First, they came for . . . (checks notes) . . . the soccer players??
In 1946, German Lutheran pastor and theologian Martin Niemöller penned a poem about the complicity of silence in the face of augmenting authoritarianism. We’ve hopefully all heard — or at least heard of — this powerful reflection written while the atrocities of Nazi Germany were still freshly smoldering in the ruinous ashes of a mass human extinction event.
In case you haven’t read the original, here is the full text:
First they came for the CommunistsThen they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.
Since Trump’s second term has begun, we have seen many reinterpretations of this poem, altered to elucidate our current political milieu. “First they came for the immigrants,” etc.
There is ALWAYS a new “other” to add to such a list. I plan to address this list in greater detail at some point soon, but for now, I beg you to watch the video above — and I earnestly hope your response will be, “Soccer players? REALLY??”
If this doesn’t hyperbolically highlight Niemöller’s poem in fantastic fashion for every American immediately, then I don’t know what else could possibly move someone to take note and start standing up in solidarity with those at the top of “the list” currently being restrained, arrested, rounded up, and renditioned to goddess knows where.
I mean, just think about it. I know soccer is a highly followed global phenomenon incorporating persons of skin tones that stretch just about the entire color spectrum. But here in America, soccer is stereotypically played by people of the pale persuasion.
If this preacher’s rhetoric is any indication of which direction the winds may blow once all the browns and blacks are rounded up, then we’re left with this realization: THEY WILL START ROUNDING UP WHITE PEOPLE.
Yes, of course by that point a huge chunk of the white population will have already been sent to a newly constructed detention camp — LGBTQ folks, political dissidents, journalists, democrats, hippies, and who knows who the hell else. But that’s how “the list” works. Once the machine is fully operational, it requires fresh fish. So, once all “the problem people” are gone, and we’re left with a lily white pale population, the machine will then demand subsets of even THAT demographic. Videos going viral such as the one above set the stage for selecting, labeling and demonizing the next “other” — because there WILL ALWAYS BE A NEXT OTHER.
So who might come next after all the little queer soccer players are rounded up and rendered to remote locales? Cyclists, because spandex makes them look silly? Swimmers, because they’re prancing around in speedos with shaved legs and little plastic caps covering their masculine hair? WHERE WOULD IT END?
That’s the whole point of Niemöller’s poem. When you demonize an entire group such as soccer players (I still can’t believe we’re even discussing this) — or simply turn away and ignore while such demonization is taking place because you’re not personally a soccer player — then you might as well take a number and get in line, cause you’ll eventually be next.
On a side note: WHAT THE HELL IS THIS GUY EVEN TALKING ABOUT? I played on the varsity soccer team in high school and not only was I in the most peak physical condition of my entire life, but was also blown away by how strenuous and competitive the sport purports to be. Soccer is NOT some lispy “running around kicking a ball” sport. It’s actually downright dangerous, as the global number of annual injuries attests.
Director Kevin Smith illustrates this comedically well in the movie “Dogma.” In that script, 2 fallen angels are trying to get back into heaven due to a loophole in Catholic dogmatic law. But before they return to the heavenly realm, one of them — Loki, the Angel of Death — decides to first “get back on God’s good side” through reigning down some Divine Justice by hitting a corporate boardroom of a company he feels is idolatrous. As Loki and his compatriot Bartleby are in a sporting goods store picking the perfect firearm, the following dialogue ensues:
SCENE: IN A SEEDY GUN SHOP AT NIGHT
Various guns are laid out atop a glass case.
OC SALESMAN
Now this piece is nice. It's not lightweight, but one look at it and nobody - I mean nobody - is going to f*** with you. Try it on.
Loki picks up the gun. Bartleby and the salesman look at him.
LOKI
It's a lot more compact than the flaming sword, I'll say that much.
BARTLEBY
It's the weapon of choice these days.
LOKI
It seems unimpressive. At least the sword looked intimidating. How can I strike fear into the hearts of the wicked with this?
SALESMAN
Oh, I get it. You want to become a vigilante, right? Like Batman or something.
LOKI
Batman never uses guns.
(off gun)
I don't know. It feels impersonal.
BARTLEBY
Then don't use a gun. Just lay the place to waste like Sodom and Gomorrah. Now that was something.
LOKI
Oh yeah, for you maybe. You got to stand there and read. I had to do all the work.
BARTLEBY
What work? You lit a few fires.
LOKI
I rained down sulfur, man. There's a subtle difference.
BARTLEBY
Sure.
LOKI
Are you kidding me? Any moron with a pack of matches can start a fire. Raining down sulfur takes a huge level of endurance. Mass genocide is the most exhausting activity one can engage in, next to soccer.
END SCENE
There you have it, folks.
I’m sorry, but this washed up, decrepit, and bloated old man in the video doesn’t know the first thing about soccer. He doesn’t strike me as the type to be able to weather even the slightest bit of physical competition as he perches on his pulpit railing against some random subset of the population he deems problematic. But in so doing, he is labeling YET another other to be added to “the list.” An absolutely ridiculous one at that.
The list is long already and growing daily. If we allow voices like this to make such pronouncements protected by a pulpit — thereby deeming it a divine mandate — then literally everyone’s lives are going to be at stake eventually. And I don’t think that’s what MAGA had in mind. But Stephen Miller and his ilk will. And most of us will end up on that list one way or another.
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