More Rainbow Balls

[Omegstrat6]

Personally, I don't have a problem with a rainbow ball if it is a symbol of "inclusiveness" as any sport should be open to all regardless of age/ disability/*** or ***ual orientation/ colour etc -although I fully take Kett's point that it may easily be seen as yet more empty virtue signalling ( just as so many businesses now jump on the bandwagon to celebrate what used to be known as Gay Pride Day by producing rainbow flags, carrier bags etc). In the end such signalling becomes meaningless, although the cause of inclusiveness in itself I would strongly argue, is not.

Phild also raises a very valid point -i.e. the ranks within the "diversity" of the LGBTQ community itself are frequently very far from "inclusive" as the recent furore between trans extremists and feminists shows. Thankfully the worm seems to now be turning against those self entitled extremists who seem to think they can close down debate on gender theory and enforce their own particular interpretations on others. Several recent law cases have resulted in the finding that -provided they are not exciting hatred-those who believe that gender (by which they mean physical genitalia) is separate from ***uality are fully entitled to their beliefs and have a right under freedom of speech to express such views. So, yes, there is now nothing wrong in stating that I believe that whilst anyone has the right to any ***uality they want, there are actually only 2 physical/biological ***es (or 3 including hermaphrodites) and that a person, for example, with a ***** but no womb is physically/biologically male and cannot be -however much they would like to be-female. So, outlandish as I am sure you all feel the concept to be, I believe that a "man" cannot have a baby and have a perfect right to express this view.

Personally, I think the whole gender theory argument is down to two issues, one being semantics (where the meaning of "gender" has changed so it means different things to different generations) and the second is about woke extremism and cancel culture. Initially there was nothing wrong with the concept of "woke" and of being more aware of issues that impacted on particular groups whether this was the treatment and experiences of ethnic groups or those of non hetero***ual orientation for example, but fast forward and it's been hi-hacked by minority extremists seeking to impose their views on others. As philosopher Karl Popper warned many years ago, if a tolerant society becomes over tolerant of some views, then the tolerant in that society and tolerance itself become the first casualty. Extremist view points, whether political, religious or around gender may be voiced but they must also not be allowed to go unchallenged.

Going back to the rainbow ball then, I personally don't object to it but doubt very much that it will do very much to help eradicate racism, misogyny or homophobia etc from the game as these are wider issues reflective of society as a whole that need addressing by a lot more than a rainbow on a football.

[baggiematt]

. As philosopher Karl Popper warned many years ago, if a tolerant society becomes over tolerant of some views, then the tolerant in that society and tolerance itself become the first casualty. Extremist view points, whether political, religious or around gender may be voiced but they must also not be allowed to go unchallenged.

Going back to the rainbow ball then, I personally don't object to it but doubt very much that it will do very much to help eradicate racism, misogyny or homophobia etc from the game as these are wider issues reflective of society as a whole that need addressing by a lot more than a rainbow on a football.

Good post Omeg. I would say that cancel culture is a bit of a myth in some ways. Yes employers and institutions are now setting values and saying “if you match them you’re in, if not you’re out”. They have a right to do that.

But there are now comedians and influencers making a career out of saying how you can’t say anything because of cancel culture, then saying it anyway and not getting cancelled! It’s almost becoming a parody of itself and that in itself is the joke. Ricky Gervais has become the most boring comedian because of this.

Katy Hopkins wouldn’t be famous without cancel culture. She says whatever she likes and people follow her because they think she’s rebelling. Shes actually just picking topics that divide people and making a bold nasty statement that people think is fighting cancel culture. She’s more famous than she’s ever been. Piers Morgan is the absolute master of it and Joey Barton’s having a crack at it now. None have been cancelled nor have a threat of it.

[boingy]

100% agree with you! The point about some might object to that female ref showing her lovely legs last night is because there are minorities that could be offended. It’s England some say but hey - complete morons object to the English flag being flown and some councils etc pander to this!

Too many hypocrites - many complained about Qatar but didn’t moan about being over there picking up huge pay outs. Jordan Henderson looked really handsome with his rainbow flag sown into his immaculate football attire but did he give two s hits when in Saudi picking up millions?

Even some black players refuse to take the knee but god help a white player if they are the only one out of their team who chooses not to take the knee!

Football supporters are being picked on too due to woke. Do the police have the same consistency at other sporting events like tennis? Surely songs about Jimmy Saville and that murdering nurse are sicker than some of the top woke highlights but nothing is ever done! Consistency please!

Soon players will be walking out in life jackets in support of those coming in on dinghies!

Crazy - let’s focus on football!

Probably one of your best ever posts.

