurt them, is bad, foolish, obstructive, mean, or even — egad — evil. Notice how all focus is on the other and the other’s wrongdoing. The attempt is to seduce a sympathetic response — staring at the embellished “log” in the eye of another — in order to gain a self-serving political advantage. The goal is to get observant others to cry foul in the existence of minimal foul at best; the goal is intentional; and the goal is to manipulate observers. It is an impure, deceitful approach. It’s also — sadly — part of the “game.”
Unfortunately, fans of both the professional politician and athlete tend to ignore the faking, giving the object of our admiration a very generous benefit of the doubt. The opposition — along with that extrovert, perhaps — then screams at the television… “Can’t everyone see it??” The question isn’t whether or not we can see; the question is why we choose to ignore. I have a hard time concluding such is wise.
To believe that athletes are the only engagers in this frequently repeated exercise — and to believe that flopping is only physical — is seemingly, unfortunately only a convenient exercise in naïveté. To believe that only one party rhetorically flops seems equally naive. And to believe that only one branch of government engages in this manipulative process of feigning a foul seems also, obviously errant.
Poll after poll depicts the public’s eroding trust in government. The subjective reasoning in how to rebuild that trust is substantial. Allow the Intramuralist to propose that we start by taking a page from the NBA; let’s start by fining for flopping.
(P.S. Such might actually be enough to balance our debt…)
Respectfully…
AR