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Why is the right wing media on cue sh1tting on Simone Biles?

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woolfe9998 said:
Luck isn’t the best example to support the common opinion expressed in this thread, which is that Biles is being criticized because she’s female and/or black. Luck quit because of repeated physical injuries , not emotional distress. But Luck was nonetheless called a pussy by some commentators over it. And he’s white, and male.
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I wonder why criticism of Luck didn't go anywhere near as viral as criticism of Biles. A real mystery.
 
Fenixgoon said:
so not only do i think there's plenty of racism/misogyny tied into this, but it occurred to me that there's plenty of fascism(?) too.
you must sacrifice yourself for the glory of the state, lest you disgrace yourself on the world stage.

fuck that.
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Yup, it strokes every degenerate chord.
 
Greenman said:
She removed herself from the competition. She quit. That's undeniable. But this conspiracy thing you have going on is pretty weird.
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Labeling someone a quitter is a lot different than the textbook definition of quitter. Think about an artisan craftsman working on his latest piece, and at some point he realizes it isn't working so he quits that piece and moves on to the next one. Greenman thinks he will always be known as a quitter and that's totally not a result of deep-seated bias. You know, because he technically quit so he fits the textbook definition of a quitter.
 
Simone Biles is the greatest gymnast of all time, male or female. She has done and can still do things that nobody else can do. Those things are beyond difficult. Many of those things are simply impossible for anyone else. If they tried them, they'd likely injure themselves, quite possibly severely. For Simone to even attempt to do the more difficult of her routines she needs confidence. Absent that, she should not even attempt them. She knows this as well as anybody, nobody knows this better than her, she's the consummate gymnast.

Right now, Simone lacks confidence. It happens to all gymnasts at one time or another. She's been under enormous pressure and it does not surprise me in the least that she's having this problem. She absolutely should NOT compete unless and until she regains her confidence. She does not need an excuse, she does not need to explain or apologize. Not in the slightest. I have no quarrel with a single thing she's done or is doing.
 
Muse said:
Right now, Simone lacks confidence. It happens to all gymnasts at one time or another.
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Confidence is a symptom of the problem, it is not the problem itself.

It has been described as common in gymnastics, where the person can no longer feel themselves in the air. It is a physical inability to perform the tasks required. Not mere confidence, and certainly not mental illness. Those ideas lead to false claims of "quitting" by the hate mongers out there.
 
Why does she have to apologize for not being fit enough to compete on the highest stage, particularly when others are available and can? I mean do you want your doctor doing surgery on you when he's physically or mentally not ready to go? Or a pilot flying your plane?

At the end of the day, people just don't respect the need for mental fitness when it's just as important as being physically fit. A lack of mental fitness is in part why cops are shooting unarmed people on the street.
 
Jaskalas said:
Confidence is a symptom of the problem, it is not the problem itself.

It has been described as common in gymnastics, where the person can no longer feel themselves in the air. It is a physical inability to perform the tasks required. Not mere confidence, and certainly not mental illness. Those ideas lead to false claims of "quitting" by the hate mongers out there.
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I read that it is often induced by stress.

You could tell in the trials and especially the prelims that she didn't look like herself (body language) and that she was feeling insane pressure. Everyone taking about her like she was just a robot didn't help, IMHO.

I just really hope this isn't her last competition. I am disappointed for her, not because of her.

I had soured on a lot of major sports over the years due to the ridiculous tribalism, but hadn't realized how many people look at them as modern minstrel show. No idea how one minute you can rest a black athlete as your savior and then tell him to sit down and shut up in the breath.
 
SteveGrabowski said:
Don't know why I bothered responding to Greenman, of course he was going to double down on being a little whiny entitled bitch. Should have just told him to go fuck himself and moved on.
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I'm not sure why ANYONE replies to Ugly Casanova types at this point.
 
shortylickens said:
a lot of people think they dont like quitters but this goes way beyond that.

She is not a quitter.

The conservative propaganda people have decided to target her for a multitude of reasons not the least of which is its a good distraction from whatever the republican party is doing wrong at the moment. They know their fan base is easily distracted and a black woman doing something for herself is perfect news fodder.
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They have endless buckets of chum to toss in the water, and needed a target. She was an easy one.
As long as the masses are tuning in and frothing, all is good.
 
Greenman said:
Or it could be that a lot of people don't like quitters. Grim determination goes a long way in building respect.
Personally, I don't care. She had a bad day, decided she couldn't cut it, and quit. That's her right, it's her decision to make. I have to assume she considered the effort and cost of making it to the Olympics, and decided quitting was the best answer.

It's a sad that she'll always be remembered as the one that gave up. That decision, right or wrong, is the difference between being remembered as a hero, or a zero.
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Pathetic that you see the world that way.
 
