Is the concept of "fair play" alive and well or dead and gone ?

Question

Politics, News Reporting, Magazine Rags, the Olympics, etc. At one time it "seemed" as if fair play or playing by the rules was real (maybe remembered naively) and now the concept has disappeared.

Answer 1

The concept is still alive. The practice of it will die out if we don't set a good example for children.

Fair play is really a corollary of self-interest. No one wants to get LESS than one's fair share (of tangible or intangible benefits). If one can be assured of that, one can be taught not to grab MORE than one's fair share. The golden rule operates on the same principle.

Even very young children can understand fairness. When I used to teach first grade, it was part of my math curriculum. I used soft cookies to illustrate the concept. The problem was, with three cookies on a paper plate, how to divide them fairly between two children. Most kids understood that each one should get one and a half cookies. But how to cut that third cookie in two (plastic knives, don't worry)? Class after class, year after year, independently came up with the idea that one child cuts, the other child chooses. The cutter must do his best to make the halves equal, or else the chooser will take the larger half. Fair play succeeds when everyone realizes that it guarantees maximum benefit for all.

When adults don't play fair, they destroy that innate concept that children possess.

Answer 2

I think it's on life support.  "Just don't get caught" seems to be the rule today.

Answer 3

Things have not changed much but memories  are not thorough or long lived. The good old days are now. When you read old literature, newspapers etc you see the same problems as now. We just know more about it through TV and the internet.

Answer 4

Was "fair play" ever alive and well?  Fair play wasn't something I ever expected in life.  I was never one of those kids who went around crying "That's not fair!" and demanding justice.  I was raised knowing people didn't play fair, that you had to watch out for the bad guys in this world and protect yourself and your loved ones.  I'm betting anyone involved with politics, news reporting or sports knows better than to expect fair play.

Answer 5

Speaking as my own personal experience as female I've never known fair play as a concept let alone a reality.

Answer 6

I think fair play is out of touch with people especially the journalists. it seems all they want is blood and they don't care who gets in the way.  It's one thing to tear a candidate apart but to do it to her minor child is beyond indecency. It's just plain vicious and cruel. /are thay so afraid their candidate is going to lose that they have to tear everyone up to try to get votes for him? It's really very sad. Does anyone have a perfect child?  Is your child perfect?  Mine sure aren't.  Besides the way the world is now how can anyone keep their child from sin?  It's too loose and the teens are under such peer pressure. So she made a mistake-----I'd hate to have to mention mine./?They are at least planning on marriage-----even before the baby.  So why can't the news hounds just let it go and move on to something else?

Answer 7

Dead & gone.  

Answer 8

I begining to think it is pretty much gone.  I think the polications have set the exsample for breaking the rules an the sheep have followed.

Answer 9

It's alive & well.  It's the reason why it's possible to make some things become dead & gone.  Don't EVER believe a good thing is gone.  It may not be in the forefront...but it's definately there & waiting in the wings to bring back a balance when balance is due.

Answer 10

Maddog, I believe you are right.  I was very appalled, when in my sons little league, they put on The all star team, a boy , that quit the league team, stating that he could play on the all star team because he played 60% of the league games. What a bad way to set an example to young boys, that quitting is the way to excel...he should not have been allowed to play. But the Board allowed it! As I think about this i don't think there ever is "fair" play, so there it is. a tough reality.

Answer 11

Studying recent and past history don't think there ever was a whole lot of fair play in anything, "never give a sucker an even break", "buyer be ware", "tell a lie loud enough and long enough it becomes a truth" allot of half truths, partial truth to make them sound like the whole truth  - on and on.  

Answer 12

Dear Sir:

the concept has gone along with personal responsibility, "true" family values and personal ethics.  We are attached to things and who has the most toys.