WHEN Scotland’s rugby players frolicked across the Twickenham turf with the Calcutta Cup last Saturday after beating England, you would be forgiven for thinking the whole nation was behind them.
But sadly you would be wrong as the players were subjected to a Twitter storm because only four of them took the knee before kick-off.
One Twitter user claimed this had “totally overshadowed” the momentous win while others claimed to be “ashamed” at being Scottish.
Dearie me, pass the smelling salts.
By standing to reflect on the anti-racism message rather than kneel does not make the Scotland or England players members of the Ku Klux Klan, regardless what some on Twitter might suggest.
They are grown men perfectly capable of making their own minds up and there was no edict passed down to tell them otherwise, anyway. Taking a knee has become a global symbol in the fight against racism since American footballer Colin Kaepernick knelt during the US national anthem at the start of NFL games in protest at police brutality and racial inequality.
The gesture has been adopted by football and Formula 1 but international rugby appears reluctant to follow suit, leading to situations like the confused picture at Twickenham.
Scotland forward Jamie Ritchie summed it up when he said: “You can’t please everyone, it’s such a polarising argument, whether to kneel or not. Social media can be a pretty vile place at times and guys know how to deal with it.”
The problem with gestures such as taking the knee is that they start out with the best intentions but can quickly end up looking like nothing more than virtue signalling. When this happens, it is clear the overriding message is being lost, so it is therefore time to think again.
Racism is clear and present danger and with the advent of social media it is being allowed to get worse, with black players regularly subjected to abuse by unknown keyboard warriors in darkened rooms.
They wouldn’t say it to the players’ faces but feel no shame in dishing it out from behind an anonymous social media account.
Facebook, to be fair, has announced it s changing the rules governing direct messaging on Instagram, a platform it also owns.
This will undoubtedly help but will not douse the flames of racism, which, conversely, may actually be getting fanned by taking the knee at sporting events, particularly football.
Racism will not be tackled by taking the knee, particularly the rather ridiculous sight of highly-paid, privileged white folk doing it to show “solidarity”with the black community.
This is virtue signalling at its very worst and would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic.
It can give also give racists a target to boo at when it's done and the easily offended an outlet to get cross at when it's not, such as at Twickenham.
The vast majority of people are not racist and are abhorred by those that are. They don’t need to take the knee to acknowledge that.
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