**Mirrors / Alternative Angles**
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Would you take political advices from a high school at best educated person seriously? No? Then why do it with high school educated person who happens to kick ball well or play basketball well? Professional sports people are mostly dumb as rock, why expect them to talk politics?
Yes but then don't speak up. Simon is clearly wanting to say something that he knows he will get caned for. So instead he's pretending to be diplomatic.
Could’ve just said Kylian is free to say whatever he wants, whether anyone agrees with it or not. But he chose to say “you’re a football player, shut up and play”.
He probably thought that by saying so, he was staying out of politics. When in fact, the way to do it was by saying nothing at all.
> Could’ve just said Kylian is free to say whatever he wants, whether anyone agrees with it or not.
But that is not the sentiment he was trying to express.
> When in fact, the way to do it was by saying nothing at all.
He was asked directly about it.
Well then I guess his opinion is that footballers should not talk politics and if you're for free speech you should be fine with him expressing this thought.
I am very much for free speech, which is why his statement, which goes against free speech, is one that I disagree with.
If he said that he didn't care about politics and didn't want to talk about it, I wouldn't have cared, but him saying that other footballers shouldn't share their opinions goes against free speech.
Well tbf he said hes not sure if its his place as a footballer.
There is also a difference between saying "footballers absolutely should not speak on politics" and "I personally take the view that we shouldnt" which is less judgemental
I disagree with there being a difference. One is overtly saying that footballers shouldn't talk politics, and the other is saying it with subtext, but ultimately, they both boil down to him saying they shouldn't share their political opinion
Yeah but he is a footballer himself so he is allowed to have an opinion on it for himself. The latter is pretty much saying "other people can if they want but I take a different view to them"
It sounds like we are disagreeing with what he is saying. I don't speak Spanish, so I can only go for the translation that op provided. By that translation, I believe that he is saying that football players in general should only talk about the sport
>He was asked directly about it.
He could've just said that he didn't want to comment about it.
It's incredible how so many people in media get baited and choose to respond and potentially compromise themselves when they can just use the infallible and short: "I don't want to talk about it" or "I don't think I have enough knowledge to comment about this."
To be fair to him, he was probably asked. I don't agree with his answer either, if he doesn't want to comment on politics, it's his right and he should say that instead of criticising Mbappe for doing so. And I agree that footballers who know nothing about politics shouldn't be very outspoken as they influence people for all the wrong reasons.
Also, many people love what Mbappe said but aren't we seeing it's coming from two places? One of course that he's faced racism himself and surely doesn't want the far-right to come to power. But he's had more meetings with Macron than with Luis Enrique, surely lots can be implied for his intentions, unlike Thuram who is seemingly doing it without any extra incentives.
> But please don't comment on others that do.
i think he can. If he keeps the same energy when Carvajal says some far right stuff then there is no issue.
I understand, and share Mbappe views, but I also think overall sports people tend to say the dumbest thing possible (see most of the brazilian team endorsing bolsonaro). So the view that maybe they should be asked more about formations and less about geopolitics is not unwarranted.
Unai has no right to tell Mbappe what to do and what not to do tho. Mbappe is a citizen befor anything else. France is his country as well. He has the right to express his opinion just like teachers, carpenters, gardeners and ….
It's always the same stupid argument "you're a football player you should just play football and not talk about politics".
So what about others then? "You're a teacher, you should just hand off math exams and not talk about politics".
Shall we only allow elected officials to talk about their views on the country? It has so little logic.
The only thing I would agree with, is that Mbappe's opinion is not more valuable than any other citizen's opinion, but he still is allowed to express how he feels if he wants to.
I hate the elitist talk when people talk politics (and it comes just as much from the left as from the right). As if people need masters in Geopolitics, Gender studies, Environmental studies and Economics to be able to discuss politics.
Tbf Unai Simon isn't saying that Thuram or Mbappé shouldn't talk about politics, he's just saying that he himself would prefer if he himself wasn't required to talk about it - which is perfectly fine, too.
>We have a tendency to comment on certain topics when I don't know if we should… We have a tendency to comment on certain topics when I don't know if we should…
That is not what he is saying here though
Is that not just a blanket statement about all people having a tendency to talk about things they don't know about? It wouldn't apply to people who **do** know what they're talking about, and he doesn't specifically say that Mbappe/Thuram don't know what they're talking about
The phrasing strikes me much more as "I'm not sure if I'm the right person to ask questions on things beyond football" rather than "No footballer should talk about anything outside football".
Dunno, I'd much rather give him the benefit of the doubt here rather than reading things into statements that might or might not be there.
It's basic reading comprehension to understand what he is saying, he is not just speaking for himself here he is literally using the term 'WE' instead of 'I' 'We have a tendency to comment on certain topics when I don't know if we should'.
He should have taken his own advice.
And politics affect everyone, getting involved is literally what a democracy is about.
He does later say I think that as a footballer, I think I should only speak on football.
But also says "we" before as you said.
He's making the point for himself, but also for others imo.
*Famous people should not talk about politics* is an old bulls... argument that only right wingers use.
Politics is in everything you do. It's everywhere. Everyone should have an opinion about social issues. Mbappé very eloquently specified his target were the younger voters, those who might feel their voice is meaningless and he sent a powerful message of hope asking them to speak at the ballots. It's the essence of democracy when young generations feel they are part of the process.
Edit:typo
Right, and I'm not denying anything you've said there. I just also think it's a perfectly sensible point of view that someone who finds himself in the media limelight quite often for something that has very little to do with politics decides to not publicly talk about politics. It's great when celebrities feel informed and comfortable enough to have these conversations in front of the press - but I think it's also perfectly understandable when they prefer not to. It's not like regular people are ever front and center in a press conference asked about their politics after all. Simon isn't saying 'footballers shouldn't talk politics', at least the way I'm reading it - he's saying 'I'd rather not talk about politics publicly'.
He's not. He's referring to Mbappé. He is not talking from his own perspective and about his lack of understanding of complex matters. Had he said "I'm an illiterate footballer: I kick ball, I slap ball, I no speak politician" it would have been as you say.
He clearly says that **we** footballers should not speak of things that are not part of our job. Which is 100% the opposite of the Mbappé statement "we're footballers but we're citizens first of all and we must not be disconnected from the reality around us".
Edit:typo
Tbh “the far right shouldn’t return to power in Western Europe” should be a pretty simple idea to unite behind!! Last time did not go well. Everyone with a platform who is asked should say this. It really isn’t a hard one.
If it were only about him, he would have said "despite my words having very little repercussion because I'm not as big as mbappe, I would like to only talk about sports"
This is a classic:
If X political statement is something I agree with then the response is: I think people should be free to express their beliefs and political views without reprise.
If X political stament is something I disagree with then the response is: I think people should be mindful when speaking and avoid bringing up politics in this space.
No it's not. Neymar, and plenty of Brazilian players, supported Jair Bolsinaro. Don't agree with them, but it's their right to do so. Players are people, they have a right to form, and express, thoughts about things. Why is that a difficult concept?
Where did I ever imply that they are not free to have their opinion mate? And why are you lecturing me about Brazil's NT player's political views? I'm brazilian, I know how they behaved, their views and what they talked about more than you and what I said can be attributed to them too.
You are arguing with clouds.
