Will the Polish governement make the Zidane mistake
Classified Polnews
The French soccer player great, Zidane, was insulted and hurt everyone around him and a country of people depending upon him. The Polish president was apparently insulted by a satirical article in a German newspaper. Will he, like Zidane, hurt the people of country depending upon him?
Poland
Both Zidane and the President of Poland, Lech Kaczynski, are public figures. But the circumstances surrounding each of the alleged insults is quite different.
Zidane was verbally attacked on the field of play where verbal attacks of one form or another are common occurrences and used to break the concentration of the opponent.
The President of Poland, however, was subjected to a more indirect attack, if there really was an attack at all, through satire. Generally, in the case of "personal" attacks on public figures, the target himself is only the ostensible target. It's not intended to change the mind of the "victim" so much as it is to intimidate his allies, influence people to abandon him, and (as the case may be) simultaneously rally his collective enemies -- either against him or against whatever "forces" he is said to represent. But in this case it is not really confirmed that this was even the intent of the authors of the satirical article that offended the President of Poland.
Zidane had a responsibility to his teammates and to the country that was supporting him on the field of play. A strong man would have subverted his personal sense of pride and recognized that the taunts of an opponent should be expected and should be expected to break his concentration. But he showed no concern for his teammates or for the country that he represented and chose to involve himself in a childish act of retribution that hurt everyone around him.
Likewise, the president of a country should understand that he will be subjected to criticism, jokes, and political attack every day of his term in office. Like Zidane, the president of a country has a responsibility to the people that he represents. He is the image of the country. As he goes, so goes the image of the country.
The article about the President of Poland in the German newspaper would have probably passed into history unnoticed and unheralded and trashed as another piece of foolish journalism designed to do little more than sell some local newspapers. But by canceling a meeting with the Chancellor of Germany and the President of France for reasons of a stomachache, he only allowed the article to used by the President's enemies to do all those things that a personal attack on the President would have hoped to accomplish.
In the case of Zidane, he got a red card, his team lost and his country lost. And he knows he hurt people. Zidane said, “It was an inexcusable gesture and to them, and the people in education whose job it is to show children what they should and shouldn’t do, I want to apologize”.
In the case of the President of Poland, he is poised to head butt the author of the satirical article. There is no referee on the field but for other journalists around the world who are sure to rally to the defense of the German newspaper now being attacked. Even before the prosecution has advanced beyond its initial stages, you already find the Financial times website linking to three articles on16 July and highlighting that the German newspaper apologized to the potato.
And Just look at this! Got a Problem? Make it like Zidane Butt Head!
More is sure to come after the President lowers his head to the level of Zidane's.
The German newspaper’s journalists are sure to get the attention of the European Union which is sure to step in to this political bickering and further make the country of Poland look like a group of weaklings who are unable to control their emotions.
This head butt by the President of Poland will hurt the Polish people. But it is not too late. The government of Poland can look at the Zidane affair and hopefully look at it in the light of what Zidane did to himself and France. And they should “show children what they should do and shouldn’t do”.
Athletes in championship games and presidents of countries should remember that they should not be mentally inclined, and they are definitely not physically equipped, to get into pissing contests with skunks.
