It’s true. Think about it. He sent Saliba out on loan after loan after loan. He froze Aubameyang out. He refuses to let Elneny play. He loaned out Marquinhos, Tavares, Pepe, Falogun, and Lokonga. He only gave Nketiah the tiniest of chances. He keeps signing white players like Havertz, Ramsdale, Ødegaard, White, and now Rice. Why, that makes it as clear as day: like White on Rice. He’s slowly phasing out black players to integrate more white players into the squad. It’s so obvious that we all overlooked his racism.
Think it through. Trossard replaces Martinelli. White replaces Tomiyasu. Kiwior replaces Saliba or Big Gabi. Havertz replaces Jesus or maybe Saka. Partey’s about to be sold with a replacement to be named later. Even Arteta’s legendary jet-black hair is showing signs of white. We’re through the looking-glass here, people.
Okay. I’m done with the charade. Sadly, there are some people out there who are sincerely accusing Arteta of racism, seriously and without any sense of self-awareness or logical thought processes, on the grounds that I just laid out sardonically. This kind of hysterical (as in overwrought, not hilarious) reaction to perceived slights based on loosely-threaded together “trends” that supposedly add up to a conspiracy only damage actual attempts at fighting to eliminate racism from society. I’m not saying that we should tip-toe around racists for fear of agitating them—quite the contrary. Calling racists out for their ignorance is necessary and vital.
However, conjuring up flimsy allegations of racism frustrates the very-real need to stamp out all-too-real racism. Whether it’s the shooting death of Nahel Merzouk in France or racist chants in stadiums or black employees being paid less and many, many more, there are levels of racism both blatant and invisible. Arteta’s apparent pattern of loaning out numerous black players? It’s hard to see that as racist when he’s signed most of those players in the first place.
He’s on the record as having thoroughly supported the players’ decision to start kneeling in support of the Black Lives Matter movement after the death of George Floyd. Even as the Premier League announced that such moments would be phased out to what they called “significant moments of the season”, Arteta said “we should still send a very important message that as a club we want to obviously express that equality is a massive thing for us, that everybody is welcome in our football club, in our industry hopefully and we need to maintain to be strong on that message.”
There’s just no “there” there when people accuse Arteta of racism, but they’re doing it anyway. Much like the story of the boy who cried wolf, they’ll end up prejudicing us against actual instances of racism, and that’s more than an attempt at clever wordplay on my part. If they keep concocting these cockamamie accusations, they’ll cheapen the problem to the point that people stop paying attention—and this will make it easier for those actual instances of racism to flourish.
Let’s hope more people come to their senses, whether this refers to them calling out racism in others, weeding out their own racist assumptions or beliefs, using racist chants as “banter”, or wearing out the word racism by tossing it around too casually.
playing with fire again, Jon. I think a lot of people will only read your first paragraph and think you’re being serious. I’ve seen twats on Twitter tweet about his supposed racism, it’s laughable but that’s what you get. It’s like a million monkeys at typewriters but they’re not typing Shakespeare. I’ll be curious to see how many ppl take offense to this one.
Jon, as Kelechi pointed out, this was a risky post since, by now you should have learned not to fully trust your readership to be on the same wave-length as you.
The risk you run when putting your tongue in your cheek, is that someone may punch you in the face or with an uppercut to the jaw, that will bite off your tongue and leave you speechless.
While the quality of the prose may suffer, maybe you need to be less subtle and make your stance clear from the opening rather than hope every reader stays to the end.
As for critics of Arteta who harp on the issue of racism, they would be better off, if they want to bash him or find fault, to focus on some aspects of his coaching, such as team selection, the ability to adjust uring a match, and formations.
Nice job extending the metaphor. I do sometimes feel like a carnival barker or newsie trying to trick the rubes. With this one, I should have ended the first paragraph with a sentence that pulled back the veil rather than extending the ruse beyond the “continue reading” link so that even those who were hasty would have a chance at realizing what I was up to here.
thoughtfully written and carefully executed article, unfortunately, as Kelechi expressed above, it could open pandora’s box, which sadly includes a whole mess of halfwits and miscreants…only in this day and age could such unsubstantiated nonsense take up so much oxygen in the room
It’s a calculated gamble (I hope). I want to draw people in, I’ll admit, and I should clarify my intent in that first paragraph so that those who click the “reply” link before reading through to the end have a better chance at understanding what I’m getting at. I know that I owe you a reply to the other post about Xhaka, but bear with me…
Its already been said pretty well, collectively, so,…yeah
I clicked because of the click bait title with a mind to be furious at the writer. Could barely get through the first two paragraphs, skimmed down and saw the satire…
As a not regular reader, it was the comments of the regulars that allowed me to “get it” and not just think you were, “whatever”
I know that I’m playing with fire with a title and lede like that, and I’m relieved that you stuck with it through to the end.
