Historically, championship teams visiting the White House has functioned as a civic ritual, not an endorsement. Teams visited during wars, during recessions, during unpopular administrations and during highly popular administrations.
The tradition is designed to honor the office, not validate the occupant.
That said, context matters.
There are moments in history when associating with a government clearly communicates alignment. The more extreme the regime’s actions—suppression of elections, imprisonment of dissidents, overt abandonment of democratic norms—the more symbolic weight a visit carries.
(And while you may scoff at all that, check out homie's approval rating. What's the saying? Ball don't lie?)
Anyway, the line shifts based on three factors, IMO:
1. Severity of the administration’s actions
2. Whether democratic norms are intact
3. Whether the visit is being used explicitly for propaganda
In stable democracies, White House visits are ceremonial. In an administration openly dismantling democratic institutions, public appearances can function as legitimizing signals.
I have no problem with USA's hockey players choosing to go, but I also have no problem with columnists and otherwise taking them to task for doing so. That's how a healthy, free press should work.
What's the opposite of woke cancel culture? Not wanting any consequences for any behaviors or decisions? Seems like Ethan is teetering perilously close to the latter. Wants his cake and to eat it too.
This is a brave comment for this comments section. I presume that most here will strongly disagree.
My conservative friends inform me that Trump is either as popular as previous second term presidents, steady in popularity among groups that matter, or gaining in popularity depending on what is most convenient to argue.
I am also often told that all norms were previously broken by Obama and Biden and that Trump is governing in an approximately equivalent manner to them. Whatever runs contrary to this is media unfairness.
From that perspective the hockey team showing up is de-escalatory. They are choosing to represent the will of the people over biased and histrionic media / lefty hivemind. Not showing up would be an endorsement of the media / hivemind which is the true locus of authoritarianism.
Of course their decision to show up probably is due to their support of Trump and they have the right to support Trump and to show up. They should absolutely be able to have and express personal politics as should everyone else.
The problem is that there is no way to depoliticize anything once any group gives it any political valence. I have a conservative relative who was almost apoplectic to discover that I buy almond milk. Her tribe has adopted whole milk as a sacred cause and the only reason anyone could buy plant milk is to deliberately offend them. So now milk is political and there is nothing I can do about it.
The whole milk thing bugs me from a different angle. Raised on it, specialist doctors recommended it for my condition, and to this day I still drink it, but one day not too long ago it was associated with “White Supremacy”.
My dietary habits from my youth, strongly recommended by doctors, became a social political signal that I had no control over.
But I do have control, I’m still going to consume it and – in the nicest way possible- I really don’t fucking care what you think I should drink nor what you* drink.
Ive never heard of whole milk being associated with white supremacy. Seems like a right wing parody of leftists. What about breastfeeding? How are people still on social media? Seems like checking yourself into a voluntary insane asylum
What’s ironic is that this despair for losing simple, deeply American ideas like “It’s a free country” enrages me so much I want to send an update of the classic ‘70s Cleveland Brown’s “Some asshole is writing things in your name. Just thought you’d like to know.” letter to each and every one of these reporters.
All the Current Things? Can’t be bothered. Publicly telling “it’s all political” nimrods to shove it? Man the barricades!
1. There is a Soviet/Soviet Dissident saying which can be translated to “criticism/dissent by silence” - the idea being that in a society that compels citizens to ritually affirm an ideology by reflexively mouthing ideologically correct slogans (“two legs baaaad…”) saying nothing is dissent.
So your point re the black square is true, but it’s contingent on social norms like those of the Soviets. The question of why certain folks want to create social norms like those in the notoriously free and stable USSR, is for another day (or not, it’s impulsive mouth breathery).
2. Everything is political in the sense of you drinking coke contributes to the “ecocide” of the Amazon or whatever, but so what. This is just word games. Every action has some kind effect, and that almost always can be linked to something political. We agree that we choose to categorize something’s outside of that because the causation isn’t strong enough. The people who try to shrink the apolitical space are annoying and should be sent to work in Cameroonian sand mines.
The Athletic is running daily puff pieces on Eileen Gu and hit pieces on the USA men's hockey team. The media's game has become bad faith enragement in lieu of honest journalism. Wading into the comments is like visiting another world. Am I wrong for thinking that China and Russia are running thousands of accounts to post controversial or highly politicized comments on all of the main media platforms? Tin foil hat time, but is the media now unwittingly aligned with the USA's enemies (internal and external)? One posts rage bait and then the other fans the flames with comments, drawing in people from both sides to double down on their political positions. This is not healthy for the country.
