Beyond the Scope of the Ordinary

Posted by MadScientist (Düsseldorf, Germany) on 3 August 2008 in Architecture.

A short while ago, the Tour de France had just begun, German writer Thea Dorn demanded to get rid of the the bigoted purity requirement in cycling, because 'sinking into insignificance' would be harmful to society, there would be a need for people who are ready to go beyond the scope of the ordinary.

In the public discussion this provocation led to statements that the 'moral outrage' would 'discriminate' German athletes in the international competition. Thus doping and nationalism experienced a strange fusion: the end justifies the means, expecially if it's about national significance.

A similar statement came from Martin Walser, another German writer, who also wants to abolish purity requirements. This time it's about the unbelievable Siemens corporate corruption scandal: Walser wants us to accept corruption as a common process that would be just a matter of necessity. Managers were acting for a higher purpose and not for an immoral personal enrichment. Corruption would be just a means for getting orders. The missionary zeal for purity would remind him of the Catholic commandment of having coition just for making children.

In this discussion doping and corruption undergo the same reasoning: to prefer the ideal to reality is hypocritical. Everybody does it, everybody knows, it's for a higher purpose. Terms like 'purity' can be found as well as quirky connections to sexuality and religion. And since the end justifies the means, athletes should be allowed to ruin their bodies as managers may have secret accounts.

These masterminds of the global capitalistic society (as successor of the democratic civil society) want a society with equal conditions everywhere: everything should be possible and allowed if it is useful for success and higher purposes. The market may judge who or what prevails against the competition, no questions asked, no obsolete ethics.

How would such a society look like? If everything's allowed then nothing will give you shelter. Individual freedom is limited to one's financial power and the arbitrariness of one's patron. In the end there would be no freedom at all but only the need for corruption.

It's very interesting that right-conservative writers of my country fantasize about this kind of society and use the last vehicle of legitimation: the nation. If corruption becomes a patriotic duty, then there's no individual responsibility left: it's a matter of duty and sacrifice.

Would there be less doping and corruption if sport and economy would be democratic? Perhaps. Will corruption and doping support a democratic society? Of course not, even if they would be applied blatantly.

Inspired by: Georg Seeßlen, Was ihr wollt, freitag 31

This blog is in holiday mode now. I'm offline for a week and will catch up with you again as soon as possible. In the meantime it's running on autopilot; enjoy!

Download my coffee-table book of selected postings here. Enjoy!

More MadScientist: eclecticimaging.tumblr.com

Comments (10)

Michael Skorulski from Cigel, Slovakia

A great and well-written commentary to go with this delightful black and white.

3 Aug 2008 10:55am

@Michael Skorulski: Thanks very much, Michael! Shots from Forum Romanum are sometimes very appropriate for special subjects :-)

Dr ravi shankar m from MYSORE, India

black and white beautiful photo

3 Aug 2008 11:58am

@Dr ravi shankar m: Thank you, Sir!

Ronnie 2¢ from London, United Kingdom

Corruption just a means of getting orders? It is always an option but the price tends to get a little higher each time.

3 Aug 2008 7:51pm

@Ronnie 2¢: I don't know how these ideas came to these writers. In the end, they would have to pay their publishing house to get published. Most certainly a decrease of quality of our so-called intellectual elite.

Observing from West Cheshire, United Kingdom

Pretty powerful words MS; what price success one may ask, moreover, today we are governed by rules, and more rules.

Looking at this splendid image, we are reminded are the rigid social society maintained by the Roman Empire.

3 Aug 2008 8:27pm

@Observing: Maybe scam and corruption are everyday problems and inevitable signs of our time. But to make them an institution oversteps the mark, in the end this would lead to chaos and crime. I found my picture suitable to this :-)

dj.tigersprout from San Bruno, United States

wow -- an excellent political and economic question you bring up -- seems the 'west' the world over is experiencing the same 'end game' strategy: as long as you win, who cares what you have to do and who you have to kill? brilliant -- and brilliantly subversive! humans are all the same -- give em an inch and they will attempt to take a mile and make it their own! there should be some sort of cap on the amount of money people could make -- that would stop many of their devious schemes right in their tracks! because if you cannot do it to get rich -- why bother?

wonderfully presented -- and i love this photo -- very powerful, and graphic -- brings back memories of other troubled times (but of course w/ very beautiful architecture). :)

3 Aug 2008 9:09pm

@dj.tigersprout: Personal corruption (as individual case) is one problem, but if intellectuals with some influence on the public discussion demand corruption as political means, they go too far. In my eyes this comes close to an ethical declaration of bankruptcy of our so-called elites.
Thanks a lot for your comment!

Evelyne Dubos from Le Mans, France

A political & philosophical commentary, it's difficult for me to understand all but i think that i understand the broad outlines of your reflexions and why you choose this picture for illustrate them.

3 Aug 2008 9:25pm

@Evelyne Dubos: Thanks, Evelyne! If elites demand to 'liberalize' corruption then I wonder what comes next...

JoeB from Brampton, Canada

Are these the pillars of our society? it seems like not much is left. I have been disenchanted with all sports for many years now, one of the worst is the International Olympic Committee (IOC) it has no morals, its behaviour is that of an international conglomerate who goes where the biggest pile of money is. Here in North America we've had drug scandals to the point where new records are tarnished by athletes who have taken steroids. Sport is a billion dollar business run by bean counters, I read the sport pages like I read the business pages.

4 Aug 2008 12:12am

@JoeB: The IOC is just another absolute joke, I'm really glad that human rights groups are giving them hell. Thanks, Joe!

akarui from Kagoshima, Japan

Nice silhouettes against the sun.

4 Aug 2008 12:27am

@akarui: Thanks!

Twelvebit from Victoria, United States

Well, take heart, it turns out the Nazis won WWII afterall. It looked on the surface like the victory went to the anti-fascist forces, but now that communism has been vanquished, the fascists are the only "elites" left in the West. The monsters we have running our country have enshrined the lie as a noble act and made justifying the means with the ends a new art form. And anyone who talks about national "significance" or corruption as a process is willing to commit genocide. Truly, evil is on the ascendancy, all over the Western world.

5 Aug 2008 4:38am

@Twelvebit: We don't have to expect anything but social darwinism from these people. But I don't see any serious opposition either, people are too busy to manage their lifes. I guess there is method to this madness.