The thing is with mental health, there are so many different prongs to it. It’s like a 5 point star. In fact it’s more like a dodecahedron of destruction at times.
Recently, I have witnessed 2 different things. 1 being closer to home in my own national football team and 1 in the Oscar’s. I’m sure everyone knows about these. But I want to revisit these and make it crystal clear how people don’t seem to like any sort of human reaction that exists anymore. Before it’s too late- we simply must cancel the people who started off and are keeping this cancel culture rife. Cancel culture is what started this world into more of a dystopia than a utopia. And I want it, for my own sanity, to be more of a utopia where people are free to express themselves provided the way they do so isn’t abusive or if they are discussing sensitive information, that it isn’t based off agenda, and that it is factual.
Firstly, the homegrown incident involving an English footballer. This footballer, who I really can’t be bothered to name because he doesn’t deserve the respect, was booed. Now, that’s not my style. I’ve been to football games. I don’t boo and I don’t shoot abuse. But booing a player isn’t abuse. This is where the mainstream media need to be thrown in the bin, and anyone who is in the #justicefortheplayer camp. A boo is just a sustained noise of disgruntlement. Abuse is actually making personal attacks on a person’s life, and as I have seen online in various comments sections, often involving the person’s family which is vile and has no place in society.
But as I said, this football player has been performing terribly pretty much every week since the European Championships in 2021. And he deserves every bit of criticism that comes his way. He needs to silence the boo brigade by performing well on the pitch and acting like the captain of my favourite club rather than coming out regurgitating the same #wegoagain rubbish week in, week out. I can do this without personally attacking the guy. I can say it in a sentence: “personally, I don’t feel your performances merit a call up to my national team or a starting place in the side for my favourite club side.” There you go, pick out the abuse. For sure, someone who reads certain newspapers like The Guardian will definitely come at me at some point labelling me as such. Again, they need silencing. Because there are standards- and they shouldn’t be allowed to be in the cellar in any walk of life.
So let’s move on to #SLAPGATE. Hot topic. Can I just ask though, what do you expect if you try and be funny but mock a condition someone has at the same time? Let me ask another question: Do you think that if you stuck your head into a beehive that you will bring your head out smelling of honey? There are lines that can be crossed and lines that can’t. Whether it’s in a physical or verbal context.
As a child, I used to play rugby. I had people who went too far in a physical context and played antagonist. One such person got sat on for his troubles. That was, until I was told I’d get sent off if I stayed sat on him. Some people need teaching a harsh lesson. I’m all for giving people something back that they deserve. Essentially equal to what I was victim of because sitting on someone isn’t as spiteful I believe as conjuring up a plot to essentially trip someone over and then have someone purposely pushed on top of you. You really think I’m going to let that slide? Again, there will be the sensitivity brigade who think no no you can’t react like that. Yes I can! I’d do the same every time. If I got sent off, it’d been an embarrassment. So I listened to the referee and did what I did until I was told the threshold would result in punishment. There’s no problem with that. Professional rugby players have probably done it. Other athletes have done worse and not been cancelled.
I really would honestly mentally check out of a world where you weren’t allowed to be critical or cynical anymore. That’s what I thrive off. As I said before… I have standards. A particular thing I’ve witnessed numerous times is packets of crisps from the supermarket not packed properly. Now I’ve never actually commented about it. But here’s the thing. If I were to say it without launching a hurricane of words towards someone, that is allowed. Because someone has made a mistake and the same mistake shouldn’t keep happening. It’s about actually being the best, not just trying to be the best. It’s like me and Gordon Ramsay. I’m trying to be the best chef. Gordon Ramsay is the best chef. He has standards. And people receive am earful if they aren’t up to scratch. That’s how I roll.
Obviously, certain things aren’t right and like I said there are lines you cross and lines you don’t. But each individual has to deal with things in their own way. Why does it have to be the business of the whole country. Or the entire mainstream media if 1 person decides something is or isn’t right. It’s like certain things which are actually facts but certain people will be adamant they aren’t because they have their own little agendas bubbling away to try and change science or history. Not everyone needs to know everything. That’s why I don’t watch the news. I don’t need to know everything. I already have a picture of what the world is like and where the world is dangerously going day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. I’d do everything I can to not let this new found horde of cancellers in either direction take over.
What the aim should be, is for people to actually realise there is room for difference of thought. Difference is great. Authenticity is great. But there’s also reality and fact and all the other things that should ground people and not let people get carried away that everything has to be right according to them. Not everything is right. But what is right, is that people are heard and seen and listened to. On both sides of the coin. And remember… Let this be a lesson… Critique is not abuse. They are poles apart. And someone can say something is positive if something believes the opposite. Someone can say something is negative if people believe the opposite. We are humans. Not sheep! So we need to stop believing what people want us to and think for ourselves!
Sam's Mental Health Blog 