- cross-posted to:
- canada@lemmy.ca
- cross-posted to:
- canada@lemmy.ca
Sweden knew Canada’s Marc Kennedy was a notorious cheater.
So they set up a camera at the ‘hog line’ to record it.
And caught him doing it at the Olympics.
Sweden knew Canada’s Marc Kennedy was a notorious cheater.
So they set up a camera at the ‘hog line’ to record it.
And caught him doing it at the Olympics.
I never understood how someone can feel good about themselves after they win thru cheating
Like the psychology doesn’t make sense to me, is it the thrill of not getting caught that they’re chasing, instead of the glory of a hard won triumph?
My own brother used to cheat at videogames. He built a lag switch connected to his Playstation, which he would flip during SOCOM. I don’t know how it worked but it caused other players to lag heavily. Sometimes he would flip it then just walk around shooting opponents in the face. I have never been able to understand why this would be fun or feel good.
He was huge into Diablo 2 at one point (I was too, but I wasn’t playing it when he was). He would IM people and send them a program to duplicate their items. What it actually did was make them take off all their gear, drop it, then quit the game. He made so much off this scam, he had a mule character that had an inventory full of Stone of Jordan rings. These were the de facto high level currency because they were very rare, only took up one slot, and gold wasn’t worth much.
One day he got his. I heard him absolutely losing his shit, screaming and crying from the family PC. He got scammed and lost everything. I’m not proud of this but it made me feel so, so good.
I think the usual logic is that “everyone else is doing it”. And often they are right about that. For example, various forms of blood doping in top level cycling. The standards orgs running the competitions put more focus on arbitrary rules about the bicycles themselves than safety or doping, the latter is just a PR issue for them. So if you want to be “the best”, you either accept coming in 28th place naturally or top 5 doing what everyone else does.
You need to win to earn money and sponsordeals from professional sports. So it’s just the same mix of cognitive dissonance and calvinism that allows many people to feel like they deserve their success over others who work just as hard if not harder.
What does Calvinism have to do with anything?
Calvinism promotes the idea that if you experience success, then it’s because god has made you successful because you’re a good person. It’s the driving force between the equivalence people perceive between their economic success and their values. If a sports team wins by cheating, they still get the money and feeling of success and thus feel like good people because of the combination of cognitive dissonance and calvinist beliefs that are still strongly present in western society.
I might be able to get in the right headspace to explain it in a bit.
Like, I don’t really get it either, but I know it starts with “I want to win” not “I want to get away with something”. Then a small thrill on the “I just got away with something yay”.
In terms of not understanding it, there’s alignment along AuDHD/neurotypical/ASPD axes for attitudes about cheating (and, inherently, about capitalism).
(this is going to involve some brain chemistry modification so it might be a bit, hopefully I remember and come back to this)
Hoo boy, here we go. Feeling it now. Or, at least able to emulate feelings of it. Spoilered/nested for ramble containment.
Why do people cheat in sports?
A documented train of thought about cheating in sports.
I’m big. I’m the biggest guy in the room. I’m gonna boss that guy[1] around because he’s smaller than me. I’m big and loud and in charge. I get what I want.
Why?
We’re animals. Competition is natural. Every species competes. Nature is absolutely brutal and tiger does not concern himself with the feelings of the gazelle.
you, but this character doesn’t even think about you as, like, a person ↩︎
Why do?
I need to eat. I have to get food. I have to hunt. I have to gather.
Why people?
Life proceates. We’re a familial species. We have to take care of our young.
Why do?
We need to gather resources. We are not bathed in nutrient slop. Effort must be expended.
Why do people?
Oh wow, that is a lot of fruit. I can’t eat all that. I should let my family know there’s fruit here. Hey, everybody, FRUIT!
Community happens. It’s natural, inevitable.