Alternative headline?
‘Mikel Arteta: Racist. (Are you f^cking kidding me?)’
Prompts readers of your topic’s true(r) direction.
Affords time to extend the narrative over two (lede) graphs.
Headline writing is its’ own art form.
This NewsNow headline– felt like a mallet to the forehead.
That’s fair. I like your suggestion and will keep that in mind for future headlines. I’m also disappointed in having extended the lede beyond the first paragraph.
maybe just a simple question mark after “Racist” would have sufficed
Fair. This one was ham-handed. That’s I get for working too quickly.
I didnt know about any racist accusations against M.A. until YOU brought it up
That’s because there is no allegations about him being racist until he brought it up m8!!💪⚽️🔴⚪️😎
They’ve been on Twitter, accusing Arteta of freezing players out. Apparently, there’s also guilt by association with Guardiola, who’s been accused of racism by Yaya Toure and Samuel Eto’o. It’s all folderol to me, but I needed a break from writing about whether or not West Ham have budged in the Rice negotiations.
That’s true – and I brought them up for the purpose of knocking them down. To be clear, I’m not insisting that Arteta is racist. Quite the opposite. The first two paragraphs exaggerate the nonsensical accusations I’d been seeing. The rest of the article sets about destroying those accusations.
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What a load of bollocks if ever I heard it.What about the minority race killing more whites than the other way around,what about black on black knife crime that is at highest ever level.White people are tired and sick of this nonsense.Black people are more racist than white people because media deliberately won’t shut up about it,they believe this garbage.So let’s judge everyone on their character.Enough already with taking the knees and screaming BLM ✊🏿 with fists up.Investigate BLM for their corrupt organisation,didn’t give a penny to the black community,bought mansions galore,just like democrats in 🇺🇸,they show up every 4 years and promise the black community the world to win there vote,and do nothing for them.Infact Donald trump is the president who done more for black community than any president in history-criminal justice reform,opportunity zones,ringfenced guaranteed funding for HBCUs,lowest unemployment ever for black and Latino communities.So of course Black Lives Matter,so go to all elected London MPs and tell them that,tell them to go to black community,and stop thieving,looting and stabbing each other.Because white people know exactly what’s going on,and yous can paint us with a fake racism tarnished brush if you like,but black community must be held accountable for their lawlessness and assume responsibility.The real problem is most of them join drug gangs because of fatherless homes,so address these things,and the media fakenews is trying all they can to create racism-racism is rife amongst black community.Travel anywhere you like all communities are struggling,no one’s privelaged are certainly very few.I don’t know white people not struggling financially/housing wise/and with all key essential departments in an overwhelmed weak United Kingdom,that’s getting worse by the day.Go to basket ball coaches and say they are racist as I don’t see many white basketball players.And a huge proportion of black footballers these days,if your good enough you play,if not you don’t.Arsenal fc have done more work for every community than any other club,embraced every single culture.Look at arsene wenger,he wanted a better human dimension to every player,so he brought his players around the world to experience how other religions and cultures live.How many kids are being stabbed in London??,who’s doing it??,that goes unreported I wonder why!!🤔🤔🤔🤔
Rory.Nails it.Afraid article IS ADDING FUEL TO THE FIRE.First time I’d come across it.& I read a lot of media,blogs etc.Don’t do twitter & would not be surprised where this bit of shit stirring originated.
There are those in the media & fan blogs who will try their utmost to pick holes in our club.They’ll come at it from any angle they can get in an attempt to destabilise Arsenal.I’ll add this piece of Bullshit to the list.You only have to look at Arsenals wordwide fan base which I would say now is predominantly black.
