The problem with Jordan Henderson is that he forgot Michael Jordan’s basic philosophy for sports stars. When asked to denounce a Republican senator who used racial slurs in election ads, he declined. His reasoning? “Republicans also buy sneakers.”
As it turns out, homophobes also offer incredibly lucrative football contracts. So let that be a warning to any footballer considering a moral stance on anything anytime soon.
Actually, The Last Dance gave more context to that famous quote. Michael Jordan explains that it was a ready-made comment to teammates.
He felt he didn’t want to attach his name to something he didn’t understand well and hadn’t had the time to study in depth. That’s actually an extremely sensible position, one that Henderson presumably now regrets, wishing he had such foresight.
Because the Jordan Henderson issue affects us all and is encapsulated in #BeKind. It’s good to be #BeKind, even if the frequent urges to do so feel like a throwback to an elementary school meeting with a particularly serious principal.
Jordan Henderson has been heavily criticized after speaking about moving to his Saudi Arabia
The former Liverpool captain left Anfield this summer to join Saudi side Al-Ettifaq for a reported wage of £700,000 a week, but he insists the move was not financially motivated.
But when do we stop #BeingKind? This is the philosophical dead end into which Henderson has landed.
When I read his interview about Saudi Arabia, despite the quotes about the car crash – “I wore the bracelet, I wore the rainbow laces, I went all the way” – I had no doubts about his sincerity: it is his naivete and even that madness is alarming, especially his belief that Saudi Arabia cares a lot about its rainbow bracelet. They thought it was so important that they blurted it out on his welcome video.
But he grew up in an environment where everyone tells footballers that they have a huge influence (to some extent they do) and that they can be changemakers (they can, but usually only superficially).
Not many of us are Tommie Smith or John Carlos. Most of us are not up for the kind of sacrifice that literally puts us in the line of fire, fists clenched as the national anthem plays, your career may be in shambles, your life’s work, an Olympic medal, may be under threat.
England wasn’t even prepared to risk a yellow card for wearing a armband in Qatar, and before we judge most of us wouldn’t jeopardize a cherished work project for a quick gesture of political solidarity.
As such, in the gilded world of professional footballers, Henderson probably honestly believes he’s done a lot. It’s really hard to despise his good intentions – I believe they were just that – just because he’s now in a philosophical muddle.
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Al-Ettifaq also appointed fellow Liverpool icon Steven Gerrard as their manager this summer
NBA legend Michael Jordan once said “Republicans buy sneakers too” when asked to denounce a Republican senator for using racist tropes in election ads
His problem is more than that he has absorbed a level of moral debate more appropriate for elementary school children than for adults.
He sums up the limits of tolerance perfectly as a moral code when he says he would “wear the rainbow bracelet (but) if that doesn’t respect their religion, then that’s not right either.” Everyone must respect religion and culture.’
There is no way out of this moral impasse. For our way of thinking – and this is exactly the Magna Carta, Reformation and Enlightenment and therefore a unique Western European view of the world – you absolutely do not have to respect religion and culture.
Of course, you should remain peaceful and polite in your disagreements, as disrespect often turns into violence. But #BeKind has never been enough as a moral code to live by, because it is also a duty to be intolerant and disrespectful of certain cultures and attitudes, a point I think is addressed in the very basic GCSE philosophy.
No one expected Henderson to lead a Gay Pride march in Riyadh. But we could reasonably have expected him to say, like Toni Kroos, that he got the offer from Saudi Arabia, but that “the lack of human rights there” prevented him from going.
Henderson, who publicly and vocally advocated for LGBTQ+ rights during his time at Anfield, faced backlash from supporters as homosexuality is considered a crime in Saudi Arabia
Al-Ettifaq appeared to blur Henderson’s rainbow colored flag in his announcement video
But even within Kroos’ thinking, which is more to my taste, there is a contradiction. How much does he really know about Saudi Arabia? The PR people who work for Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE like to exploit this vulnerability among those who ask questions about these Middle Eastern states.
If you are thoughtful and aware of the misconduct of the Western powers in their imperial splendor, the removal of that guilt is a rich seam for me. Maybe you’re just another neo-imperialist or missionary, full of prejudice against an ancient culture, religion or nation?
Ultimately, PR agencies representing the states of the Middle East feed off postmodernism. Who are we to say what is right? Who is someone? Because everything is just cultural relativism anyway, isn’t it?
But there’s the crux, the point where a bracelet or rainbow laces aren’t enough. It is not neo-colonialism to say that imprisoning homosexuals is wrong. It’s not imposing your Western values if you say it’s wrong to have your henchmen fly to Turkey to torture and kill an annoying journalist.
And it’s not cultural bias or anti-Arab racism that says it’s wrong not to pay your employees and have rules that make it difficult for them to get justice.
Toni Kroos decided to reject a move to Saudi Arabia because of ‘the lack of human rights there’
Henderson has to learn that eventually you have to draw a moral line in the sand somewhere
It’s the moral that says that. A morality that has been forged for millennia. Despite all the nuances and debates we may have about the application of our beliefs – and alternative views are always available – you ultimately have to draw a moral line in the sand somewhere. Not everyone can be right.
And the problem with taking such a position is that it always involves upsetting someone. Michael Jordan knew that intuitively. You can’t always be #BeKind. Sometimes protest involves painful decisions and almost always upsets people.
Henderson seems to have adopted a Disney version of protest politics where his sacrifice involved some crass men who booed him for kneeling or wearing rainbow laces, but when they got enough bracelets they eventually saw their mistake manner and they repented. .
No one told him that challenging ideas involved real sacrifice and reproach. No one ever does when they hand out the bracelets. After all, who cares?
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