Bullying is an exceedingly nasty trait, and it would seem
that for ‘French’ athlete Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad, aggressive bullying is
an intrinsic part of his character, most recently illustrated by his attack
upon a 14-year-old girl dressed as a mascot following his win at Sunday’s
Helsinki 3000m Steeplechase (see video below). Thankfully, the Daily Mail reports that the girl was only winded, but the manner in which he treated her
reveals him to be a damaged character with an anger problem. Such behaviour has occurred before, as shown in the second clip, where at around a minute and 30
seconds into the video he is seen to contemptuously push a mascot into a
kneeling position before him. He also received a 10-month suspension for
attacking a teammate in Monaco in 2011.
What
will happen to this arrogant 'Frenchman' of Algerian descent following
this latest act of ill-tempered aggression? If I were French, I would
not be happy to see this man representing my country and bringing it
into disrepute, and would rather that he ran for Algeria instead. He may
run for France, but he is neither French nor a sportsman. Kick him out
of France. He's a liability.
Unsporting Maghrebian masquerading as Frenchman
Mekhissi-Benabbad's spiritual Brother
Mekhissi-Benabbad's spiritual Brother
Even more disturbing than Mekhissi-Benabbad's unprovoked assault and battery on a 14-year-old girl, _who had every right--indeed, duty--to be where she was_, were the comments that far too many _Daily Mail_ readers left under the story, excusing his atrocious and criminal behavior because (a) they find mascots irritating, (b) athletes are high-spirited animals, like champion thoroughbreds, who must be cut some slack for the occasional kick or bite of a groomer, or (c) the girl wasn't maimed, so what's the big deal? (He won, didn't he?)
ReplyDeleteMore and more, I feel like the fictionalized Antonia Tertia in Graves' _I, Claudius_, who commits suicide because she had grown up in a world of human beings but finds herself in one of animals in her late middle age.
Yes, some of the comments left below the article on the Daily Mail site were quite alarming, as you note. Perhaps though, comparing Mekhissi-Benabbad to an animal may not be that wide of the mark, for the man clearly possesses an impaired conscience. Human folly and an inclination to cruelty are, unfortunately, rather timeless qualities.
DeleteNotice in video two, the race, where he starts putting his head on the ground and kissing the 'tarmac'. I forget the technical term for this (and it's late, so I'm not Googling), but so many of our foreign/Muslim 'British' athletes do this and then run around with 'home nation' flag, after doing a couple of turns with the Union Jack to appease the sponsors.
ReplyDeleteQuite often you won't see it on British TV, because they don't film it or edit it, but often you can see it on TV clips from their 'home country'.
One thing's for sure: he wasn't doing an impression of the Pope. I can't remember the term either. It would be a bit more memorable if it weren't in Arabic.
DeleteThey are having a lot of bother getting someone to manage the French football team after the resignation of the manager Laurent Blanc. The black members of the team disgraced themselves & France through their insults to the referee in the European cup.
ReplyDeleteThey ought to be thrown out of football altogether, but that won't happen.....
I didn't realise that. Maybe they'll look for a Laurent Noir as their next manager? Unfortunately, as you note, a lack of sporting behaviour is unlikely to have any practical negative repercussions for the team.
DeleteTypical vicious mozlem, that's how they are brought up. BTW, Al Jazeera has bought up the rights to Serie A and La Liga in the US.
ReplyDeleteBasically the kissing and bowing is thanks to their moon god.