Democratic Aesthetic of Sports

The Olympics success and even some dignified losses have generated a kind of mixed response among the public as has been shown and circulated in certain social media coverage. The success of the players and athletes has been duly celebrated, while dignified loss at the Tokyo Olympic has not received the advantage of celebration. What was more worrying was an attempt to single out a particular player for blame and hatred, which was much stronger than the national pride. It seems that there is a desire to be from higher castes and to be on top in terms of glamour, reputation and honour, even if these “virtues” carry with them moral significance that is only designated than authentic. This is something like sharing someone’s success or even dignified loss without much contribution by oneself except to trace genealogical roots of a particular player’s socio-religious, gender and cultural background.

This compels us to understand our aesthetic attitude involving celebration and appreciation within the framework of democratic aesthetic. Arguably, the field of sports does provide an apt opportunity for us to take the sphere of sports to the higher level of social imagination within which the aesthetic appreciation could be democratically grounded.