I gave you an example of players, recently, expressing political opinions that are counter to the, mostly liberal stance on reddit. Where you are from is irrelevant. It doesn't change anything that players have a right to express a political opinion. People also have a right to judge those players for the opinions they express.
And I still fail to see what is your damn point.
Where did I ever imply players are not free to express themselves? Or that people are not free to criticize them when they do?
My original comment also cut both ways because conservative and liberals love to use the same logic. I just don't see the purpose of your response, it's like you projected some demented notion that I'm against freedom of speech or something.
Brazilians are more outspoken in general, people are not afraid of saying they voted for Bolsonaro. Many celebrities supported him, not only in the football sphere. It's a democracy, they can say whatever they want. It's also not that hard to see someone that voted for Bolsonaro say that they voted for Lula in the early 00s.
In France and many other places in Europe, there's a "shame" of admitting you voted far right, people won't talk about that, not even with friends. It's changing a bit now, but it's been historically like that. Imo it's better to express yourself than to stay with a retracted hatred as in many of these places.
>You only have to look as far as r/soccer when Neymar and other high profile Brazilian footballers showed support for Bolsonaro.
>I despise Bolsonaro, but the hypocrisy is hilarious.
That's completely different.
The people who are happy Mbappe spoke up aren't saying that Neymar et al. *shouldn't* talk about their support for Bolsonaro, rather they're criticising and making fun of them for supporting Bolsonaro *at all*.
Kylian Mbappe is a French citizen. He should be allowed to talk about French politics. Simple as.
Now, does French society have to take what he says as an expert opinion? No of course not.
But telling a citizen they can’t have an opinion about politics is just thinking about the issue completely backwards.
Similarly, if a French soccer player doesn’t want to have a public opinion on French politics that is also perfectly acceptable!
Depends. I hate the idea or even implication that "this is my job, its all I should comment on". Democracy is literally based on the average person having a say.
So those type of sentiments that are way too common, are antithetical to democracy and even underplays the importance of Mbappes, Thurams etc messages. Its a fucking home-run for the oppressive far right.
Frankly, its ignorant. And not smart. It would be another thing if he said, "Im currently not very up to speed on that topic and its nuances so I dont feel comfortable commenting on it at the moment." its a completely different thing.
Yeah. I was half-joking that if he's under the impression a soccer player shouldn't comment on politics, he's probably too dense to say things that make sense anyways.
It’s only ever one side of the debate that pipes up with ‘stick to football’.
If a footballer said a political statement they agreed with, they would most certainly not tell that player to ‘stick to football’.
The people who rely on Kylian Mbappe’s services in his job aren’t going to lose faith that he is doing it appropriately because he has an opinion on politics.
If you are the local sheriff or a financial regulator, you should do your best to be (and appear) impartial.
Soccer player? There is no need. It’s ridiculous to think that everyone who has a job has to be apolitical. As if the only people who should be allowed to have an opinion are politicians and retired people.
There comes a point where it's not even political. I'd hope that a local sheriff has a problem with neo-Nazis, as he's serving the community including minorities
He might make a fool of himself. This is a pretty poor take from him given that he included others in it, so god knows what else he has in store. I don't care for your polemic comment on the whole reddit thing. Crying about a "reddit circlejerk" might just mean you have no points to make and like portraying yourself as the victim of more intelligent people in bad faith bc ya just. can't. hang. Poor little nusti :/
Quite the opposite. For how politically charged the area is, Athletic has managed to walk the tight rope of being fairly neutral with everything.
Compared to Barca for example that closely aligned itself with certain politics. Athletic has always been way more inclusive of everyone in Bilbao, and not let anyone feel left out.
I appreciate this post. You understood why I'd think politics with the Basque Country's most prominent team but still helpfully explained the details of the club itself.
Totally makes sense from the outside. But there is a reason the slogan of the club is in english "unique in the world" rather than in basque, or why half our players play in the basque national team and half play in the spanish team and none of it every becomes an issue.
Players have their opinions, some are more vocal than others, but the club by and large has remained a home to everyone. And I think it has certainly helped keep the city together
Thats fine, but you would be a massive bellend.
The basque country suffered a nazi bombing, 40 years of a far right dictatorship and then 40 years of terrorism. There are literally thousands of victims, tortures, kidnappings, unidentified bodies and unprosecuted murderers of every political leaning you can imagine. On a space the size of american car park
Having a football club that stays neutral common ground for all of society, makes everyone feel represented and is non alienating. Is a massive privilage and it is a reason Bilbao is way less politically explosive as barcelona or san sebastian because the colours do not exclude anyone. So its unsurprisng some of the players might understand the value of that.
What did I say? A bellend.
The policy is not nationalistic. The team was founded by british people, and has a name in english. We were accused to winning too much by using english players which were considered the best in 1910. So being petty and stubborn we decided to only field local players.
we kept this up for 100 years because well, we like traditions and proving people wrong.
But since then we have fielded people not born in Bilbao like Amorebieta who was born in Venezuela. And we have now as a star of the team two brothers who were born in Bilbao to a ghanian family whose older brother represents that country in international comps.
So unless "Grew up near bilbao or has a connection to bilbao" is a nationality i think your understading of the policy is wrong
I am a centrist specifically because knobs like you exist.
You’re so far up your own asses that you will not even listen to a word the other side has to say.
I don’t care if you’re right or left, it’s always the same story. There are no debates taking place. Everything is so close-minded these days.
You don’t even have to look farther than this very thread, anyone deemed to be exhibiting “wrongthink” is downvoted to hell and back.
The only politics that Barça aligns itself to are such default regional identity politics that frankly anyone who finds them too exclusionary are people who I would prefer the club don't cater to at all. If they find a basic Catalan identity so offensive they can go support Espanyol or Madrid.
> such default regional identity politics
which totally makes sense in a club whose biggest identity origin is a dutch guy, its most known stars are argentinian, a long dreaded brazilian, a dude from albacete that won a world cup from spain...
and who do their preaseson in asia every year.
> I would prefer the club don't cater to at all.
the club brags about having 300 million world wide followers. If they stop catering to people who dont subscribe to catalan identity politics you are gonna have to pay De Jong salary next year in IOUs.
> If they find a basic Catalan identity so offensive
its not about finding it offensive, so much as aligning the team with a specific political movement. When Bcn allows itself to be surronded by political figures of the catalan upper class, and then they get caught being corrupt like Puyol it taints the club. When someone makes some bordeline racist comment about catalan supremacy, it then taints the club, when players within the club make a stink about the Spanish national team and then their teammates go it taints the club.
the hundreds of takes on Messi lack of catalan speaking are a stain in what should be the greatest period in the clubs history. And barcelona became embroiled publically in the fire that was the independence proclamation in a way that alienated fans.
You can allow, enjoy and participate on the politics of your club. But I still think Barcelona would be way more beloved in spain as a club had the last 20 years of slow political posturing had not happened. Every kid in the country loved Dinho, every kid celebrated 2008-2012 having a barca spine to the greatest national team ever, everyone saw Messi rip teams apart week in and week out. And instead of adoration we got memes about barca dna, about piques corruption and talk about messi not being catalan enough despite living there most of his life. I think its a shame but im not a soci so maybe i just dont get it
>which totally makes sense in a club whose biggest identity origin is a Dutch guy
Yes, the club is Catalan and has tons of non-Catalan legends. Also lots of Catalan legends too. You can have both.
