Bøger af Verner Møller

Tænkepauser 13-24. Tænkeboks 2:Kroppen, Kærlighed, Erindring, Håb, Tid, Sandhed, Mennesket, Magi, Loven, Terror, Litteratur og Romantik

Competition is a basic fact of life. Living organisms need resources. When resources are limited, they fight over them. This is natural. Life in the modern world, based on rationality, ingenuity, and co-operative skills, makes it easy to forget this basic truth and to believe that it no longer applies to us human beings. Developments in the western world since the turn of the millennium appear to confirm this perception. Progress made during the 20th century in gender equality and minority rights have been followed up by schemes committed to securing equal access for all to institutions, facilities, and opportunities for success in life. The equality agenda has been pushed further toward equity by initiatives meant to make up for injustices done in the past. It may be tempting to interpret these developments as the consequence of a civilizing process that has subdued the competitive nature of human beings in favor of improved empathy and moral sensibility. Competition, fairness, and equality in sport and society aims to show that this interpretation is wrong. Based on the workings of elite sport, it argues that the fairness and equality agenda, rather than being a manifestation of a mellowing of human nature, is essentially driven by the same innate competitive impulses. What has changed is that, once basic material needs for survival are covered, as is the case in the developed world, people continue to compete in other arenas attempting to improve their position in the human hierarchies and win status and recognition.

Din krop er dit tempel, din krop er din egen, siger damebladene. Det tror appelsinhudssvingende naturister, botoxafhængige amerikanere og alle os andre fedtforskrækkede stakler på. Men lad være. For ifølge professor i idræt ved Aarhus Universitet Verner Møller tilhører kroppen samfundet. Uanset om vi vælger at stramme os op med korset eller skalpel, skamfere vores læber med tallerkener eller brække fødderne på vores døtre, er det tradition og kultur, der bestemmer, hvad vi gør ved vores krop. Din krop er måske nok et tempel. Men den er ikke din egen.

Michael Rasmussen var på vej til en sikker samlet sejr i Tour de France 2007, da hans hold Rabobank valgte at trække ham ud af løbet. Det var kulminationen på en pressehetz uden fortilfælde i sportshistorien. Det kom frem, at Michael Rasmussen havde fået advarsler fra antidoping-myndighederne, men det blev dækket af medierne, som om der var tale om en positiv dopingtest.Løgn over løgn, som er skrevet af idrætsprofessor Verner Møller, dokumenterer, at Michael Rasmussen ikke blev smidt ud af sportslige grunde. Bogen er en kompromisløs afdækning af en antidopingkampagne og et sportssystem, som i en uskøn blanding af opportunistisk fairplay-profilering og forretningshensyn har drevet sporten til vanvid og spillet moralsk fallit.

Michael Rasmussen was close to winning the Tour de France 2007 when his team Rabobank decided to take him out of the race. This was a consequence of a press campaign without precedence in the history of sport. When it was leaked to the press that Michael Rasmussen had received warnings from the anti-doping authorities for whereabouts rule violations the media ran with the story as if Rasmussen had been caught doping. The Scapegoat, written by Professor of Sports Studies Verner Møller, demonstrates that Michael Rasmussen was not expelled from the Tour on sporting grounds. The book is an uncompromising uncovering of a sports system and an anti-doping campaign driven by an ungraceful mix of fair play promotion and business interests.

Fedmen breder sig med epidemisk hast, og den truer med at slå bunden ud af sundhedsvæsenets pengekasse. Men hvorfor raser den, og kan den stoppes? Slankekure markedsføres i en lind strøm. Fødevareindustrien udtænker varer med reduceret fedtindhold. Fitnesscentrene tilbyder træningsprogrammer. Diætister og højskoler kører kurser, psykologer foreslår samtaleterapi. Medicinalindustrien udvikler slankepiller, og kirurger står parat med indgreb. Denne bogs kritiske analyse af fedmeproblemet munder ud i et utopisk alternativ.