Similarly unhealthy are the Mao-style forced fake confessions which have become all the rage. I expect at least one gold medalist to be compelled to offer some kind of phony apology. Ethan mentioned the black square which became a referendum on whether or not someone was "with us or against us." I can't think of a more performative and useless gesture than posting a black square on IG, but there we were. More recently, small businesses were compelled to post their explanations for why they didn't participate in the phony "general strike" a few weeks ago. Small businesses obviously need to stay open to make money so they can pay their staff! And yet they had to kneel before the mob to explain that they support "the cause" (whatever that is) so that they didn't get flamed on socials. In my town, one business stayed open and did a fundraiser for an immigrant charity. That wasn't enough for the chronically online crowd and they demanded that the business post receipts of the donation and even then people still complained. For the long term viability of our society (hyperbolic, I know) this has to stop.
Well, I’d assume that not all US Hockey players voted or voted for Trump. But, they won and everyone should celebrate. Pro franchises take money from everyone. Ticket buyers and taxpayers who fund stadiums and police for victory parades. I didn’t vote for Obama or Biden, but if I was on a sports team that won a championship I’d be disappointed if I didn’t get to go to the White House and meet the president, whomever it is. Political fundamentalism seems like a boring way to live to me. Klosterman said one of the great things about the 90’s is you could meet people with different ideas and you might wind up being friends. It’s sad to me that that day is past.
This hockey story is the perfect illustration of why the mainstream media is so nauseating. This should be nothing but a happy, unifying moment, but the most neurotic, joyless, miserable scolds imaginable have tried to imbue as much negativity into it as possible. Because heaven forbid anybody out there not be as miserable as they are.
People, these guys are hockey players! Ethan Strauss was expected to have an opinion because he's a person paid to have opinions and write about them. It was stupid, yes, that people demanded he have an opinion about an issue that was not in his area of expertise, but at least there was a semblance of a connection. The idea that a HOCKEY PLAYER is supposed to be informed and savvy enough to diagnose whether "norms are being violated" before accepting an invite from the president is... retarded. Sorry.
Historically, championship teams visiting the White House has functioned as a civic ritual, not an endorsement. Teams visited during wars, during recessions, during unpopular administrations and during highly popular administrations.
The tradition is designed to honor the office, not validate the occupant.
That said, context matters.
There are moments in history when associating with a government clearly communicates alignment. The more extreme the regime’s actions—suppression of elections, imprisonment of dissidents, overt abandonment of democratic norms—the more symbolic weight a visit carries.
(And while you may scoff at all that, check out homie's approval rating. What's the saying? Ball don't lie?)
Anyway, the line shifts based on three factors, IMO:
1. Severity of the administration’s actions
2. Whether democratic norms are intact
3. Whether the visit is being used explicitly for propaganda
In stable democracies, White House visits are ceremonial. In an administration openly dismantling democratic institutions, public appearances can function as legitimizing signals.
I have no problem with USA's hockey players choosing to go, but I also have no problem with columnists and otherwise taking them to task for doing so. That's how a healthy, free press should work.
What's the opposite of woke cancel culture? Not wanting any consequences for any behaviors or decisions? Seems like Ethan is teetering perilously close to the latter. Wants his cake and to eat it too.
This is a brave comment for this comments section. I presume that most here will strongly disagree.
My conservative friends inform me that Trump is either as popular as previous second term presidents, steady in popularity among groups that matter, or gaining in popularity depending on what is most convenient to argue.
I am also often told that all norms were previously broken by Obama and Biden and that Trump is governing in an approximately equivalent manner to them. Whatever runs contrary to this is media unfairness.
From that perspective the hockey team showing up is de-escalatory. They are choosing to represent the will of the people over biased and histrionic media / lefty hivemind. Not showing up would be an endorsement of the media / hivemind which is the true locus of authoritarianism.
Of course their decision to show up probably is due to their support of Trump and they have the right to support Trump and to show up. They should absolutely be able to have and express personal politics as should everyone else.
The problem is that there is no way to depoliticize anything once any group gives it any political valence. I have a conservative relative who was almost apoplectic to discover that I buy almond milk. Her tribe has adopted whole milk as a sacred cause and the only reason anyone could buy plant milk is to deliberately offend them. So now milk is political and there is nothing I can do about it.
The whole milk thing bugs me from a different angle. Raised on it, specialist doctors recommended it for my condition, and to this day I still drink it, but one day not too long ago it was associated with “White Supremacy”.