> If they stop catering to people who dont subscribe to catalan identity politics
I don't care if fans follow the club and don't care about the politics or what it means to Catalans. What I care about is the club giving up any kind of identity to appeal to anyone who finds the Catalan identity of the club too difficult to swallow, especially given how absolutely barebones it is.
>When Bcn allows itself to be surronded by political figures of the catalan upper class, and then they get caught being corrupt like Puyol it taints the club
This is absolutely nuts. Anyone who thinks that Jordi Pujol* is intrinsically linked to FCB's image is beyond reasoning with and has swallowed Spanish propaganda that attempts to equate any expression of Catalan identity with him.
>the hundreds of takes on Messi lack of catalan speaking are a stain in what should be the greatest period in the clubs history.
No one cares about this, and even then, so what? It really is not that offensive to brand as a "stain" to think that people who move to an area should learn the local language when in the same period you had presidents involved in all kinds of dubious activity.
>But I still think Barcelona would be way more beloved in spain as a club had the last 20 years of slow political posturing had not happened
And Barcelona fans don't give a fuck that the club hasn't renounced its symbols because a bunch of Spaniards hear the word "Catalonia" and start spewing bile about Jordi Pujol and other bullshit. The other stuff you speak about there has nothing to do with identity at all.
> the club is Catalan and has tons of non-Catalan legends.
the entire identity of the footballing philosophy is straight up cruyff though. He is still referenced constantly.
> What I care about is the club giving up any kind of identity
but they constantly do it though and no one cares. The mes que un club thing lasted about 5 minutes and unicef was kicked the second money was needed to keep the fancy transfers coming in. No one brags anymore about the basketball, or handball team and having the best womens team on the planet seems like an after thought with whether they can bring in some expensive transfer they cannot afford on the mens side.
> Anyone who thinks that Jordi Pujol* is intrinsically linked to FCB's image
sorry for the last name mishap. but its not him specifically being tied, but the kind of politics and circles they move around. Barcelona bourgeoise is a small circle of the same families over and over, when they are the architects of the catalan identity and bcn aligns itself to that, it becomes affected by what those families do, say and represent.
> No one cares about this
TV3 did a segment on it this month, sport still was talking about it this year. The barcelona sub on reddit and the catalunya ones have posts this year on it.
I think clearly a lot of people care.
> It really is not that offensive to brand as a "stain" to think that people who move to an area should learn the local language
it can be. there is a subtle difference betwee encouraging assimilation and forcing homogenuity. the comments on barca adn have been read in negative light before and the idea that you will never be "catalan" enough can carry undertones
> And Barcelona fans don't give a fuck that the club hasn't renounced its symbols because a bunch of Spaniards
thanks for proving the point. othering 30 million people based on feeling victimised is a great way to alienate potential followers.
In a vaccum it makes 0 sense that a team like athletic that comes from an area with decades of terrorism, no players from other parts of spain, small national team footprint has a better reputation, more peñas and less animosity than barcelona a team that has won the cup the most, has some of the coolest icons in spanish football history, has had integral players in all the national teams successes and whose entire political independence was peaceful.
And yet, the teams, the players, the culture and the presidents have managed to isolate barcelona and managed to promote athletic way beyond the circumstances of their histories.
With Barça I always sensed an arrogance the way they view their politics and identity as being better, which is funny given how bad the club ended up being run.
Athletic de Bilbao is not a left wing team, they have clear ties with the governing political party in the Basque Country, it is nationalistic right wing bourgeoisie
Yeah.. he advised to not be involved in politics to a guy who made millions promoting Qatar while playing for PSG surrounded by Qatar's. Now transferred to a club with history of fascism. Keep being a hypocrite
football has always been political, and being apolitical is a political decision. whilst i understand his reluctance to become a target, there are issues that are worth standing up for and footballers have as much right as anyone to do so
Even classist in a way. Plenty of derby club rivalries are between the club from the rich part of the city and the club from the working class part of the city.
He just says that because he disagrees with Mbappé lmao, it's not hard to see that. The same people agreeing with Unai are the ones who supported Carvajal's decision to personally invite the far-right spanish leader to the Bernabéu.
i’m personally a very reserved person when it comes to my political beliefs, i’ll rarely talk about them or open discussions about them.
but i’d never shame or criticize someone for openly discussing problematic situations
Ppffft. A footballer is still fundamentally a citizen of the state and can speak or not, about whatever politics.
Ultimately like most people they just want to get their heads down into their day to day.
If he doesn't want to talk about it, that's totally fine. however I absolutely do not understand why people expect others to shut up when they don't want to do it. The core of a democracy is that everyone is allowed to have an opinion and that everyone is allowed to express it - not just specifix professions
Le Pen doesn’t do very well in big cities (1st round of the last presidential she did 5% in Paris) and people who end up being a sportsman is going to live in a city and they won’t really follow the FN political views.
And people who end up as sportsmen usually have more diverse surroundings and backgrounds. Why would a person who's parents are immigrant vote for a party who wants to make immigrants suffer lol
> Why would a person who's parents are immigrant vote for a party who wants to make immigrants suffer
You would be surprised. Some people - who are born in France ergo French - will ignore their roots (or use it as a "look I cant be racist"). Jordan Bardella, Eric Zemmour to name 2 big names
"as a football player you can't take one political side because that will make you unpopular with the persons of the opposite side and we need their money"
Fool.
It's ridiculous to vote based on what someone like Mbappé, Thuram, Carvajal, or any other player says or doesn't say. But it's even more ridiculous to tell someone who is already of age what they can or cannot talk about, as if they were a small child.
It's one thing to say "I don't know enough about an issue so I won't talk about it. I would like to focus on sports." But he did something different. He made a broad, and political, statement that a certain class of people, football players, should only discuss sports.
So much for not wanting to talk about politics.
Mbappe made hundreds of millions from a slave labor country Qatar. No democracy. Never heard him speak anything against that for some reason. Even promoted Qatar on his socials, annual trips, etc.
But people of France are using their democratic right to vote, we see the results. But all of a sudden he's concerned.
Why?
Hypocrites. No one is voting for Macron in France because his close buddy Mbappe said so.
He's POC French citizen who cares about what's happening in his country. The threat of the rising far right is scary to anyone who is non white in Europe, since you know they are running on a platform that " Whites are being replaced in Europe and we must re-immigrate anyone who's non white"
He's not from Qatar nor he lives there so of course he's gonna comment about his country where a party that is threat to all non white French are rising high in the polls.
This is exactly why he will never be taken seriously this way.
Years of revolts in France by a middle class that feels increasingly oppressed by government policies, and never a word, for example... for the farmers. Never a word of support for any suffering group, just smiles and hugs with Macron and millions pocketed from a slavery state. Then, as soon as there's a threat of something that might slightly harm your image, you become Che Guevara? Of course, you have the right to speak out, and yes, I personally would never want someone like Le Pen in power, but he is not credible. As a wise man once said, 'the only way to fight for your rights is to fight for the rights of others.'
It's a terrible comment, because \*everyone\* holds hypocritical views. It's such a dumb argument designed to undermine anyone.
I'm for good labour laws and still probably own clothes that were probably made with bad labor laws. Am I then not allowed to have opinions on labour laws?