Sunburn74 said:
Why does she have to apologize for not being fit enough to compete on the highest stage, particularly when others are available and can? I mean do you want your doctor doing surgery on you when he's physically or mentally not ready to go? Or a pilot flying your plane?

At the end of the day, people just don't respect the need for mental fitness when it's just as important as being physically fit. A lack of mental fitness is in part why cops are shooting unarmed people on the street.
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I don’t think her critics are saying she must apologize for being unfit. I think they’re questioning whether she really is unfit. I think the unfortunate aspect of this was her timing. Had she decided months ago to retire from gymnastics and not attend this olympics, I don’t think there’d have been much criticism because this happens eventually to every athlete. Olympians in particular tend to retire in their 20’s, often in their early to mid 20’s.

The problem is that she went to the Olympics, had a couple of bad days, then quit. These people think she was so used to being perfect all the time, that she quit out of a fear of failure. The way they see it, every athlete has a bad day, but they’re supposed to be tough enough to pick themselves up and continue to compete.

For myself, if any athlete says they are unfit, I’m going to take them at their word because no one is better able to make that determination than they. But it doesn’t surprise me that not everyone sees it that way. Given the common perception that top athletes are like inhuman cyborgs who are mentally tough enough to get through anything.

While these right wing critics have suspect motives, some of their arguments may resonate with people who are not on the right, and may persist regardless of gender or race.
 
I do find it a bit ironic that the leader of the people talking about her mental toughness is himself the most mentally un-tough person on the entire planet and the worlds biggest snowflake. He's also probably the most physically unfit presidents in the history of presidents.
 
Jaskalas said:
Confidence is a symptom of the problem, it is not the problem itself.

It has been described as common in gymnastics, where the person can no longer feel themselves in the air. It is a physical inability to perform the tasks required. Not mere confidence, and certainly not mental illness. Those ideas lead to false claims of "quitting" by the hate mongers out there.
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You're getting all semantic here. There's no denying that she lacks confidence if she can't feel herself in the air. Obviously she fears it will happen again or she'd be totally unconcerned. That is lack of confidence, unquestionably.

Accusing her of quitting is beyond grotesque and it's highly disrespectful and a clear sign of a complete lack of character on the part of the accusers.
 
woolfe9998 said:
I don’t think her critics are saying she must apologize for being unfit. I think they’re questioning whether she really is unfit. I think the unfortunate aspect of this was her timing. Had she decided months ago to retire from gymnastics and not attend this olympics, I don’t think there’d have been much criticism because this happens eventually to every athlete. Olympians in particular tend to retire in their 20’s, often in their early to mid 20’s.

The problem is that she went to the Olympics, had a couple of bad days, then quit. These people think she was so used to being perfect all the time, that she quit out of a fear of failure. The way they see it, every athlete has a bad day, but they’re supposed to be tough enough to pick themselves up and continue to compete.

For myself, if any athlete says they are unfit, I’m going to take them at their word because no one is better able to make that determination than they. But it doesn’t surprise me that not everyone sees it that way. Given the common perception that top athletes are like inhuman cyborgs who are mentally tough enough to get through anything.

While these right wing critics have suspect motives, some of their arguments may resonate with people who are not on the right, and may persist regardless of gender or race.
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The difference between Simone Biles and the "average" Olympic athlete is that when she performs she's constantly at risk of suffering an injury that could mess her up for life, literally. People hold their breath while watching her. There's no question that she has every right in the world to not perform and not suffer any criticism for that decision. NONE!
 
woolfe9998 said:
I don’t think her critics are saying she must apologize for being unfit. I think they’re questioning whether she really is unfit. I think the unfortunate aspect of this was her timing. Had she decided months ago to retire from gymnastics and not attend this olympics, I don’t think there’d have been much criticism because this happens eventually to every athlete. Olympians in particular tend to retire in their 20’s, often in their early to mid 20’s.

The problem is that she went to the Olympics, had a couple of bad days, then quit. These people think she was so used to being perfect all the time, that she quit out of a fear of failure. The way they see it, every athlete has a bad day, but they’re supposed to be tough enough to pick themselves up and continue to compete.

For myself, if any athlete says they are unfit, I’m going to take them at their word because no one is better able to make that determination than they. But it doesn’t surprise me that not everyone sees it that way. Given the common perception that top athletes are like inhuman cyborgs who are mentally tough enough to get through anything.

While these right wing critics have suspect motives, some of their arguments may resonate with people who are not on the right, and may persist regardless of gender or race.
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If you go back and watch the prelims, it looked like she was going to barf before her first event, so there was something brewing before she made a single mistake.
 
Greenman said:
And that right there truly is the crux of the issue. You think your outside looking in, I think you can't see the forest through the trees.
I don't think your brand of stupid is any better than any other.
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So mean, what's with the cancel here?

You mad cuz others schooled you, again?
 
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