William Molir Use Of Social Commentary

Athletes have always been at the center of popular culture, they are looked up to as idols and representations of human perfection. While athletes entertain us as spectators, they have become too large for their own good. William Moller, the author, has shown solid facts and engaging social commentary that brings the public to support his claim of how athletes are held too high in today’s society.
Moller argues that athletes may be held too high as a community, but he is not bashing them in a negative way. He understands that most if not athletes have worked hard the majority of their lives. Becoming that popular and wealthy amongst the normal population is not only an amazing feat, but also a long and hard drive to get to the top of the pedestal.
He states that everyone would like to be that successful and popular even though that is an unrealistic goal. This is where his point shows some validity. The unrealistic respect and wealth we give athletes is not necessarily fair to the normal, not as gifted, population.
Another point that caught my eye was that we as a whole look up to these people whether they are good influences or not.
For example the baseball player Alex Rodriguez, he was looked up to as a staple for amazing athletic feats. He broke records and inspired people while doing it. Once it was discovered that he had taken performance enhancing substances such as steroids we as a group realized that not only Alex Rodriguez, but many other players had been and were still taking steroids frequently. These individuals were people that the normal population looked up to. This comes into the points William Moller has been making, he states that we put athletes way to high which we do, but the public ignores how these amazing people that we should look up to can be set on a level too high that we ignore their faults and dishonesty to their general fan
base.
William is not necessarily taking jabs at athletes as bad people or that they are paid unrealistic wages, which they are, but what he does is state that society allows these people who play a game for a living, to be beyond the basic constraints of civilization. They are not people anymore but objects that we adore and do not recognize as people. Because we do not recognize them as people, but as objects, objects that can do what they please and are given unrealistic wages and appreciation. While treating these people as these untouchable unfathomable objects we have allowed them to be past what we as a society consider to be decent and fair.
The scariest part of Moller’s essay is that the validity of his points are so spot on. The greatest of them all being how the public addresses and worships athletes in comparison to other everyday heroes. Athletes know that they are heroes to the general public because most of them do end up being great role models for the young and old. Society does not recognize everyday heroes as much as our good mannered minds would like them to. Everyone fall victim to this because it is not as easy to be inspired by doctors, firemen, and policemen. These examples of everyday heroes do not make crazy sums of money annually especially compared to athletes, but what they do impacts the personal lives of others so much more than these overpaid individuals who play game for a living. You never hear a person talking about how amazing this police officer is or how important this doctor is to them. You hear people talking about the stats of a baseball player or last night’s football game. Not that William Moller is trying to fight against the greatness of team spirit at any level. One great thing about the United States of America is that we have the freedom to love any team of any sport we desire. What the United States does wrong is hold those teams and players as high as gods that will change their lives. That in fact is inaccurate. If Tom Brady or Peyton Manning throws an interception, or if the tigers lose, yeah it is not fun for the fans, but it is not the end of the world. Doctors, Police Officers, and Firemen do in fact stop terrible tragedies. They save lives and keep loved ones and important objects close and still alive. This is imperative to understand William Moller just attempts to make a distinction between these athletic idols and the real everyday heroes who go unsung among the public. Perhaps the most dangerous aspect to come out of putting these athletes on such a high level among society, is that we aspire to be them in a not so healthy way.
Basic athletes who may have no chances or aspirations to make it into the big leagues where their idols may reside. Young adults want to be like their heroes quicker than humanly possible. Performance enhancing drugs are not just present in professional sports, but even more common in triple A baseball and minor league sports. Some of these athletic “idols” have set the standards of greatness to unreachable levels. Performance enhancing drugs have sadly gotten way too involved with the people of today’s
society.
The sad fact is that we may love these individuals who succeed in trivial games more than we should. There is nothing wrong with a little competition and team spirit, but the problem is that we allow these not so important events to take such a toll on our everyday lives. William Moller attempts and succeeds to create extremely valid and capturing points that show the true nature of professional sports and how they are taken to heights that are just extremely blown out of proportion. These hypothetical pedestals we put athletes on could be fine if they were just lowered to a more believable and fair level.