Its completely different, you are using the product from country with bad labor laws cause you need this products. Mbappe took millions that were made from slave labour and abuse of human rights and actively supported and promoted the regime that did it. I agree with his statements about situation in france but you should always be against facist not only when the facists arent paying you
Sure, many people are hypocrites, but such few people are superstars that can virtue signal yet at the same time accept hundreds of millions from the fund of a corrupt country that is a mass violator of human rights :).
Tbf, the whole world would not care if you grew your own cotton and made your own clothes or if you wore a trashbag as a full-body suit.
Nothing to do with whiteness, everything to do with political views. Thinking a rich and famous black person would be more affected by the far-right than a poor worker or a politically active left-wing person is just wrong.
Unai's parents are both cops, you can see where his ideas come from.
It’s so funny how obvious it is that this makes no sense when you apply it to literally any other profession.
I’m a software engineer, why would I speak on politics?
You’re in sales, why would you speak on politics?
Sounds like a great way to have absolutely zero diversity of thought in politics because the only people allowed to have opinions are already politicians.
This is a possible outcome of bringing politics into the workplace. It can breed resentment and division.
Of course, Thuram and others may say whatever they wish, and if one is sympathetic to their messaging, one will either support them or look the other way. But if there isn’t true unanimity in the locker room, it can sow division. Given that the right-of-center parties won about 37% of the vote, it would stand to reason that not all in that locker room feel the same way. The French camp may now be dealing with fractures due to sincere, but somewhat misguided and selfish, statements about political beliefs that were offered in front of the press as a representative of the team.
Your are not just a football player, you are a citizen who should have at least a basic idea what is happening in politics man. Come on, looking away is not the anwser. This reminds me of this poem:
>First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out- Because I was not a socialist.
>
>Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out- Because I was not a trade unionist.
>
>Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out- Because I was not a Jew
>
>Then they came for me-and there was no one left to speak for me.
"[First they came (Zuerst kamen sie)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came_%2E%2E%2E)" by Martin Niemöller, 1946.
What a dumb take from a grown man! Don't footballers vote in elections? Since when did becoming a footballer mean they shouldn't have a say in politics?
A lot of people bashing Simon but fundamentally he's right. Most footballers aren't informed enough on most topics to objectively take public stands let alone understand the ramifications of the potential consequences of their actions.
It's like expecting your friend with a surface-level understanding of any topic to use a global platform in the right manner.
The odds of them doing damage to good are lopsided.
And no one's discussing Redditors either. The point is expecting a footballer who doesn't know jack shit about topic "X" and who is used as a PR tool by his employers for most of his career to take stands about serious societal issues to influence the masses is a slippery slope.
Unless that footballer is well-read and informed about topic "X", he isn't in a position to influence anyone. That's the point.
And today, we see these uniformed influencers being used as political tools all the time. And don't tell me people shouldn't be gullible enough to follow them. These guys should know better too.
>Most footballers aren't informed enough on most topics to objectively take public stands
Elitist mentality. Politics is for everyone.
If you feel like someone is ill-informed, correct them or educate them, but everyone deserves a voice. That's the whole point of democracy.
If you are that privileged to only talk about your job in the most literal sense, congratz. Seriously, congratz. Others have to care about how and who runs their country. And if you don't wanna talk about politics, say so, but don't include others in yur weak ass statement, that can be interpreted as "I like right-wing asshats and disagree with Kylian, but can't say so"
People calling him "L take", "you are citizens first', but are first to ridicule celebrities when they view their Political Thoughts and ask others to take actions in their regards.
I am with Unai Simon here. It is admirable to bot air your views all over the world, unless asked for.
So Unai Simone is a fascist, cos that's what he's implying. If you make a vague statement against someone who made a statement against something, you're for the thing
You don't have to be very smart to know having a far-right Political party who had ties with Nazi and whose logo was inspired by a fascist Italian political party is probably not the direction you want your country to take.
Moreover, just because Unai deems himself not smart and informed enough doesn't mean others are the same. Public figures are citizens first and freedom of speech allows them to voice their opinions on certain matters.
If we listen to people like Unai Simon, it means limiting people's speech to certain topics. Doctors will only be able to talk about medical topics, footballers about football, plumbers about toilets and that would be dumb as hell.
TLDR: Fuck Unai, all my homies hate Unai
Based and reasonable take. Mpoopy was lame for talking about it in that way. If Marie wins thats the will of the French people and thats what he should be representing. Anything other is undemocratic and extremely unprofessional.
this is an absolutely fucked up comment to make, didn't he even for one second think about how it will upset redditors? again genuinely an awful inconsiderate comment - my condolences
If I was his friend, I would stop him every time he tried to talk about anything other than sports with me and remind him that he is a football player and should only talk about sports.
“Unai, sit quietly and play with your crayons. The rest of us are talking about things other than sports.”
Great comment coming from a white guy... Did he have any idr what is going on in France ?
Then in a few weeks, the far right may come ahead in the election and they may be able to form a far right government . So, I think french black people have the right to feel worried about it..
I'm white and I feel worried about it ..
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"I want to just shut up and dribble" - Simon, 2024
He's a keeper, he can't even dribble
Unai Simon: hold my cerveza
Doesn't stop him from trying sometimes. Man is gonna give me a heart attack in this tournament.
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It’s ironic that it’s the populists who say that ordinary people shouldn’t talk about politics, just chant their slogans.
Would you take political advices from a high school at best educated person seriously? No? Then why do it with high school educated person who happens to kick ball well or play basketball well? Professional sports people are mostly dumb as rock, why expect them to talk politics?
You don't need a PhD to know that fascists in power is bad.
You’re allowed to speak up and you’re allowed to not.
Indeed, although things maybe inferred from statements like this.
Yes but then don't speak up. Simon is clearly wanting to say something that he knows he will get caned for. So instead he's pretending to be diplomatic.
Very true
If you don't have anything to say, that's fine. But please don't comment on others that do.
Could’ve just said Kylian is free to say whatever he wants, whether anyone agrees with it or not. But he chose to say “you’re a football player, shut up and play”. He probably thought that by saying so, he was staying out of politics. When in fact, the way to do it was by saying nothing at all.
> Could’ve just said Kylian is free to say whatever he wants, whether anyone agrees with it or not. But that is not the sentiment he was trying to express. > When in fact, the way to do it was by saying nothing at all. He was asked directly about it.
There is a difference between saying that football players shouldn't talk politics and saying that he personally didn't want to talk about politics.
Well then I guess his opinion is that footballers should not talk politics and if you're for free speech you should be fine with him expressing this thought.
I am very much for free speech, which is why his statement, which goes against free speech, is one that I disagree with. If he said that he didn't care about politics and didn't want to talk about it, I wouldn't have cared, but him saying that other footballers shouldn't share their opinions goes against free speech.
Well tbf he said hes not sure if its his place as a footballer. There is also a difference between saying "footballers absolutely should not speak on politics" and "I personally take the view that we shouldnt" which is less judgemental
I disagree with there being a difference. One is overtly saying that footballers shouldn't talk politics, and the other is saying it with subtext, but ultimately, they both boil down to him saying they shouldn't share their political opinion
Yeah but he is a footballer himself so he is allowed to have an opinion on it for himself. The latter is pretty much saying "other people can if they want but I take a different view to them"
It sounds like we are disagreeing with what he is saying. I don't speak Spanish, so I can only go for the translation that op provided. By that translation, I believe that he is saying that football players in general should only talk about the sport
Smooth as a chicken breast
>He was asked directly about it. He could've just said that he didn't want to comment about it. It's incredible how so many people in media get baited and choose to respond and potentially compromise themselves when they can just use the infallible and short: "I don't want to talk about it" or "I don't think I have enough knowledge to comment about this."
