Photo by Muhammad Shaheer on Unsplash
Most of us can remember playing a game as a child knowing that we had to be nice to the kid who brought the ball for the game. We always knew that the kid with the ball could just, “take the ball and go home.” Please tell me if this phrase is just an American phrase, or if it is used around the world.
I can’t ever remember being that kid myself, but maybe I was as a 3- or 4-year-old and I just can’t remember back that far. For those that don’t know the phrase, take my ball and go home refers to playing a game with others as a child, where the ball belongs to one of you. If the game doesn’t go the way of the person who supplied the ball, they could always take their ball and go home, ending the game for everyone else.
Such situations help children learn teamwork, diplomacy, empathy and other life skills. You don’t need to bend over backwards to someone who brought the ball. If you do so you may just be enabling a tyrant. But you also need to make sure you are kind to the person who brought the ball and show good sportsmanship to them if you beat them. They brought the ball after all, and if you want to play the game again, you should be nice to them.
There seems to be some confusion these days about who owns the ball in these games we are all playing.
Spoiler alert: You usually own the ball; you are just led to believe that you don’t. You don’t own the ball yourself. You own it when you practice solidarity with others.
Disney ex machina
I have been kicking this essay around in my head for a while and then the whole thing with Disney, Jimmy Kimmel, President Trump and free speech happened.
After that drama, now seemed like an apt time to write about taking the ball and going home.
I’m not going to go through all the details here; you probably already know them. But here is how this situation is pertinent to taking a ball and going home.
Charlie Kirk, a very outspoken and popular conservative in America was shot and killed at a campus event in Utah. Jimmy Kimmel, host of a late-night TV show condemned the murder when it happened, but a few days later made a joke about the shooter maybe being conservative. Conservative forces, including the President of the United States and the head of the Federal Communications Commission did not like Kimmel’s speech and put pressure on Disney (who Kimmel works for) to fire him and for television stations to not carry his show.
I heard the joke Kimmel told. I think it was fine. In my opinion it was mildly humorous and poked fun at a group that takes itself too seriously (a political movement) which is kind of the basis for a lot of comedy. I understand why those on the conservative side of the aisle didn’t like the joke, but I think they would have been better served to let it go. That’s a great lesson too. You are going to come across humor and art that you don’t like in life. Drawing attention to yourself and yelling about how much you hate a piece of art usually ends up making you the jerk.
The President and his team did not feel that way and saw an opportunity to try to stifle speech they didn’t like. Disney was not very brave and capitulated, suspending Kimmel.
Free speech was the loser. A corporation, which would have won any court case on free speech grounds if they had bothered to fight, decided cowardice would best protect their share price.
This is where ball taking and going home happened.
Following Disney’s decision to suspend Kimmel, a large boycott of Disney and their products started, often led by the creative people that Disney partners with to make their entertainment programing. Faced with the potential loss of future revenue due to the boycott from the creative people who make Disney its money, Disney made an about face and reinstated Kimmel. They didn’t want to demonstrate courage, but they were forced to by the bottom line.
The public and the creative people who Disney depends on for their share-price told Disney that they were taking their ball and going home. Disney begged them to stay and keep playing the game. It was a decision about the bottom line by Disney in the end. Disney learned who ultimately had the ball in the game they were playing. At first, they thought it was the President.
They were mistaken.
So, who has the ball in our economy?
Capitalism is the game.
You, along with your fellow citizens, have the ball.
You are told you don’t, but that just ain’t true.
About 70 percent of the US economy is driven by consumer spending. But there is a really interesting story in that data. The top 10% of households in the US; those making more than $250,000 per year, are responsible for about half of all consumer spending. Some back of the napkin math tells us that the wealthy, just 10% of Americans, are responsible for about 35% of our economic activity.
That is a lot of power.
They have the ball.
Things like the Shutdown 315 movement can have an impact, but that type of grassroots movement takes time to build and make an impact.
If a significant proportion of the top 10% decide they don’t want to prop up capitalism anymore by chasing more consumption and more status, we could really see something interesting happen with our economic system.
If the wealthy decide they don’t want to play this game anymore and take their ball and go home; well, that is a tipping point that politicians and corporate executives don’t want to think about. They don’t want you thinking about it either. History shows us that these tipping points arrive at times like these.
A few months ago, I wrote about Peter Turchin’s book, End Times, where the author shows that the collapse of many societies are perpetuated by an overproduction of elites who cannot keep up with the top echelons of the elites (the 1%). This perpetuates resentment among the merely rich, who often rebel, which leads to a scrapping of the current system and starting over. Unfortunately, this transition is often chaotic and often rather bloody. Maybe we should talk to the 10 percent who aren’t in the 1% and ask them how they feel about the system not serving them.
So, by all means, stop overconsuming and live that more sustainable life. You do make a difference. But if you can work on something that will convince the wealthy that this game doesn’t work for them - it creates oligarchs and tyrants for instance - you could make more of a difference.
Always ask yourself who has the ball. It may be you.
In Italy this week, a general strike was called by some Italian Unions and workers groups in solidarity with those suffering in Gaza. Large parts of the country shut down. Unions have a lot more power in Europe than they do in the US.
They have the ball.
Take notes.
No one of you reading this has the ball by yourself. But if you form a large enough coalition, and act in solidarity, you can take the ball and go start a new game with rules that better serve you.
Good and important points in this piece. But I'd like to point out that WE ALL have the ball. We have agency. A lot more than we think. And we don't need to wait until there is a group or a movement to JOIN. Start living more lightly on the planet. JUST DO IT. If you decide to do it, others are likely making the same decision. And others will see that you're doing it, and will join in. It is contagious. Psychologists call it "peer influence" or "peer pressure." Yes, we are sheep. Use that for good.
Yes. Italy. Where after the huge demonstrations and a one-day general strike, the government decided to redirect a navy ship to accompany the sumud flotilla, officially to protect the Italians on those boats but of course it will protect them all--especially if other countries send additional ships. This is a game-changer for Israel, which was probably considering sinking all the ships--they've been on a roll of war crimes and impunity, and they can't let those boats land and deliver aid, but throwing that many people from all over the world, some of them famous people, in prison, and stealing their boats and the aid they carry--well that worked fine when it was one boat, but it's more problematic with 50. And when an official government vessel--one which, unlike the flotilla boats, is armed...they're probably trying desperately to strongarm Italian officials in private, into turning that boat around.