Neutral Is Not Virtuous

Who are these people who think everyone should keep politics out of everything else in life?

Sometimes for kicks I read comments sections. I like to see what the folks are talking about. This week I’m marveling at the amount of times I see calls for keeping politics out of soccer.

Hmmmmm.

*Processing*

People, read the room. Hel-lo. It’s 2019. Did you just emerge from some kind of underground shelter or extended coma?

Politics is in everything. That’s where we are.

A Disney mermaid is political. Sneakers are political. The Fourth of July is political. What should be a private medical procedure is political. Dead children at a school in Connecticut is political. People packed into cages at our border is political. Being gay and having rights is political. Acknowledging the work of scientists is political.

So, really? You want a team of elite athletes to keep politics out of soccer because it mars the entertainment value for you? You think they’re worried about whether or not you tune in or buy their jerseys? Or if the ratings are as high as 2015?

Oh boy, do you have your finger on the pulse.

Because, hey, never mind that the equal pay issue has been batted around Washington, D.C. for decades. Or that…