[boingy]

We live in a world of unrealistic expectations . “This must never happen again!” “We must put a stop to this and I won’t rest until we do!” This makes people believe you can eradicate bad behaviours, or unacceptable behaviours. When you get 23,000 people together only robots would think and act the same. You can only LESSEN traits you can’t remove them entirely. What this thinking has achieved is that clubs like ours have to face fines and disciplinary action because of the behaviour of one person or two people. No one is safe from having to carry the can for a few who don’t conform to society guidelines for whatever reasons.

[Omegstrat6]

We live in a world of unrealistic expectations . “This must never happen again!” “We must put a stop to this and I won’t rest until we do!” This makes people believe you can eradicate bad behaviours, or unacceptable behaviours. When you get 23,000 people together only robots would think and act the same. You can only LESSEN traits you can’t remove them entirely. What this thinking has achieved is that clubs like ours have to face fines and disciplinary action because of the behaviour of one person or two people. No one is safe from having to carry the can for a few who don’t conform to society guidelines for whatever reasons.

Good post👍

I totally agree with your first point as the continued reality of human behaviour across the globe sadly demonstrates! We can-and certainly should-strive to be better but something inherent within people (the selfish gene/ narcissism of small differences theories?) seems to make it an impossible challenge to actually change all.

As for your second point, unless a football club can be proven to either encourage such bad behaviour (e.g. racism/ ***ism/ violent behaviour) or else fail in it's due diligence to try and eradicate it and protect others from it (e.g. allowing fans in with a known record) then why should they be punished? In the case of the Wolves derby, it was well known in advance that this would be "tasty" and the club spent a small fortune on policing the game so unless they can be proven to have failed in aspects of the precautions taken, why should they be blamed for the behaviour of a minority of fans? Same with the racist inncident against Bacuna. Surely the blame -and therefore the punishment-lies with the individuals concerned who should be banned, fined and dealt with under the law rather than the club? Yes, football clubs have a responsibility to make sure that they take all reasonable precautions to prevent such occurrences, but beyond that surely it is those individuals involved who should be held accountable for their behaviour?

[Omegstrat6]

Good post Omeg. I would say that cancel culture is a bit of a myth in some ways. Yes employers and institutions are now setting values and saying “if you match them you’re in, if not you’re out”. They have a right to do that.

But there are now comedians and influencers making a career out of saying how you can’t say anything because of cancel culture, then saying it anyway and not getting cancelled! It’s almost becoming a parody of itself and that in itself is the joke. Ricky Gervais has become the most boring comedian because of this.

Katy Hopkins wouldn’t be famous without cancel culture. She says whatever she likes and people follow her because they think she’s rebelling. Shes actually just picking topics that divide people and making a bold nasty statement that people think is fighting cancel culture. She’s more famous than she’s ever been. Piers Morgan is the absolute master of it and Joey Barton’s having a crack at it now. None have been cancelled nor have a threat of it.

I think you are quite right about people like Gervais, Hopkins, Morgan etc Matt and there is now a particular rise in some "comedians" making deliberately provocative (if not down right deliberately offensive comments) under the guise of hitting back at cancel culture. As you say, the very fact that they can do this would suggest that the idea of a widespread cancel culture itself is actually a bit of a myth. However, the recent spate of legal cases which have found companies and (mostly) government agencies to have acted illegally against those employees expressing different views does prove that there are cases and circumstances were it does have quite a serious impact. Tellingly, such instances seem to be within government institutions where confusion and an exaggerated fear of upsetting woke points of view seems most prevalent.

[Albionic68]

This kind of intelligent stuff is way over my head. All I know is that if you tell a pronoun 'they're' vowels are incorrect it won't bring conversation to a full stop.

And it wouldn't even pause with a comma nor a semicolon. Instead it would go on and on and on and......... just as though spurted from an actual colon. That's enough finking for one day 😃 .

[WBA123]

One thing I just don't understand about any of this, is how does this really affect your life? Does it really matter if the ball has a few extra colours on, as long as we can see it?

Does it matter that the players take a knee for a few seconds? We wait far longer for Furlong to take a throw in.

I just don't see how it negatively affects anyone's life. But it might improve someone else's, so what's the problem?

[Albionic68]

One thing I just don't understand about any of this, is how does this really affect your life? Does it really matter if the ball has a few extra colours on, as long as we can see it?

Does it matter that the players take a knee for a few seconds? We wait far longer for Furlong to take a throw in.

I just don't see how it negatively affects anyone's life. But it might improve someone else's, so what's the problem?

Are you asking me?

[Omegstrat6]

Are you asking me?

Well, you did start all this 😂😂