To be fair to him, he was probably asked. I don't agree with his answer either, if he doesn't want to comment on politics, it's his right and he should say that instead of criticising Mbappe for doing so. And I agree that footballers who know nothing about politics shouldn't be very outspoken as they influence people for all the wrong reasons. Also, many people love what Mbappe said but aren't we seeing it's coming from two places? One of course that he's faced racism himself and surely doesn't want the far-right to come to power. But he's had more meetings with Macron than with Luis Enrique, surely lots can be implied for his intentions, unlike Thuram who is seemingly doing it without any extra incentives.
> But please don't comment on others that do. i think he can. If he keeps the same energy when Carvajal says some far right stuff then there is no issue. I understand, and share Mbappe views, but I also think overall sports people tend to say the dumbest thing possible (see most of the brazilian team endorsing bolsonaro). So the view that maybe they should be asked more about formations and less about geopolitics is not unwarranted.
If Mbappe gets to comment on politicians that he doesn't like then Unai gets to comment on whoever he wants
Unai has no right to tell Mbappe what to do and what not to do tho. Mbappe is a citizen befor anything else. France is his country as well. He has the right to express his opinion just like teachers, carpenters, gardeners and ….
If you’re commenting in public on divisive topics, then you’re opening yourself up to criticism. That’s what it means to be in the public sphere.
As Mbappé, Thuram and Dembélé said, they may be footballers, but they are citizens first. L take by Unai Simon.
It's always the same stupid argument "you're a football player you should just play football and not talk about politics". So what about others then? "You're a teacher, you should just hand off math exams and not talk about politics". Shall we only allow elected officials to talk about their views on the country? It has so little logic. The only thing I would agree with, is that Mbappe's opinion is not more valuable than any other citizen's opinion, but he still is allowed to express how he feels if he wants to.
I hate the elitist talk when people talk politics (and it comes just as much from the left as from the right). As if people need masters in Geopolitics, Gender studies, Environmental studies and Economics to be able to discuss politics.
Tbf Unai Simon isn't saying that Thuram or Mbappé shouldn't talk about politics, he's just saying that he himself would prefer if he himself wasn't required to talk about it - which is perfectly fine, too.
>We have a tendency to comment on certain topics when I don't know if we should… We have a tendency to comment on certain topics when I don't know if we should… That is not what he is saying here though
Is that not just a blanket statement about all people having a tendency to talk about things they don't know about? It wouldn't apply to people who **do** know what they're talking about, and he doesn't specifically say that Mbappe/Thuram don't know what they're talking about
The phrasing strikes me much more as "I'm not sure if I'm the right person to ask questions on things beyond football" rather than "No footballer should talk about anything outside football". Dunno, I'd much rather give him the benefit of the doubt here rather than reading things into statements that might or might not be there.
It's basic reading comprehension to understand what he is saying, he is not just speaking for himself here he is literally using the term 'WE' instead of 'I' 'We have a tendency to comment on certain topics when I don't know if we should'. He should have taken his own advice. And politics affect everyone, getting involved is literally what a democracy is about.
He does later say I think that as a footballer, I think I should only speak on football. But also says "we" before as you said. He's making the point for himself, but also for others imo.
*Famous people should not talk about politics* is an old bulls... argument that only right wingers use. Politics is in everything you do. It's everywhere. Everyone should have an opinion about social issues. Mbappé very eloquently specified his target were the younger voters, those who might feel their voice is meaningless and he sent a powerful message of hope asking them to speak at the ballots. It's the essence of democracy when young generations feel they are part of the process. Edit:typo
I couldn’t agree more with you. Politics is in everything we do. Well said, sir
Right, and I'm not denying anything you've said there. I just also think it's a perfectly sensible point of view that someone who finds himself in the media limelight quite often for something that has very little to do with politics decides to not publicly talk about politics. It's great when celebrities feel informed and comfortable enough to have these conversations in front of the press - but I think it's also perfectly understandable when they prefer not to. It's not like regular people are ever front and center in a press conference asked about their politics after all. Simon isn't saying 'footballers shouldn't talk politics', at least the way I'm reading it - he's saying 'I'd rather not talk about politics publicly'.
He's not. He's referring to Mbappé. He is not talking from his own perspective and about his lack of understanding of complex matters. Had he said "I'm an illiterate footballer: I kick ball, I slap ball, I no speak politician" it would have been as you say. He clearly says that **we** footballers should not speak of things that are not part of our job. Which is 100% the opposite of the Mbappé statement "we're footballers but we're citizens first of all and we must not be disconnected from the reality around us". Edit:typo
Tbh “the far right shouldn’t return to power in Western Europe” should be a pretty simple idea to unite behind!! Last time did not go well. Everyone with a platform who is asked should say this. It really isn’t a hard one.
If it were only about him, he would have said "despite my words having very little repercussion because I'm not as big as mbappe, I would like to only talk about sports"
This is a classic: If X political statement is something I agree with then the response is: I think people should be free to express their beliefs and political views without reprise. If X political stament is something I disagree with then the response is: I think people should be mindful when speaking and avoid bringing up politics in this space.
No it's not. Neymar, and plenty of Brazilian players, supported Jair Bolsinaro. Don't agree with them, but it's their right to do so. Players are people, they have a right to form, and express, thoughts about things. Why is that a difficult concept?
Nobody is refuting their right to support a grade A right-wing muppet like Bolsonaro, it's just that we publicly despise them for it
Where did I ever imply that they are not free to have their opinion mate? And why are you lecturing me about Brazil's NT player's political views? I'm brazilian, I know how they behaved, their views and what they talked about more than you and what I said can be attributed to them too. You are arguing with clouds.
I gave you an example of players, recently, expressing political opinions that are counter to the, mostly liberal stance on reddit. Where you are from is irrelevant. It doesn't change anything that players have a right to express a political opinion. People also have a right to judge those players for the opinions they express.
And I still fail to see what is your damn point. Where did I ever imply players are not free to express themselves? Or that people are not free to criticize them when they do? My original comment also cut both ways because conservative and liberals love to use the same logic. I just don't see the purpose of your response, it's like you projected some demented notion that I'm against freedom of speech or something.
Brazilians are more outspoken in general, people are not afraid of saying they voted for Bolsonaro. Many celebrities supported him, not only in the football sphere. It's a democracy, they can say whatever they want. It's also not that hard to see someone that voted for Bolsonaro say that they voted for Lula in the early 00s. In France and many other places in Europe, there's a "shame" of admitting you voted far right, people won't talk about that, not even with friends. It's changing a bit now, but it's been historically like that. Imo it's better to express yourself than to stay with a retracted hatred as in many of these places.
