On Banning Russian Players From Wimbledon

 In the news this week -- the decision of the lords of Wimbledon to ban players from Russia from their tournament this year, in light of the invasion of Ukraine.

Sing the anthem?

The NY Times, ever distrustful of virtue signaling in a world without virtue, gave column inches to their writer today to say that since this won't do anything to stop the war, they should not have done it. Without, well, a thought to what a tournament *with* a Russian player would have looked like.

Folks, did you really want a wrestling face / heel dynamic to break out at a tennis match? And in all likelihood, many tennis matches? The lords of Wimbledon did not, and God bless them for that, because they gave up any amount of Will Smith at the Oscars level of social engagement for that decision. (My lord, integrity in this world? No wonder the Times took a dump on it.)

Because that's what would have happened, no matter what the Russian player would have said or done before or during the match. (Short of, I don't know, getting their relatives killed by signaling support for Ukraine?)

Look, I get that ostracizing all of the people from Russia is in no way comfortable. I did the same thing, on a very minor level, with people from Russia in my LinkedIn feed, and got a number of hurtful false dichotomy arguments in messaging around it. Holding individuals responsible for the actions of their nation is more than a little overblown. 

And yet, it's what we can do, and asking people to do nothing is really not something I'm comfortable in doing. Personally, I'm a doer, and the worst times in my life are when I can't do, for whatever reason. People from Russia are operating in a world of unreality from propaganda, and it's going to take a lot from a lot to solve that.

So if you really think Wimbledon would have been better off this year with the unmatched awkwardness of Russian athletes, and open conflict in the stands between booing and rooting for them, and none of the actual games being bigger than the meta narrative...

Well, you are just an idiot. At best. At worst, you are corrupt and acting from bad faith, and should no longer have access to the public via a vast media megaphone.

And calling you one seems like I've done something, and is good enough.