I Told You So

Maybe I wasn't exactly "nice" in every discussion I entered about the supposed unjustified aggression on the part of the Toronto Police fueled by their racism. But nice or not, I think my warning was sound: don't call "foul" before the ref gets a chance to see the instant reply, because if you're proven wrong, Chile, you'll look like a fool.

Now, you've been proven wrong.

It's the testimony by a member of the self-same, victimized, animalized La Rojita, who admitted that, actually, a team member had clocked a female officer in the face before she pulled out the taser. (Would he have done that to a male officer? Sorry that's not the point.)

The point is that Bachelet seriously fucked up by placing her story in the hands of a bunch of newbies who can't even keep it straight. I don't blame them. Not only are they young, but they've probably never faced racism in their life (even the brown ones - they get athletic immunity).

Abner Louima, Haitian immigrant of "It's Giuliani Time" fame, probably had faced real racism. He knew that being beat up by the New York police and sodomized with a broken broomstick wouldn't really raise eyebrows, unless he made a political connection. He admitted later that the officers never said "It's Giuliani Time", but at that point he'd created the necessary effect, shining light upon the ills of the New York police. Admitting that black lie revealed his intelligence, not disingenuousness.

As the Chilean kids' story unravels with bad timing, it exposes both their lack of intelligence as well as their disingenuousness. It delivers a sound bitch-slap to the president (I'd say the same thing if it were Lagos) and everyone else who suddenly became a victimized "brown sudaca" overnight.

Those sub-20 soccer players are a bunch of drama queens, and sadly they represent the strongest form of identity that Chile possesses. (Is there anything stronger, more unifying to Chile than soccer? Perhaps empanadas? Argentina does both better.) Anyway, much of Chile rallies around these kids emotionally, which (as long as the kids don't get seriously fucked up by that premature adulation) is beautiful until it spills out of the stadium and into matters that require rationality.

"Unjustified aggression". What a joke. And everyone else who upped her ante with charges of racism, now there's solid proof that the police were acting based on the violence of the situation, nothing to do with racism. Nothing you can prove at least.

You see, it's totally for your own good that you pipe down and review the situation seriously. It's like the boy who fucking cried wolf. You're that much less credible from now on, even in matters where suspicions of racism might actually be valid. This is constructive criticism, and if you confuse "harsh" with "nonconstructive", then shed your thin skin and grow up. It's in your best interest, Chile.