Tetractys Merkaba BREAKS DOWN INFLAMMATORY & IGNORANT AGE ARTICLE BY PETER ROEBUCK ABOUT SPORT & TERRORISM

By Tetractys Merkaba,

I will dissect this column in red italic as always.


Sport the target as terrorists cross the line

Peter Roebuck -A cricket writer for The Age in Melbourne, The Sydney Morning Herald, and other Fairfax publications.
February 17, 2010 - 3:00AM

THE FOUL smell of evil hovers over sport. This is such an emotionally ridden, opinion, that it could be taken from a tabloid story. What is the meaning of such a strong opening statement? It is an attempt to condition you to Roebuck's belief that terrorists are about to target sporting events. This is the promulgation of fear. Is is justified? This article will try to convince you that it is. Now the terrorists talk of destroying the Commonwealth Games, among the most ancient, absurd and happiest of sporting occasions. The phrase 'the terrorists talk' employs a group blame mentality, rather than specifically looking at a group, or, organisation. It implies an agreement with you on the basis that you know WHO the terrorists are. Roebuck claims that these terrorists want to destroy the games, yet, it is hard to believe him given the precedent set at the Munich Olympic Games in 1972 which DID NOT stop the games. Maybe the games suffer more from the absence of elite athletes such as world #1 sprinter, Usain Bolt. As for being ancient, the Commonwealth, or, EMPIRE Games, have been around for 80 years, starting in Hamilton, Ontario in August, 1930. There were eleven participants, all men, and a look through the participating countries -Australia, Bermuda, British Guinea, Canada, England, Ireland, Newfoundland, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa and Wales- compared to members of the British Empire at the time reveals more than a hint of racism. For example, where are Malaya, India, Jamaica, Hong Kong & Trinidad?

Now they talk of disrupting the hockey World Cup, another glorious and unspoilt enterprise in which numerous nations compete. Perchance Pakistan might play India in the final. I hate to go back to history, but....during the Cold War, America and Russia competed against each other in sports such as basketball, ice hockey, swimming, gymnastics and track and field without feeling the need to employ nuclear devices, or, for their supporters to kill, maim, or, injure each other. Of course, I could point out that the odds of an India v Pakistan final are quite slim, given their respective abilities at hockey. Yet, here we have the first mention of a specific nation, India, and Pakistan. The ICC has banned cricket from being played in Pakistan because of so-called security risks and the Commonwealth Games are being played in India...Perhaps that is the problem. These miseries cannot tolerate anything progressive. This pure opinion, otherwise known as hearsay, or conjecture, as is the next sentence. Humanity itself is their enemy.

Now they talk about stopping the IPL, the most cosmopolitan of cricketing activities, a tournament in which people from all corners, including supposedly bitter rivals, play in the same sides. Except for the raft of talented Pakistani cricketers who were all ignored for potentially racist reasons. For all its failings IPL is a time of merriment and liberalism. No wonder it has become a target. Narrow-minded people only have one agenda. They despise the possibility of love. What??? Isn't it interesting how some people insist on draining human faculties from their enemies? This is a time-honoured tradition. In Australia, during the shameful, degrading, and disgraceful stolen generation era, Originie children who were considered 'too black' were removed from their families, the intention being, ultimately, to breed the 'black' out of them. Nazi German also dehumanized Jews in the 1930's as a prelude to the holocaust. This is either reprehensible, or, ignorant behaviour from Roebuck. It is self-interest camouflaged as self-flagellation.