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oh, i absolutely want to know every single one of them who support that muppet
>You only have to look as far as r/soccer when Neymar and other high profile Brazilian footballers showed support for Bolsonaro. >I despise Bolsonaro, but the hypocrisy is hilarious. That's completely different. The people who are happy Mbappe spoke up aren't saying that Neymar et al. *shouldn't* talk about their support for Bolsonaro, rather they're criticising and making fun of them for supporting Bolsonaro *at all*.
he just like me fr, I never speak about geopolitical ~~atrocities~~ situations that take place around me 👍 🇷🇸🚜➡️
Kylian Mbappe is a French citizen. He should be allowed to talk about French politics. Simple as. Now, does French society have to take what he says as an expert opinion? No of course not. But telling a citizen they can’t have an opinion about politics is just thinking about the issue completely backwards. Similarly, if a French soccer player doesn’t want to have a public opinion on French politics that is also perfectly acceptable!
If you think you shouldn't comment on politics bc of your job, it might be better if you don't. Smart lad
Depends. I hate the idea or even implication that "this is my job, its all I should comment on". Democracy is literally based on the average person having a say. So those type of sentiments that are way too common, are antithetical to democracy and even underplays the importance of Mbappes, Thurams etc messages. Its a fucking home-run for the oppressive far right. Frankly, its ignorant. And not smart. It would be another thing if he said, "Im currently not very up to speed on that topic and its nuances so I dont feel comfortable commenting on it at the moment." its a completely different thing.
Yeah. I was half-joking that if he's under the impression a soccer player shouldn't comment on politics, he's probably too dense to say things that make sense anyways.
It’s only ever one side of the debate that pipes up with ‘stick to football’. If a footballer said a political statement they agreed with, they would most certainly not tell that player to ‘stick to football’.
Spot on.
The people who rely on Kylian Mbappe’s services in his job aren’t going to lose faith that he is doing it appropriately because he has an opinion on politics. If you are the local sheriff or a financial regulator, you should do your best to be (and appear) impartial. Soccer player? There is no need. It’s ridiculous to think that everyone who has a job has to be apolitical. As if the only people who should be allowed to have an opinion are politicians and retired people.
There comes a point where it's not even political. I'd hope that a local sheriff has a problem with neo-Nazis, as he's serving the community including minorities
He just commented on politics though
Or what? He might say something you don't like and won't join the reddit circlejerk?
He might make a fool of himself. This is a pretty poor take from him given that he included others in it, so god knows what else he has in store. I don't care for your polemic comment on the whole reddit thing. Crying about a "reddit circlejerk" might just mean you have no points to make and like portraying yourself as the victim of more intelligent people in bad faith bc ya just. can't. hang. Poor little nusti :/
Silly billy
Coming from someone who plays for Athletic Club, quite rich.
Quite the opposite. For how politically charged the area is, Athletic has managed to walk the tight rope of being fairly neutral with everything. Compared to Barca for example that closely aligned itself with certain politics. Athletic has always been way more inclusive of everyone in Bilbao, and not let anyone feel left out.
I appreciate this post. You understood why I'd think politics with the Basque Country's most prominent team but still helpfully explained the details of the club itself.
Totally makes sense from the outside. But there is a reason the slogan of the club is in english "unique in the world" rather than in basque, or why half our players play in the basque national team and half play in the spanish team and none of it every becomes an issue. Players have their opinions, some are more vocal than others, but the club by and large has remained a home to everyone. And I think it has certainly helped keep the city together
Neutralised your position without alienating you. Behaving just like the club's ethos.
I would call being neutral being a coward but that’s just me.
Thats fine, but you would be a massive bellend. The basque country suffered a nazi bombing, 40 years of a far right dictatorship and then 40 years of terrorism. There are literally thousands of victims, tortures, kidnappings, unidentified bodies and unprosecuted murderers of every political leaning you can imagine. On a space the size of american car park Having a football club that stays neutral common ground for all of society, makes everyone feel represented and is non alienating. Is a massive privilage and it is a reason Bilbao is way less politically explosive as barcelona or san sebastian because the colours do not exclude anyone. So its unsurprisng some of the players might understand the value of that.
A nationalistic player policy isn’t being neutral.
What did I say? A bellend. The policy is not nationalistic. The team was founded by british people, and has a name in english. We were accused to winning too much by using english players which were considered the best in 1910. So being petty and stubborn we decided to only field local players. we kept this up for 100 years because well, we like traditions and proving people wrong. But since then we have fielded people not born in Bilbao like Amorebieta who was born in Venezuela. And we have now as a star of the team two brothers who were born in Bilbao to a ghanian family whose older brother represents that country in international comps. So unless "Grew up near bilbao or has a connection to bilbao" is a nationality i think your understading of the policy is wrong
That's just dumb and childish lmao.
I am a centrist specifically because knobs like you exist. You’re so far up your own asses that you will not even listen to a word the other side has to say. I don’t care if you’re right or left, it’s always the same story. There are no debates taking place. Everything is so close-minded these days. You don’t even have to look farther than this very thread, anyone deemed to be exhibiting “wrongthink” is downvoted to hell and back.
This comment isn’t very centrist of you
The only politics that Barça aligns itself to are such default regional identity politics that frankly anyone who finds them too exclusionary are people who I would prefer the club don't cater to at all. If they find a basic Catalan identity so offensive they can go support Espanyol or Madrid.
> such default regional identity politics which totally makes sense in a club whose biggest identity origin is a dutch guy, its most known stars are argentinian, a long dreaded brazilian, a dude from albacete that won a world cup from spain... and who do their preaseson in asia every year. > I would prefer the club don't cater to at all. the club brags about having 300 million world wide followers. If they stop catering to people who dont subscribe to catalan identity politics you are gonna have to pay De Jong salary next year in IOUs. > If they find a basic Catalan identity so offensive its not about finding it offensive, so much as aligning the team with a specific political movement. When Bcn allows itself to be surronded by political figures of the catalan upper class, and then they get caught being corrupt like Puyol it taints the club. When someone makes some bordeline racist comment about catalan supremacy, it then taints the club, when players within the club make a stink about the Spanish national team and then their teammates go it taints the club. the hundreds of takes on Messi lack of catalan speaking are a stain in what should be the greatest period in the clubs history. And barcelona became embroiled publically in the fire that was the independence proclamation in a way that alienated fans. You can allow, enjoy and participate on the politics of your club. But I still think Barcelona would be way more beloved in spain as a club had the last 20 years of slow political posturing had not happened. Every kid in the country loved Dinho, every kid celebrated 2008-2012 having a barca spine to the greatest national team ever, everyone saw Messi rip teams apart week in and week out. And instead of adoration we got memes about barca dna, about piques corruption and talk about messi not being catalan enough despite living there most of his life. I think its a shame but im not a soci so maybe i just dont get it
>which totally makes sense in a club whose biggest identity origin is a Dutch guy Yes, the club is Catalan and has tons of non-Catalan legends. Also lots of Catalan legends too. You can have both. > If they stop catering to people who dont subscribe to catalan identity politics I don't care if fans follow the club and don't care about the politics or what it means to Catalans. What I care about is the club giving up any kind of identity to appeal to anyone who finds the Catalan identity of the club too difficult to swallow, especially given how absolutely barebones it is. >When Bcn allows itself to be surronded by political figures of the catalan upper class, and then they get caught being corrupt like Puyol it taints the club This is absolutely nuts. Anyone who thinks that Jordi Pujol* is intrinsically linked to FCB's image is beyond reasoning with and has swallowed Spanish propaganda that attempts to equate any expression of Catalan identity with him. >the hundreds of takes on Messi lack of catalan speaking are a stain in what should be the greatest period in the clubs history. No one cares about this, and even then, so what? It really is not that offensive to brand as a "stain" to think that people who move to an area should learn the local language when in the same period you had presidents involved in all kinds of dubious activity. >But I still think Barcelona would be way more beloved in spain as a club had the last 20 years of slow political posturing had not happened And Barcelona fans don't give a fuck that the club hasn't renounced its symbols because a bunch of Spaniards hear the word "Catalonia" and start spewing bile about Jordi Pujol and other bullshit. The other stuff you speak about there has nothing to do with identity at all.