Hi, Pete – it seems that you and Rory may have only read the first two paragraphs, which are a satirical exaggeration of what I’ve seen people saying about Arteta. Here’s one example: PurplePurgatory @curiousmoha wrote,
“He’s buying 100 million white player to replace Partey, Sambi , Tavares, and Marquinhos have no place on this team. Saka is a product of the youth team and England international, so he won’t bench or try to do his wrong”. The author had made weirder accusations but deleted those tweets. I decided to seize on these ridiculous accustations to mock them and then explain why they’re ridiculous. If you read the entire post, you should see what I’m driving at more clearly.
As an interesting sidenote, I thought I had set my comments-filter to move four-letter words to moderation before publishing, but yours slipped through.
Well said PP and I’ll no doubt be labelled a racist for voicing a truthful opinion and a respectful one at that.I don’t care much for over sensitivity over garbage people are deliberately being spoonfed.I’m very very happy we “The Arsenal” have done so much to help every community, and I never judge anyone on race.I see us all the same,it’s just a shame msm are focusing on division,instead of unity.Ironically they say they want more inclusivity and want a fair functioning United society,but they are doing the opposite.Each crime no matter who commits it,public disorder and hate shouldn’t derive from it,that’s the police and courts job to prosecute whoever is responsible no matter what race/nationality or culture.Speaking of responsibility,this MA racist topic should be took down,because it potentially puts a person/s at risk.Absolutely disgraceful topic.If your good enough you play end of,sure KT,ESR,MT,CS,FV,RH and many many more white players don’t get much game time.BS and WS,TP play all the time because they are class.Woolwich 1886 should be ashamed of this deeply offensive topic/non topic really.You could say this is a crazy topic,but then again it is 2023!!!🔴⚪️⚽️🥇🏆💪.Focus on ❤️ and congratulate the squad for their great season.❤️❤️.
So if MA is racist then every ⚽️ coach in the world is!!!!,because to best of my knowledge blacks play as to whites,then whites get injured and blacks come in to starting 11 and vice versa.what about PG/ETH/JK etc?,do they get a pass then on your demented he’s racist topic???🔴⚪️COYG💪💪⚽️
Rory, it looks like you didn’t read the entire article. It starts with two paragraphs that mock some accusations of racism against Arteta. The rest of the post explains how those accusations are ridiculous and will actually backfire against actual attempts to deal with racism. I don’t believe for a second that Arteta is racist. I believe that those who cry “racism” at every turn make it harder to root actual racism out. I hope you’ll go back to read the rest of the post to see what I’m saying.
I get that Jon what your saying,I read it all.But lots of people just see “Meet Mikel arteta:The racist.And I’m not a lefty oversensitive 👻 hoo victimology type,im anti woke and a strong right wing patriotic mindset.I did find that offensive though and unnecessary,and non beneficial.Protection of MA and Arsenal is 🔑 to how I felt.I do however appreciate your feed back,and I’m more than happy to have future conversations with you.What you see is what you get from me,I don’t mince my words,but realise disagreement is how world works.I don’t do/subscribe to cancel culture,so we move on and I’ll chat again.Stay safe stay free,and I’ll keep in touch.👍😎
sounds good. I usually stick to the footy but came across numerous Twitter threads that were seriously accusing Arteta of being racist. I needed a break from the Declan Rice transfer saga (which seems to have finally ended).I do think that it’s good to interact with people with different outlooks/worldviews but again, most of that here will likely focus on tactics, squad management, etc.
you didn’t even read the article you lightweight…let me guess some of your best friends are people of colour…btw you just got baited into revealing even more about your pathetic self by the trolling clown Positive Pete…just a little suggestion, in the future write out your pending posts on a piece of paper, then after an hour or so come back to it and read it again as if you were an objective observer…if at the end of a handful of rereads you hate the person who wrote it, don’t post it…have a great day?
Clearly my above response was directed towards the honourable Rory
to be fair, I should heed some of that advice myself…
Jon-don’t be so hard on yourself, especially in a world rife with headline reading Trump-inspired syncophants
I’m intrigued at attracting not one but two apparent supporters of Trump. In the US, there’s usually not much of an overlap between political conservatism and interest in European football.
Never heard from Rory before and may not ever again. I’ve had comments from Positive Pete in the past, but he claims that this is his first time here. Could be that there are two Positive Petes, but I’m about to go combing through the records to find out.
I’m not from USA 🇺🇸 Jon,I’m from Ireland,have a good evening talk soon,we’ll discuss simple truths about life.👍😎