My dietary habits from my youth, strongly recommended by doctors, became a social political signal that I had no control over.
But I do have control, I’m still going to consume it and – in the nicest way possible- I really don’t fucking care what you think I should drink nor what you* drink.
*royal you
Ive never heard of whole milk being associated with white supremacy. Seems like a right wing parody of leftists. What about breastfeeding? How are people still on social media? Seems like checking yourself into a voluntary insane asylum
What’s ironic is that this despair for losing simple, deeply American ideas like “It’s a free country” enrages me so much I want to send an update of the classic ‘70s Cleveland Brown’s “Some asshole is writing things in your name. Just thought you’d like to know.” letter to each and every one of these reporters.
All the Current Things? Can’t be bothered. Publicly telling “it’s all political” nimrods to shove it? Man the barricades!
1. There is a Soviet/Soviet Dissident saying which can be translated to “criticism/dissent by silence” - the idea being that in a society that compels citizens to ritually affirm an ideology by reflexively mouthing ideologically correct slogans (“two legs baaaad…”) saying nothing is dissent.
So your point re the black square is true, but it’s contingent on social norms like those of the Soviets. The question of why certain folks want to create social norms like those in the notoriously free and stable USSR, is for another day (or not, it’s impulsive mouth breathery).
2. Everything is political in the sense of you drinking coke contributes to the “ecocide” of the Amazon or whatever, but so what. This is just word games. Every action has some kind effect, and that almost always can be linked to something political. We agree that we choose to categorize something’s outside of that because the causation isn’t strong enough. The people who try to shrink the apolitical space are annoying and should be sent to work in Cameroonian sand mines.
Was that lakoff or searle
The Athletic is running daily puff pieces on Eileen Gu and hit pieces on the USA men's hockey team. The media's game has become bad faith enragement in lieu of honest journalism. Wading into the comments is like visiting another world. Am I wrong for thinking that China and Russia are running thousands of accounts to post controversial or highly politicized comments on all of the main media platforms? Tin foil hat time, but is the media now unwittingly aligned with the USA's enemies (internal and external)? One posts rage bait and then the other fans the flames with comments, drawing in people from both sides to double down on their political positions. This is not healthy for the country.
Similarly unhealthy are the Mao-style forced fake confessions which have become all the rage. I expect at least one gold medalist to be compelled to offer some kind of phony apology. Ethan mentioned the black square which became a referendum on whether or not someone was "with us or against us." I can't think of a more performative and useless gesture than posting a black square on IG, but there we were. More recently, small businesses were compelled to post their explanations for why they didn't participate in the phony "general strike" a few weeks ago. Small businesses obviously need to stay open to make money so they can pay their staff! And yet they had to kneel before the mob to explain that they support "the cause" (whatever that is) so that they didn't get flamed on socials. In my town, one business stayed open and did a fundraiser for an immigrant charity. That wasn't enough for the chronically online crowd and they demanded that the business post receipts of the donation and even then people still complained. For the long term viability of our society (hyperbolic, I know) this has to stop.
Well, I’d assume that not all US Hockey players voted or voted for Trump. But, they won and everyone should celebrate. Pro franchises take money from everyone. Ticket buyers and taxpayers who fund stadiums and police for victory parades. I didn’t vote for Obama or Biden, but if I was on a sports team that won a championship I’d be disappointed if I didn’t get to go to the White House and meet the president, whomever it is. Political fundamentalism seems like a boring way to live to me. Klosterman said one of the great things about the 90’s is you could meet people with different ideas and you might wind up being friends. It’s sad to me that that day is past.
This hockey story is the perfect illustration of why the mainstream media is so nauseating. This should be nothing but a happy, unifying moment, but the most neurotic, joyless, miserable scolds imaginable have tried to imbue as much negativity into it as possible. Because heaven forbid anybody out there not be as miserable as they are.
You really can't hate the media enough.
People, these guys are hockey players! Ethan Strauss was expected to have an opinion because he's a person paid to have opinions and write about them. It was stupid, yes, that people demanded he have an opinion about an issue that was not in his area of expertise, but at least there was a semblance of a connection. The idea that a HOCKEY PLAYER is supposed to be informed and savvy enough to diagnose whether "norms are being violated" before accepting an invite from the president is... retarded. Sorry.
It’s what I miss most about yesteryear
"I don’t remember a lot from college lectures, save for maybe two distinct mind expanders."
The No. 1 thing I learned in college, at least on a daily basis? AP style, it's "OK" not "okay."