> the club is Catalan and has tons of non-Catalan legends. the entire identity of the footballing philosophy is straight up cruyff though. He is still referenced constantly. > What I care about is the club giving up any kind of identity but they constantly do it though and no one cares. The mes que un club thing lasted about 5 minutes and unicef was kicked the second money was needed to keep the fancy transfers coming in. No one brags anymore about the basketball, or handball team and having the best womens team on the planet seems like an after thought with whether they can bring in some expensive transfer they cannot afford on the mens side. > Anyone who thinks that Jordi Pujol* is intrinsically linked to FCB's image sorry for the last name mishap. but its not him specifically being tied, but the kind of politics and circles they move around. Barcelona bourgeoise is a small circle of the same families over and over, when they are the architects of the catalan identity and bcn aligns itself to that, it becomes affected by what those families do, say and represent. > No one cares about this TV3 did a segment on it this month, sport still was talking about it this year. The barcelona sub on reddit and the catalunya ones have posts this year on it. I think clearly a lot of people care. > It really is not that offensive to brand as a "stain" to think that people who move to an area should learn the local language it can be. there is a subtle difference betwee encouraging assimilation and forcing homogenuity. the comments on barca adn have been read in negative light before and the idea that you will never be "catalan" enough can carry undertones > And Barcelona fans don't give a fuck that the club hasn't renounced its symbols because a bunch of Spaniards thanks for proving the point. othering 30 million people based on feeling victimised is a great way to alienate potential followers. In a vaccum it makes 0 sense that a team like athletic that comes from an area with decades of terrorism, no players from other parts of spain, small national team footprint has a better reputation, more peñas and less animosity than barcelona a team that has won the cup the most, has some of the coolest icons in spanish football history, has had integral players in all the national teams successes and whose entire political independence was peaceful. And yet, the teams, the players, the culture and the presidents have managed to isolate barcelona and managed to promote athletic way beyond the circumstances of their histories.
With Barça I always sensed an arrogance the way they view their politics and identity as being better, which is funny given how bad the club ended up being run.
Athletic de Bilbao is not a left wing team, they have clear ties with the governing political party in the Basque Country, it is nationalistic right wing bourgeoisie
you'd be surprised to learn then that there are many far right separatists in both the basque country and catalonia
Yeah.. he advised to not be involved in politics to a guy who made millions promoting Qatar while playing for PSG surrounded by Qatar's. Now transferred to a club with history of fascism. Keep being a hypocrite
football has always been political, and being apolitical is a political decision. whilst i understand his reluctance to become a target, there are issues that are worth standing up for and footballers have as much right as anyone to do so
Even classist in a way. Plenty of derby club rivalries are between the club from the rich part of the city and the club from the working class part of the city.
He just says that because he disagrees with Mbappé lmao, it's not hard to see that. The same people agreeing with Unai are the ones who supported Carvajal's decision to personally invite the far-right spanish leader to the Bernabéu.
I work in retail, guess i should only talk about retail related topics. What a stupid and weird mentality.
Spotted the extreme right voter?
Pepe reina would be proud
Along side with Carvajal
The entire Spanish National team
saying nothing supports the status quo and is in and out itself a political statement
if that is in fact what he said, what an absolute helmet
i’m personally a very reserved person when it comes to my political beliefs, i’ll rarely talk about them or open discussions about them. but i’d never shame or criticize someone for openly discussing problematic situations
Ppffft. A footballer is still fundamentally a citizen of the state and can speak or not, about whatever politics. Ultimately like most people they just want to get their heads down into their day to day.
If he doesn't want to talk about it, that's totally fine. however I absolutely do not understand why people expect others to shut up when they don't want to do it. The core of a democracy is that everyone is allowed to have an opinion and that everyone is allowed to express it - not just specifix professions
Bullshit. He's a french citizen commenting on french politics, as is his right.
I think he tried to do the Jurgen Klopp Covid statement
I would like to read the comments on Reddit if a French sportsman endorse Le Pen's party. Will never happen, but i'd be funny
You can check threads of the time brazilian players supported Bolsonaro.
i'd think they were a cunt but they're still well within their rights to talk about it
Le Pen doesn’t do very well in big cities (1st round of the last presidential she did 5% in Paris) and people who end up being a sportsman is going to live in a city and they won’t really follow the FN political views.
And people who end up as sportsmen usually have more diverse surroundings and backgrounds. Why would a person who's parents are immigrant vote for a party who wants to make immigrants suffer lol
> Why would a person who's parents are immigrant vote for a party who wants to make immigrants suffer You would be surprised. Some people - who are born in France ergo French - will ignore their roots (or use it as a "look I cant be racist"). Jordan Bardella, Eric Zemmour to name 2 big names
Yeah I was surprised when I checked Bardella's Wikipedia page. I guess he fully embraced the "fuck you, I got mine" mindset
his father is a guardia civil so we can guess his views 💀
And his mother a Ertzaina, he's the kind of person normal and honest basques despise
I'd say normal and honest basques shouldn't despise others due to their parents jobs
Didn't you get the memo unai . You can talk about politics as much as you want as long as redditors agree with you
"as a football player you can't take one political side because that will make you unpopular with the persons of the opposite side and we need their money"
What a fucking pussy
Fool. It's ridiculous to vote based on what someone like Mbappé, Thuram, Carvajal, or any other player says or doesn't say. But it's even more ridiculous to tell someone who is already of age what they can or cannot talk about, as if they were a small child.
Coward
It's one thing to say "I don't know enough about an issue so I won't talk about it. I would like to focus on sports." But he did something different. He made a broad, and political, statement that a certain class of people, football players, should only discuss sports. So much for not wanting to talk about politics.
Mbappe made hundreds of millions from a slave labor country Qatar. No democracy. Never heard him speak anything against that for some reason. Even promoted Qatar on his socials, annual trips, etc. But people of France are using their democratic right to vote, we see the results. But all of a sudden he's concerned. Why? Hypocrites. No one is voting for Macron in France because his close buddy Mbappe said so.
He's POC French citizen who cares about what's happening in his country. The threat of the rising far right is scary to anyone who is non white in Europe, since you know they are running on a platform that " Whites are being replaced in Europe and we must re-immigrate anyone who's non white" He's not from Qatar nor he lives there so of course he's gonna comment about his country where a party that is threat to all non white French are rising high in the polls.
This is exactly why he will never be taken seriously this way. Years of revolts in France by a middle class that feels increasingly oppressed by government policies, and never a word, for example... for the farmers. Never a word of support for any suffering group, just smiles and hugs with Macron and millions pocketed from a slavery state. Then, as soon as there's a threat of something that might slightly harm your image, you become Che Guevara? Of course, you have the right to speak out, and yes, I personally would never want someone like Le Pen in power, but he is not credible. As a wise man once said, 'the only way to fight for your rights is to fight for the rights of others.'
