Blatant sportswashing works because of the slack-jawed stupids
Because I’m not 12, I don’t hero-worship Premier League footballers and don’t look to them to influence how I spend money. That’s not weird, right? They’re just people, admittedly at the top of their profession, prone to selfishness, altruism and anything in between, like all of us.
I’m sure you’re the same, unless you’re an emotionally undeveloped adult. Yet we live in an age where we’re encouraged to be binary about everything. Love or hate, that’s your only choice; you can’t be ambivalent and expect any attention in this era when the angriest, most stupid voice wins. One look at the news tells you that. Stupidity and ignorance are vaunted. It puts thinkers at a disadvantage.
It is, of course, ridiculous and infantile. But look at how the press treats Marcus Rashford if you want an example of this. It’s been decided in advance of reality that he’s a wealthy dilettante who Manchester United are well shot of; there is no sign of nuance.
The truth is obviously more layered. But that’s ignored in favour of a dumb, often deceptive headline. Insulting our intelligence, yes, but then no one made any money over-estimating the public’s intelligence, as Brexit proved. People will obviously buy any stupid shit even if presented by nakedly duplicitous ghouls.
And part of all this is the use of players and ex-players as ‘brand ambassadors’. Fair enough if you ended your playing career before the big salaries – take the walk-in bath company’s money, by all means – but for players of the last 20 years, why bother hitching your wagon to something controversial like gambling in return for easy money you don’t need after a lucrative career?
But why does any company want a footballer’s endorsement in the first place? Are we so stupid as to buy the same laundry liquid as Peter Crouch? Maybe we are. That’s extraordinary if true and suggests we’re nothing but drooling saps. Will you sell your car through We Buy Any Car because of those annoying, embarrassing adverts with Micah Richards, or do whatever the company Joe Cole advertises does? (sorry, can’t remember what it is).
The message seems clear. They think football, via this person, reflects well on the product. Bizarre when you consider all the awful things intrinsically connected to modern football. Never has high-profile football been craven to so many cruel companies, bad actors, corrupt regimes and organisations.
Yeah, but, err, money. I want more despite the fact I’ve got loads. Take the money and run; if you don’t someone else will. That might be the only motivation. Some people never have enough and will kick anyone in the face to get more.
The mystifying Rio-on-a-plane advert in which his presence for some reason is deemed a positive for Qatar Airlines, is just one egregious example. I mean, let’s ignore all the things Ferdinand has sold down the river for that cash. It is such an obvious attempt to make the nation seem ‘normal’ and not an oppressive male-centered autocracy. Who falls for it and thinks, “oh Qatar must be alright, he’s on one of their planes. They must have stopped jailing the regime’s opponents, eh. I didn’t hear about that.”
Likewise, those Pep Guardiola ads for Abu Dhabi, like it’s not a place that exploits, oppresses and kills people. Good old Pep, I’ll tell my brother to kiss his boyfriend there, it must be OK now. Pep wouldn’t deceive us. Why do it? He doesn’t need to. Is he moral-free, just forced into it or is he merely pragmatic and thinks, I can’t change this, better the cash is in my skyrocket to do what I want with. Because he actually just looks like a cruel and thoughtless propagandist or a gullible sap. Neither of which can be true, can they? But look at what he has also sold down the river for cash.
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It’s obvious what’s going on. Presumably, the public are regarded as slack-jawed stupids who don’t realise they’re being played. Because this whole culture relies on that being the case. And I bet we all know someone who is a slack-jawed stupid.
Sportswashing is blatant and you’d think, obvious, but there are always people who will be unable to hold two views at once, namely supporting the club, but finding owners repellent, no matter how much money they supply, perhaps because they’re inculcated into the binary love/hate culture and don’t seem to find it possible to maintain a value system in the face of the ceaseless attempts at normalising autocratic behaviour.
And they must be delighted how deep the respect has gone on Tyneside. Inculcating the idea that human rights in the Middle East don’t matter as much as wearing a tea towel on your head in the Strawberry. Aye, haddaway and sh*te, bonny lad.
Time was when footballers were the last person you’d want advertising your product, so disregarded were they as men who just ran around for an over-remunerated living. They are not really any different now, yet are treated entirely differently. And I must assume it’s successful or Guardiola etc wouldn’t be asked to shill for such terrible regimes. Surely it taints their individual brand? That can’t be a sensible move – unless and we shouldn’t dismiss this – no one actually gives a toss and that’s why these mystifying choices are made. If no one cares, they can do what they want, support whoever pays, without any negative comeback. There’ll be no “there goes Pep, great manager and able to ignore his paymasters actions for sweet sweet cash.” All that might be ignored. “Concentrate on the football will you? We don’t care about how many have died on a building site in the burning sun.” Dead poor people are, after all, less important than transfer fees.
Or maybe now, everything is so corrupted and craven to wealth, separated from the real world realities, such choices are disregarded as just another thing in a long line to put your head in the sand about and those asking to respect human rights are just virtue-signallers and dismissed as hand-wringing bed-wetters.
Woke is the real enemy in this new value-free, money-obsessed, ignorance-dominated world. So get stupid because all these people are ensuring there’s no room for anything else, especially critical thinking. Stupid is the new clever.