Almost three years ago, I wrote the following about The 'Great' One.:
Gretzky has been dead to me since his shameful, full-throated endorsement of Stephen Harper in 2015, despite the fact that the retired hockey player does not live in Canada and is not eligible to vote here. Indeed, it left many wondering about the number of concussions he had sustained during his career.
Now, there is new reason to scorn The Addled One: his shameful performance as the honorary captain of Team Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off final in Boston the other night.
The Star's Damien Cox offers some observations on The Lost One:
The evidence suggests No. 99 and his family are strong MAGA supporters, and Gretzky certainly hasn’t come out to protest the U.S. president’s suggestion that Canada should become the “51st state” with the pride of Brantford as its “governor.”
Gretzky ... is being characterized as a traitor in some quarters.Cox thinks this is unfair in some ways:
... if you’re looking for hockey people to be progressive or loudly anti-Trump when it comes to their views on Canada as a sovereign nation, you might be looking in the wrong place. Gretzky’s apparent right-wing leanings are more consistent with mainstream thinking in the bro culture that dominates the male hockey world than you might want to acknowledge.
Most NHL players are white, aren’t university educated and are more likely to follow social media than read a book. Their business prizes group think rather than individuality. These days, most are also affluent. All of that makes them easy pickings for the tribal MAGA world.
Cox points out that Gretzky is not alone in his disappointing behaviour.
Sure, his silence on Trump’s anti-Canadian comments is disappointing. Just as disappointing as it was when Bobby Orr and Jack Nicklaus came out as pro-Trump. The fact that these revered sportsmen can simply look the other way as forces of hate spread stolen election lies and blame Ukraine for getting invaded is upsetting.
The shame of Gretzky’s pro-MAGA leanings is that he is apparently unaware of the fear and unease Trump is generating in Canada. He would probably be at a loss to explain why Canadian fans booed “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the 4 Nations tournament.
Like the rest of us, athletes are not paragons of virtue. Nonetheless, when you occupy an exalted position due to past physical prowess, you do have a responsibility, whether your heart is in it or not, to comport yourself with dignity, self-respect, and national pride. By all of these metrics, Wayne Gretzky has failed horribly.
Gretzky was broken early. He may be a parallel of how Canada will disappear. Proud, devoted, excellent in his field and then sold like a gladiatorial slave and forced to be allegiant to until then sworn enemies. Then highly rewarded by his new masters until the origin story is a faint memory.
ReplyDeleteFor personal continuation and comfort most of Canada will turn coat on a dime. Lots are already there ( friends and allies, landowning rich, dual citizens), many more just don't care (newcomers, disenfranchised, politically non involved and scrambling for a living) and despite the bravado of the remainder the first year of hardship will convert them. (just hug one honey they are sooooo soft)
Allegiances will change as fast as candidate signs disappear after an election. Martyred saints of conviction will be a tiny minority.
Personally I expect to become economically unviable and with the new lack of social programs and loss of healthcare to die in the streets.
"And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them."
Is it biblical or is it American healthcare?
But I get the Gretzky disappointment
But maybe next time we could reward actual contributors to humanity or society rather than make multi millionaires out of shallow OCD gameplaying boymen and expect more than juvenile behavior.
Thanks for your commentary, lungta. I do hope the fate you ascribe to yourself does not happen.
DeleteI'm not sure I agree with your assessment that most of Canada will turn on a dime. While it is true we have been complacent for a very long time, the threat of annexation, like that of death, concentrates the mind wonderfully. I sense a newly rediscovered patriotism that may very well withstand the test of time. Canadians are rightfully furious, and with the right political leadership, we can make our fury count where it matters.
"Never appeal to a man's 'better nature.' He may not have one. Invoking his self-interest gives you more leverage."
DeleteRobert A. Heinlein
Guess I am going a bit by that wonderful concentration of minds that has been shown in the face of the climate collapse and the 6th extinction. "crickets"
And I guess by where I live where the " Go 51" idea gets a full shrug as pros and cons balance or as Joni Mitchell once said "You can come now or you can come later it really doesn't matter".
Patriotism has been crippled by the massive inequality in Canada and amount of foreign ownership.
"Poverty is the worst form of violence" Mahatma Gandhi
Long suffering, if there is an easy out, won't play well.
Quick fixes are a politicians gravy and those elected dimes are the dimes that count. Interesting times . :)
Interesting times indeed, lungta. As for climate collapse, the movie "Don't Look Up" says much about our apathy.
DeleteCaught Don't Look Up several times. At our ages we have to come to terms with the end anyway. Been watching Pope 112 story unfold. Could be the last as prophesied? And the last Hopi predictions have come to pass. And youknowwho and youknowwhere keep ticking off the antichrist/babylon boxes in revelations.
DeleteJust a sunny Sunday in our 2nd false spring.
I have a friend ,who never says good bye , he ends with "I can hardly wait to see what happens next."
True, lungta, we do have to come to terms with our individual ends. One only hopes the world goes on after we take our leave.
DeleteWhy the masses worship the rich and famous is beyond my comprehension.
ReplyDeleteTo admit to my age my first thoughts of disgust were moulded by the TV series 'Lifestyles of the rich and famous" !!!
Since then it has become much, much worse.
Celebrity status is now celebrated more than achievement .
Celebrity is the new Royalty..
The new Royalty is Pre Magna Carta!
We live in dangerous times.
TB
All part of the flight from critical thinking, in my view, TB. We like our icons simple and cartoonish.
DeleteFrom our wakening moments to our sleepy nights we are inundated with visions and verbs designed to steer us to place our trust and, most importantly, our hard earned dollars to a cause, movement , religion or political persuasion, whose end purpose is not to enlighten us or help us , but to take our hard earned income away for no other reason but self greed.
ReplyDeleteYet we are to fucking stupid, greedy or blinded to realise it!
TB
I am 78 years of age.
When I attended college many years ago we had a English language teacher who told us that the are instances in life where the only appropriate response to certain issues was to swear!
As a retired English teacher, I heartily approve of your teacher's observation, TB. Sometimes I have to restrain myself on this blog, as expletives beckon over the world's developments.
Delete