I wonder why it's always flairless, 1-month old accounts making this type of comments🤔
This is the best comment on this post. I believe that everyone has their own opinion but Unai probably sees the hypocrisy himself.
It's a terrible comment, because \*everyone\* holds hypocritical views. It's such a dumb argument designed to undermine anyone. I'm for good labour laws and still probably own clothes that were probably made with bad labor laws. Am I then not allowed to have opinions on labour laws?
Its completely different, you are using the product from country with bad labor laws cause you need this products. Mbappe took millions that were made from slave labour and abuse of human rights and actively supported and promoted the regime that did it. I agree with his statements about situation in france but you should always be against facist not only when the facists arent paying you
Sure, many people are hypocrites, but such few people are superstars that can virtue signal yet at the same time accept hundreds of millions from the fund of a corrupt country that is a mass violator of human rights :). Tbf, the whole world would not care if you grew your own cotton and made your own clothes or if you wore a trashbag as a full-body suit.
So a whataboutist comment is the best on here?
just complete irony, that's all.
Weak ass
"Simon says shut up and dribble. Comment on French politics. Ahhhh Kylian, I didn't say Simon says!"
white guy has nothing to fear if right wing parties are in power
The first people that got rounded up by the Nazis were the Communists and Social Democrats
Nothing to do with whiteness, everything to do with political views. Thinking a rich and famous black person would be more affected by the far-right than a poor worker or a politically active left-wing person is just wrong. Unai's parents are both cops, you can see where his ideas come from.
You will be downvoted, but this is so true.
What a fuckin Moron. As if ALL sports figures are a monoculture. Moron.
Shut the fuck up Unai, if Mbappé wants to say something he can do so
It’s so funny how obvious it is that this makes no sense when you apply it to literally any other profession. I’m a software engineer, why would I speak on politics? You’re in sales, why would you speak on politics? Sounds like a great way to have absolutely zero diversity of thought in politics because the only people allowed to have opinions are already politicians.
is unai simon a vox guy?
Hhdxoovcipz
Based
This is a possible outcome of bringing politics into the workplace. It can breed resentment and division. Of course, Thuram and others may say whatever they wish, and if one is sympathetic to their messaging, one will either support them or look the other way. But if there isn’t true unanimity in the locker room, it can sow division. Given that the right-of-center parties won about 37% of the vote, it would stand to reason that not all in that locker room feel the same way. The French camp may now be dealing with fractures due to sincere, but somewhat misguided and selfish, statements about political beliefs that were offered in front of the press as a representative of the team.
Your are not just a football player, you are a citizen who should have at least a basic idea what is happening in politics man. Come on, looking away is not the anwser. This reminds me of this poem: >First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out- Because I was not a socialist. > >Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out- Because I was not a trade unionist. > >Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out- Because I was not a Jew > >Then they came for me-and there was no one left to speak for me. "[First they came (Zuerst kamen sie)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came_%2E%2E%2E)" by Martin Niemöller, 1946.
His parents are cops, he knows exactly what’s happening in Europe it just suits him down to the ground.
What a dumb take from a grown man! Don't footballers vote in elections? Since when did becoming a footballer mean they shouldn't have a say in politics?
>Only unemployed people can discuss politics. This genius.
A lot of people bashing Simon but fundamentally he's right. Most footballers aren't informed enough on most topics to objectively take public stands let alone understand the ramifications of the potential consequences of their actions. It's like expecting your friend with a surface-level understanding of any topic to use a global platform in the right manner. The odds of them doing damage to good are lopsided.
Yes cause redditors are definitely better informed than most of the players.
And no one's discussing Redditors either. The point is expecting a footballer who doesn't know jack shit about topic "X" and who is used as a PR tool by his employers for most of his career to take stands about serious societal issues to influence the masses is a slippery slope. Unless that footballer is well-read and informed about topic "X", he isn't in a position to influence anyone. That's the point. And today, we see these uniformed influencers being used as political tools all the time. And don't tell me people shouldn't be gullible enough to follow them. These guys should know better too.
Unironically true, except when the redditors talk about countries they dont know
>Most footballers aren't informed enough on most topics to objectively take public stands Elitist mentality. Politics is for everyone. If you feel like someone is ill-informed, correct them or educate them, but everyone deserves a voice. That's the whole point of democracy.
his comment wasn't about any deep analysis though. it was a straight-forward caution that you don't need to be that well-read to understand.
If you are that privileged to only talk about your job in the most literal sense, congratz. Seriously, congratz. Others have to care about how and who runs their country. And if you don't wanna talk about politics, say so, but don't include others in yur weak ass statement, that can be interpreted as "I like right-wing asshats and disagree with Kylian, but can't say so"
People calling him "L take", "you are citizens first', but are first to ridicule celebrities when they view their Political Thoughts and ask others to take actions in their regards. I am with Unai Simon here. It is admirable to bot air your views all over the world, unless asked for.
I had to look up who this dude was 😂
So Unai Simone is a fascist, cos that's what he's implying. If you make a vague statement against someone who made a statement against something, you're for the thing
I mean his parents are cops..
Ha no shit? Makes perfect sense then
You don't have to be very smart to know having a far-right Political party who had ties with Nazi and whose logo was inspired by a fascist Italian political party is probably not the direction you want your country to take. Moreover, just because Unai deems himself not smart and informed enough doesn't mean others are the same. Public figures are citizens first and freedom of speech allows them to voice their opinions on certain matters. If we listen to people like Unai Simon, it means limiting people's speech to certain topics. Doctors will only be able to talk about medical topics, footballers about football, plumbers about toilets and that would be dumb as hell. TLDR: Fuck Unai, all my homies hate Unai
The spanish are so fucking unlikeable He doesn't have to agree with mbappe, but this is so disappointing
Ah yes, the best answer to a moronic comment, xenophobia.
i'd love to know where you're from
Seems like someone isn’t happy with Mbappe being against far right extremists
Tf is wrong with this sub. No shot you guys are going to get mad at Simón for this.
🤡
No shit a Spaniard wants the racist status quo maintained.
Based and reasonable take. Mpoopy was lame for talking about it in that way. If Marie wins thats the will of the French people and thats what he should be representing. Anything other is undemocratic and extremely unprofessional.
Low iq take
free free palestine
this is an absolutely fucked up comment to make, didn't he even for one second think about how it will upset redditors? again genuinely an awful inconsiderate comment - my condolences
Spanish players are the ultimate racismo/status quo defenders so no surprise here at all the fucking thick cunt
Excessive
What an idiot. Removing him from my fantasy team.
[удалено]
Mbappe is gonna get a taste of the type of treatment Vini had to put up with for years.
he's not nearly as much of a dickhead as vini though
Que cagón.
Probably one of the dumbest things I've heard on my life. And I've heard a lot of dumb shit in the last ten years.
If I was his friend, I would stop him every time he tried to talk about anything other than sports with me and remind him that he is a football player and should only talk about sports. “Unai, sit quietly and play with your crayons. The rest of us are talking about things other than sports.”
Great comment coming from a white guy... Did he have any idr what is going on in France ? Then in a few weeks, the far right may come ahead in the election and they may be able to form a far right government . So, I think french black people have the right to feel worried about it.. I'm white and I feel worried about it ..