Inevitably sport will be shaken to the core by these latest threats. Notice the lack of proof to back up his statement. Notice the lack of information regarding the threats. Notice that it is sport itself that will be affected by a game of hockey, the Commonwealth Games and the tippety 20 cricket tournement. I'm not convinced that the Melbourne Cup, the A.F.L Grand Final, NBA Basketball in the States, hurling in Ireland, the Ashes cricket series next summer, junior athletics, or, a whole host of different sport is going to be affected by these vague, unnamed, so-called threats. Sportsmen and women will wonder whether taking part is worth the risk. This statement presumes that sportspersons haven't contemplated, or taken action before on so-called safety grounds. Australia refused to play Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka during the 1996 World Cup, which was of course five years before the 9/11 inside job, which is the precipitation of these 'problems'. Governments will meet with solemn faces and discuss whether they dare send their sons and daughters into this grimness. Sportsmen are not soldiers; they did not sign up for this deal. They trained for years and often decades, pushed themselves to their limits and yearn for the chance to represent their country in sporting conflict.

Of course, sporting bodies and governments ought to defy the threats. But that's easier said than done. Authorities cannot toy with lives, cannot tell athletes that it's all going to be OK. Sometimes it ain't so. Sometimes the terrorists achieve their foul purposes; they did so in Munich in 1972 and not so long ago they struck in the streets of Pakistan as bullets blazed at the Sri Lankan cricket team bus. They did so again in Angola recently as more lives were lost. Yet, incredibly, Sport continues unabated...

So much for sport as a separate world. It wasn't a separate world at the Olympic Games in 1936, nor, was it when South Africa was expelled from international sport for racism while the same governments who were oh-so-appalled at South Africa's racism were more than happy to engage in trade with these same racist South African governments. The U.S refused to attend the Moscow Olympics in 1980, the Russians refused to attend the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. SPORT AND POLITICS ARE INTERMINGLED. They have been since Nero threw Christians to the lions. So much for the notion that terrorists will not cross that line, have any sense that it exists. Clearly sportsmen are regarded as fair game. Not from this article it isn't. Indeed they are stating to become primary targets. Presumably the terrorists regard them as they symbols of all they detest. If that does not persuade sceptics that sport is worth the bother, nothing will. If a presumption doesn't convince you, nothing will.....hmmm.....that is some interesting 'logic'.

The Commonwealth Games are due to be held in Delhi, amid swarming masses and glorious buildings, the smog and the smiles of India. Everyone has been predicting chaos. That's always the case with India. Nothing happens till the last minute. Anyone inspecting broadcasting boxes or stands two days beforehand is wasting his time. Now, though, the Games themselves are under the severest of threats. Already the bomb in the Pune bakery had added to the nervousness. As opposed to the countless other bombs that have gone off in India.

India is in the front line. It will put on a brave face. Alas it only takes one call, one threat, to spread the scare.

Now athletes and hockey players will fear that their aspirations are to be thwarted. Players are driven by the dream of holding up a gold medal or a World Cup. But they also want to live. Sportsmen are prepared to risk their careers on the roll of a dice, but not their lives. Pure opinion, emotionally delivered.

Except by those taking part, the IPL would not be as much missed. Even so, its cancellation would be a victory for the sour. After the threats from Shiv Sena, -An elected, right wing political party, based in Mumbai- it was already under pressure. Now it may sink.

Governments and sporting bodies will remain calm over the next few days and weeks. Naturally they will examine the seriousness of the threats. Promises will be made about security. Competitors from the more ravaged nations might brush them off. Reassuring athletes from safer havens will be incomparably more difficult.

Games can be stopped with a message. Inevitably sport itself and life itself will suffer. Meanwhile the organisers of the terror send their children to their deaths. The last sentence, like the first, is an emotionally charged tabloid sentence.

This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/sport-the-target-as-terrorists-cross-the-line-20100216-o8x9.html

This is a nonsensical article that many of us would simply dismiss. The real danger is that many people who will read this are sporting fans that know nothing about the real agenda in our world. This makes them susceptible to this type of article that blurs the boundary between opinion and 'facts'. In this fast paced world where many people possess neither the time, nor, the inclination to delve deeper into the terrorist issue, they are inclined to sub/conciously embody these opinions as their own. People like these will argue that 9/11 was an outside job, without really knowing why they are so dogmatically holding onto that consideration. This is one of the reasons why.