The woke takeover of sport continues across the world
The scandals in England and Australia currently engulfing cricket simply confirm that the campaign by woke elites in the West to take over and ideologically purify sport is proceeding apace.
Institutions in the West – universities, the bureaucracy, large corporations and significant sections of the media, for example – have long since capitulated to woke elite domination.
But professional sport, despite becoming progressively more corporatised since the 1950s, has stubbornly maintained a measure of genuine independence until very recently.
Sport has its origins in play, and its underlying values are at odds with the crude ethics of the marketplace. Most sports are organised on strict gender lines, and sport is an activity where success is essentially determined by individual ability and talent – ‘commodities’ that cannot be purchased. Furthermore, most sports attract a predominantly working class following.
These characteristics make sport decidedly suspect in the eyes of the woke elite and, in recent years, they have sought to take over and refashion it in accordance with their own ideology.
This determined campaign has employed a predictable array of tried and tested tactics. #METOO style allegations of endemic sexual assault and harassment, or accusations of ‘institutional racism’ are made in the media in relation to entire sports and/or individual sporting organisations. These allegations often involve events that took place years ago and the terms ‘sexual harassment’ and ‘racism’ are defined so loosely that they encompass acts that cannot, on any rational level, be properly defined or proven. Said allegations are often made by disaffected, moderately successful, players with an axe to grind and prompt other players and former players to make similar claims (possibly true, but possibly just attention seeking.)
It is at this point that corporations threaten to withdraw their sponsorship from the club/organising body/tournament/player tarred with this brush. In a panic the sport or sporting body immediately admits its complete guilt and officials resign – to be replaced by members of a more ‘prorgressive’ outlook. An inquiry is held that inevitably confirms the truth of all the allegations and another round of public self-flagellation is ordered. Individual players, coaches or executives who express ‘politically incorrect’ views are immediately drummed out of the sport.
The most extreme example of this is transgender activists targeting sports and sporting organisations that oppose their ongoing attempts to destroy female sport altogether. They have been so successful that this year the New Zealand sportswoman of the year award went to Laurel Hubbard, a weightlifter who is not only a biological male but also failed to complete a single successful lift at this year’s Olympic Games, finishing dead last in her group.
Recently, many sports and sporting organisations in Australia have found themselves on the receiving end of such campaigns – rendering them dysfunctional and hopelessly divided.
The woke takeover of sport continues across the world — RT Op-ed
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Originally Posted by Section31
