“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.
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.
peeeko
Guest
well gallen does a radio gig every week where he is paid to comment. his opinion has validity
Bananaman
Guest
Honestly what a rubbish article!! Listen to my opinion about why you shouldn't listen to people who have opinions! By the way who asked you for your opinion?
northerner
Guest
I think you missed his basic point. Sports people who make comments about subjects they know zero about should have as much credibility as politicians, used car salesmen, and members of the flat-earth society. Being a celebrity doesn't make one a font of wisdom. Most athletes/actors/rock stars/ children of aforementioned/ have next to no understanding of the issues they choose to support or oppose, and do themselves and their issues no favour by pretending otherwise.
northerner
Guest
Everyone gets to say their piece. This is a warning to not take the Kardashians or their intellectual equals seriously.
northerner
Guest
There are a lot of people besides football players who are proof of the Dunning Kruger effect. I'd have said that this article is aimed at those who imagine they have expertise they do not. And I'd have said, it's spot on.
Upfromdown
Guest
Anyone can voice an opinion. If the authorities choose to listen to it it not is another matter. I would hope Paul Gallen doesn't effect any outcome one way or the other
Casper
Guest
Well Graham, I'd suggest sportspeople, celebrities and anyone from the Kardashian family be given no forum to express their shortsighted opinions.
Michael
Guest
I think it's up to people to make their own mind on what they listen to and not just blindly accept that what the media is saying as truth.
Pepper Jack
Guest
It's not just sportspeople. Did you see the Academy Awards on Monday?
EastsFootyFan
Roar Guru
I think you've demonstrated there should be a caveat with this comment. Sean's point that the media attention sports people get should not qualify them to comment on things outside of sport, and I think that's right. However, by the same token we shouldn't ignore what sports people in the public eye have to say just because they're primary source of income is as athletes first. In Pocock's case, he isn't just some athlete with an opinion using his celebrity to voice ill-informed nonsense; he's an activist for the causes he promotes and one who actively participates in them and materially supports them and so he's certainly not "just" an athlete.
Graham
Guest
“The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.” Epitomised in the fact that you Sean Woodland, have the confidence to publish articles such as this. Following along your opinion on what sports people should or shouldn't comment on; all of your articles should only be written about stand-up comedy and writing.
Graham
Guest
“The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.” Epitomised in the fact that you Sean Woodland, have the confidence to publish articles such as this. Following along your opinion on what sports people should or shouldn't comment on; all of your articles should only be written about stand-up comedy and writing. Is that right?
BigAl
Guest
I think you are placing far too much emphasis on how important these people are to society. They are there (and paid well) to bash and crash into each other for the entertainment of the rest of us - who have an interest. They are not there for their intellect or insight and when they stuff up, it's not as if they've let civilised society down (your refernce to Cardinal Pell ?) I don't know whether to laugh, cry or . . . what ? when I see a case like the Pearce one where after the incident they present in the media like frightened little boys - Gallen also came across a bit this way a couple of years ago when he was savaged in the press by Paul Shean for tearing out the eye stitches of an opponent during a game !
Jimmmy
Guest
Good advice mate. Apply it to yourself as well and the problem is solved.
Dutski
Roar Guru
I don;t think the problem is sportspeople speaking. It's that other people a) give them a platform and b) bother to listen. For heaven's sake Twitter is built on people who don't knowing anything telling the whole world what they know.
Aaron
Guest
I think this applies to most anyway. You have certainly highlighted some of the more embarrassing sports people. But what about David Pocock? Surely we can't throw him in with that lot as his highly intelligent and morally correct views are worth listening to.