‽istis reclaims game-playing (weekending January 8th 2022)
Following on from the blog a couple of weeks’ ago, ‽istis continues to wonder at the potential view through a James Webb type telescope gone rogue, pointing back at the Earth, pointing at us and specifically pointing this week at what is now called the continent of Australia (1) - zooming in on grown-men playing games (or not)...
‽ one person (apparently with prize-winnings at September last year of $153million (2) and with this fortune (3) gained from being very good and indeed better than most at hitting a soft-ish ball with a raquet) is required currently to stay in a hotel while visa matters are sorted out. His father ‘Speaking at a press conference in Belgrade… condemned the treatment of his son saying that he was being 'held captive' after he was placed under police guard at Park Hotel, in Melbourne... (that ) 'Jesus was crucified on the cross... but he is still alive among us' 'They are trying to crucify and belittle Novak and throw him to his knees.' And protests by family, friends and supporters are mounted. (4)
‽ one team, sometimes good at hitting a hard-ish ball with a bat, sometimes good at throwing and catching too. A recent report claimed: ‘After two years of planning, England's Ashes campaign in Australia is over after 12 days.’ (5) and with the headline: ‘Ashes: Is this year's debacle England's worst recent Ashes performance away from home?’ The ‘rest’ will not be coming home with the prize: a replica (a replica, mind) of a terracotta urn, standing 10.5 cm high: ‘a vessel that some believe may have originally been used as a perfume bottle. It is believed to contain the burnt ashes of a cricket bail...’ first ‘fought’ over in 1882/83 (6)
Still, while distracted by grown men playing games for a living and with some rewarded handsomely in cash, in kudos (or an old perfume bottle?) for being just that bit better - sometimes by the most minimal of margins (7) - at least the telescope won’t be focussing on prisoners of conscience, those experiencing arbitrary detention, those held incommunicado or in secret detention, experiencing unfair trials, some experiencing torture and other forms of ill-treatment (8).
Thank goodness (wherever that is yet be found) that at least perhaps, possibly, maybe the news headlines and bulletins won’t really trouble us with too much reality for either the majority or the minoritised, too much of what could be there for the seeing. Instead they are full of the story of the current predicament of one man grown rich by hitting a ball very well, and a team apparently humiliated by not hitting a ball well enough.
And ‽istis wonders if it is all just one big game being played on us - and we are all the losers‽
© Pistis
NB: further reflections and comments linked to this week’s theme and past blog
entries to be found on Twitter: replies, retweets (which don’t necessarily indicate approval, sometimes the very opposite!) and ‘likes’: @Pistis_wonders. ‘Follows’ and respectful comment and dialogue welcome...
https://www.ipswich.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/10043/appropriate_indigenous_terminoloy.pdf Helpful information for ‘more appropriate’ and ‘less appropriate’ terms in relation to the history, society, naming, culture and classifications of Indigenous Australian and Torres Strait Islander people/s, recognising that: ‘language is also a vehicle for the expression of discrimination and prejudice as our cultural values and attitudes are reflected in the structures and meanings of the language we use. This means that language cannot be regarded as a neutral or unproblematic medium, and can cause or reflect discrimination due to its intricate links with society and culture.’
Legitimate, I think, to call this a fortune when ‘The average salary in Belgrade, Serbia in 2021 is around 60000 Serbian Dinars, or slightly more than 600 dollars.’ https://checkinprice.com/average-minimum-salary-belgrade-serbia/
The men's 100 metres sprint event at the 1952 Olympic Games… was "probably the closest mass finish in Olympic 100 metre history" with the first four runners all clocking in at 10.4 seconds hand-timed, all six finalists within 0.12 seconds electric-timed (10.79 for first, 10.91 for sixth), and a photo finish necessary to separate the winners. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1952_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_100_metres
