“I totally shat on everyone I respect,” Mitchell Pearce said on Monday. Luckily for Pearce, no one got that on video.
But everything’s okay now. Pearce’s return to Australia has been cultivated better than a hipster’s beard.
He said all the right things. Again. The Roosters said all the right things. Again. Time will tell. Again.
MITCHELL PEARCE FINED $125k, COPS EIGHT-WEEK SUSPENSION
All that remains is for Pearce to be named as an RSPCA ambassador and be photographed shaking hands with a poodle. I wish him well.
The only concern anyone should have for him is in regard to his personal growth and mental wellbeing.
Catharine Lumby believes Pearce has run his race. She’s a professor, it takes decades to know stuff Lumby does, and she’s advised the NRL. Maybe they’ve learnt how to provide lip service and appease cranky sponsors? This is an organisation that provides players with educational programs on how to treat women. I would have thought that if you need help on how to treat women, when you go to bed at night your door should be locked from the outside.
Until the NRL actually proves itself as more than intent on keeping up appearances, I’ll get my guidance on societal issues elsewhere. For now, their alliance with White Ribbon Australia, Mardi Gras, et al., continues to appear as philanthropic tokenism when balanced against the archaic culture of some involved with the sport.
Pearce’s potential NRL return has been endorsed by that beacon of morality, Paul Gallen. This is a move akin to Ivan Milat advocating the safety of hitchhiking.
Gallen’s integrity on the Pearce matter is more questionable than Cardinal George Pell’s memory, yet he feels entitled to provide an opinion on matters of behaviour. Who asked him? Are the sycophants running the asylum?
Somehow, someone from within the rugby league fraternity thought this contemporary gladiator’s opinion was worth publicising. Maybe it was with good reason that traditional gladiators were only seen and not heard.
Unlike many of his contemporaries, who voluntarily broadcast their barely coherent drivel, at least Gallen was asked for his opinion, and speaks quite well in comparison to his peers.
Both Charles Bukowski and Bertrand Russell are attributed with the quote, “The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.”
Sometimes, the more confidence someone has, the more they think they know and consequently think they can say. An opinion heavily weighted with ignorance or a dearth of knowledge counts for little. Sure, you don’t have to understand the properties of water to drink it, but you should at least be able to identify it with some clarity before you do.
Speaking of water, who needs the reasoned and experienced views of a Stan Grant when we’ve got Stephanie Rice. Thousands of hours spent staring at a submerged black line seem to have equipped the former swimmer with expertise on racial matters. Her social media support for ‘blackface’ Opal Alice Kunek was confirmation bias at its belligerent best.
Brit & @ItsStephRice got the answers! #Blackface pic.twitter.com/T9mGqR1lBj
— BRIGGS AKA BIG SIGH (@BriggsGE) February 21, 2016
Her, ‘Other people do it’ defence was gobsmacking for a grown up. The likes of Rice should comment on things they know about, like staring at black lines for prolonged periods, not issues they are clearly unencumbered with the mental apparatus required to comment on.
Watching another convicted cheat, Shane Warne, call Steve Waugh selfish was almost as spectacular to witness as the Sheik of Tweak’s peculiar musings on evolution. Warne’s brain seems to mostly operate like his charity – at about 16 cents in the dollar.
Warne has earned the right to tell us about cricket, or how one physically transforms from a pudgy lookalike of John Daly to someone who resembles a character from Thunderbirds, but not much else. Still, the voyeur in me hopes he entertains us with his lack of self-awareness for years to come.
Everyone is entitled to an opinion, just as they are entitled to be dumb and cruel. But, make no mistake, all opinions are not equal. Once outside the rectangular confines of a rugby league paddock or swimming pool, the opinions of Gallen and Rice deserve little attention.
‘Do I actually know something, or do I just think something?’ is a question for sportspeople and the rest of us to carefully consider.
The difference between the two is worth knowing.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
All the team list information for Round 9.
The Knights halfback objected to the unnecessarily aggressive tackle from Kurt Donoghoe with just seconds on the clock.
First, Kurt Donoghoe dropped the ball looking to pass and then Jake Averillo fumbled a kick in-goal. They would prove costly as Newcastle ran out four-point…
There is only one Kalyn Ponga but Newcastle have shown they won’t be shot ducks while their star fullback is out with a long-term…
Oryn Keeley may only be four games into his career, but he knows how to celebrate tries!
The Dolphins forward copped an accidental shoulder to the head while trying to tackle Leo Thompson, and subsequently failed his HIA, ruling him out…
