Woke Across The Pond

This Argentinian racist chant nonsense is getting to be another ridiculous example of Woke outrage.  I am amused by the Argentina VP response that basically says we are not going to get hectored by a colonizing country (England started all this when Enzo Fernandez of Chelsea FC posted the video and was reprimanded) about a chant pointing out a fact (well most of it, I’m not sure about Mbappe’s sexual proclivities ) and she fired the minister of sport for suggesting that Messi should apologize. What makes international football so appealing is that it pits nations against each other, contrasting their styles of play and reflecting on their national identities. Globalism is eroding that part of the game, making it less interesting to watch a team of Dutch African immigrants (or children of immigrants) playing against a team of French African immigrants. And in the case of the French, their team is overwhelmingly of African descent, making them a glaringly obvious example of how immigration has changed the racial makeup of many European country’s sports programs. Recall in the last World Cup, when photos of the French and Moroccan teams were placed side by side, it was pointed out that the French team ironically looked, based on skin color alone, decidedly more African than the team from Africa. You must bear in mind the European education system, which steers young people into career paths at a very early age, where it is more likely that underprivileged immigrant people of color will choose a career in sports despite overwhelming odds against success. Most will likely end up in unskilled labor and the service industry. And Football in Europe is a game of the common man, a game of the streets where most players learned their craft before their potential caught the eye of the sports development program’s scouts. And when did Americans get so incensed over trash-talking?  We practically invented it. The jawing that goes on in American sports is of epic proportions, most of it highly vulgar and often tinged with racism—anything to get into your opponent’s head. Recall the Dutch fans of old, some of the world’s most creative fans, who hurled cleaning supplies onto the pitch when they played against the Turks, a reference to most immigrant Turks in the country working as domestics. Or when playing Germany, bicycle parts were thrown with signs asking, “Where’s my bicycle” a reference to the Nazi occupation when the Germans commandeered bicycles. Racist? Perhaps. But amusing in the context of national identities.  The English are widely known for their creative chants, most of which shouldn’t be repeated in polite company, but you have to draw the line at the monkey noises and bananas thrown at African players. Still, that’s perhaps a less disgusting display than chants of “Gringos go home” and bags of urine thrown at American players on their forays south of the border. So we have established that international football, futbal, calcio, or soccer is a rough game played by ruffians, not likely the upper crust of society nor the overcompensating white suburban college-educated class that finds these events so untoward. And victory is a great source of national pride, especially for countries like Argentina in such political upheaval and social turmoil. And so what? The chant made fun of France fielding a team mostly of recent African origin, a contrast to the stereotypical and historical perception of France being populated by a bunch of beret-wearing, baguette-eating, wine-swilling surrender monkeys. Sorry, too soon? And they used a slang expression suggesting that their star Mbappe has sex with transgender partners. I thought that was now a source of pride.  But trans-phobic?  Get over it. Maybe if their star, Killian Mbappe, had a more French-sounding name like Jean-Paul Sartre, critics would be more accepting. But then, it would truly be an existential crisis.