Pick a Side: The Most Effective Illusion Ever Sold
- Karen Di Gloria
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
The Curtain: Bird’s-Eye Truths — A weekly remembering
Sports feel harmless.
Fun.
Unifying.
A release.
But from the bird’s-eye view, something else becomes visible.
Crowds dressed in the same colors.
Emotions rising and falling on command.
Ritualized conflict that never threatens the structure hosting it.
From above, it looks less like competition — and more like choreography.
We’re told we’re choosing sides.
But look again.
Teams change cities.
Players are traded like assets.
Rivalries reset every season.
The outrage feels real.
The loyalty feels personal.
But the framework never changes.
Because the framework isn’t built for truth.
It’s built for investment.
Sports are one of the most effective emotional training grounds ever created.
They teach:
tribal identity without consequence
aggression with permission
loyalty without accountability
sacrifice without sovereignty
Fans pour rage, hope, grief, and devotion into the arena — while the system quietly monetizes every heartbeat.
The release is temporary.
The conditioning is permanent.
Then there are the bodies.
Athletes are sold a dream early:
glory, belonging, worth.
What they give in return:
their nervous systems
their long-term health
their sense of self once the uniform comes off
Head injuries reframed as “part of the game.”
Pain normalized as masculinity.
Identity fused to performance.
When the body breaks, the crowd moves on.
Consider O. J. Simpson.
A man elevated to near-mythic status — then watched as his life collapsed in full public view.
People argue endlessly about guilt or innocence.
But from above, another pattern appears:
Hero worship.
Moral exemption.
Collective denial.
The same system that glorified him helped build the conditions for the fall — then consumed the spectacle of destruction just as eagerly.
The individual becomes the distraction.
The structure stays invisible.
Here’s the part that’s uncomfortable to name:
Sports allow society to feel conflict without ever challenging power.
We scream at referees.
We fight strangers over jerseys.
We argue endlessly about who deserved to win.
Meanwhile, ownership groups shake hands.
Sponsors collect.
Broadcast deals expand.
The illusion of opposition keeps energy circulating — never rising.
From the bird’s-eye view, the spell is obvious.
If you can keep people emotionally invested in symbolic battles, they won’t question real ones.
If identity is tied to a team, it doesn’t have to be rooted in Self.
If belonging is outsourced, sovereignty dissolves quietly.
This doesn’t mean sports are evil.
It means they are ritual containers.
And ritual without consciousness becomes control.
The moment you stop losing yourself in the outcome —
the moment you feel without merging —
the moment you watch without surrendering your nervous system —
The spell weakens.
Because here is the truth beneath the stadium lights:
No side wins.
No side loses.
The house always holds the structure.
And the most powerful move isn’t choosing a better team.
It’s choosing yourself back.
We are not meant to live through spectacle.
We are the most advanced technology God ever created — bodies that feel, minds that discern, souls that integrate shadow into wisdom.
No institution can resurrect the soul from fragmentation the way self-trust, embodiment, and remembrance can.
The spell breaks when you stop feeding it your identity.
If you’re ready to move beyond symbolic battles and begin remembering, these are the next doors:
A first veil lifted.
How distraction, spectacle, and tribal loyalty keep attention cycling while deeper systems remain untouched.
The remembering moves into the body.
Where identity detaches from performance, coherence returns, and sovereignty is rebuilt from the inside out.
The game only works if you forget who you are.
Comments