Why Terry’s demotion is necessary
So Fabio Capello has decided to axe John Terry as captain of England’s national football team. Just FYI for anyone who isn’t aware of it, John Terry apparently had an affair with the girlfriend (now ex) of Wayne Bridge, who was (I suppose it’s past tense now) Terry’s close pal and a fellow national footballer.
I am glad Capello made the decision he did, because that’s the right thing to do.
Now, there have been people who said Terry should not be punished for his off-field indiscretions, as it is separate from his on field work where he wears his heart on his shirt and is a model player who never gives up on a fight. There were also those who said Terry is a footballer and not a role model so it should not affect his captaincy. It is suggested that if people wants a role model for their kids, they should look elsewhere.
I can’t disagree more.
Yes, Terry is a footballer, but footballers these days are no longer just footballers. They are much more than that. Football is one of the world’s most popular sports, if not the most popular. This sport’s players, especially the top players, are celebrities in their own right. Many of them go into side-lines (for lack of better word) such as modelling, advertisements and so on. So yes, they are celebrities.
When you are a public figure who gets frequent media coverage, people notice you. When people notice you, they notice what you do. People, especially the young ones, learn their behaviours from people and adults around them. Who better to learn from than a rich, famous and apparently successful guy who gets all the attention? No mistake about this. So whether Terry is willing or not, he has the responsibility of being a role model.
Now it is a personal choice whether he wants to be a role model or not. I doubt anyone also demands for him to be a perfect human. But when someone so big and perhaps with a certain degree of societal behaviour influence (as most public figures do) makes a transgression (and is caught at it), a certain message is sent to a vast majority of people because that person appears on the NEWS. And how that message is handled will determine the way society goes.
Besides, now that Terry has betrayed a good friend who was once a team mate of his in Chelsea, and currently a national team mate, rifts have appeared. Even Chelsea stalwart Frank Lampard has called up Wayne Bridge to give him his support. He called Bridge, not Terry.
That implies that Terry has lost the respect and trust of some of his team mates both in the Chelsea and national squads. How can a man who is not trusted and respected be given the important duty of leading a national squad? Especially one of a long-underachieving footballing nation that is yearning to end its decades of trophy dry spell?
Now, the stripping of Terry’s captaincy tells the society three things:
1) It is NOT okay to betray a friend.
2) It is NOT okay to be playing doctor and patient with your friend’s girlfriend.
3) It is NOT okay to have an extramarital affair (which hurts your family).
On the otherhand, what will keeping Terry’s captaincy, and keeping things separate mean?
1) It is OKAY for you to betray a friend.
2) It is OKAY for you to play doctor and patient with a friend’s girlfriend.
3) It is OKAY to have an extramarital affair (which hurts your family).
All these, even if you are rich and famous and talented. So I think the whole issue is a no-brainer.
Kudos to Capello.
Food – don’t think so much; just eat
Food is a staple in human life. We need food to survive, and heck, some of us even eat to pass time!
But it’s not everyday when people think of where and how our food came to be. Are we even eating safe? By safe I don’t mean binging or nutrient contents, but are the food we eat SAFE? Are they sustainable? Are they even ethical?
I won’t even talk about animal abuses, but those animals can be fed with such gross stuff people probably wouldn’t want to eat the meat anymore, especially when substances can actually be retained in the meat long after the animal’s dead. What can be added to meat during processing is gross too.
We all know about melamine in milk. How about arsenic in chickens? Well, good thing is that the US might be phasing it out soon. If you hadn’t click on the link to read the article, I’d bet you thought it was China. XD!
Even as I type this post, I’m not sure what’s happening to the Amazon forest right now. For years it’s been cleared to support grain cultivation and cattle-raising for food consumption. Only recently did a number of top Brazilian meat companies committed to NOT source their cattle and meat from farms that raise their cattle on deforested Amazon areas.
But not everyone is happy about that. I edited this article before for work purposes and halfway through it made me feel so pro-deforestation, even though I’m really pro-environmental. Naturally it made me feel very guilty.
Yes, I do agree with the Brazilian governor that at the end of the day, we still need to eat. Blimey, how else do you feed 6.8 billion people, and we are expected to balloon to nine billion by 2040?
But let’s not worry about that now; let’s just think about now. There’s been many reports about food crisis this year and last year. Not sure about before because I did not notice until last year.
Apparently we lack food… but is that really the case?
The answer is NO.
I do not think we are really in threat of lacking food. In fact, the real problem is the uneven distribution of food. For this, you might want to look at this report here. The numbers are staggering and rather shocking, and mind you it’s only the UK. I told that to an American friend and she scoffed, saying they waste much more, but that could only be her own opinion.
But just a snapshot of it:
The food we waste:
Items of note that are thrown away whole and unused include:
Grapes (4.8 billion a year)
Potatoes (1.9 billion a year)
Apples (1.6 billion as year)
Slices of bread (2.6 billion a year)
Tomatoes (1 billion a year)
Bread rolls (775 million a year)
Yoghurts and yoghurt drinks (484 million a year)
Sausages (440 million a year)
Chocolate and sweets (259 million a year)
Rashers of bacon (200 million)
Meat-based meals – mainly ready meals and takeaways (120 million a year)
=
The food we fail to finish and clear out on our daily food plate is considered waste too. Also, how much food had been wasted simply because nobody bought them or were placed in some forgotten corner of our homes? They would eventually be thrown away… So imagine combined all that together… would anyone in Africa or other poor countries still starve?
Will end the post with this video.
My takes on India’s women quota bill
Link to article
Interesting.
I am a feminist but to be honest, I am disturbed by the possible consequences of this bill, should it be passed.
I suppose this bill is meant to secure seats for women in a country where gender importance is very much at different ends. Yet is this the correct way to empower women?
It is my opinion that Ms. Sonia Gandhi should push for a meritocracy system instead of going the “easier” way out. A system would push people up based on their capabilities. But the quota bill will serve to permeate what the males had done all along – power/merit based on your gender.
There are many more male politicians than female. How many of those males and females are actually capable and talented enough to have the seats?
That brings another question mark – what kind of people will they appoint just to fill up the quota? Will they appoint anyone just to make up the numbers? At the same time, people who are actually capable of doing the job are being kept out just because they are not female. Isn’t this reverse discrimination? Appointing people just to make up the numbers – isn’t this another form of discrimination too? Women are able to be there simply because they are female, not because they can really do the work. If I am promoted in my workplace simply because I am a woman and not because my value and working abilities are appreciated and truly wanted, I would feel rather perplexed.
I’m not saying that women can’t be politicians or can’t do political work. What I’m concerned is that the bill would promote the appointment of any Jane, Helen and Mina just to fill up the quota while keeping out people who can really do the job simply because they are not female. Does this sound familiar? Isn’t this exactly what women are going through? Does it really help if we do the same, and make the same mistakes all over again? And if any Jane, Helen and Mina are appointed to make up the numbers, and they fail to perform, how is this going to help women? It will just make us look bad, and people will feel more justified about discriminating against women in high positions.
Maybe I’m worrying too much. If this bill comes to pass, we can only rely on trust that talented people will be appointed and they will leave seats empty until they can find capable people to fill in the spots (is this workable anyway?). Also, this may actually serve to promote capable women who were unjustly kept out of the scenes due to gender discrimination.