Cultural Confusion

~ Clarissa

Can anybody explain this viral video to me?

I must lack cultural competence to understand it. Why was the woman so desperate to get the ball? White middle-aged women are usually terrified of public unpleasantness. This must have been really important to her if she went over to get the ball away from a child. But why? I understand that sports fans want these balls. I tried to imagine an equivalent situation for myself. Let’s say there’s a limited number of volumes of a heretofore unpublished novel by Rafael Chirbes. I’d want one pretty desperately. I can enjoy it far more than any child. But would I go badger a boy and his dad to get one away from him? Not a chance.

This must be something cultural for me to have absolutely no read on the situation.

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Published by Clarissa

10 thoughts on “Cultural Confusion”

  1. AFAIK: the ball rightfully belongs to whoever gets it first. Appears to be the dad. The reason the video went viral is because the woman is behaving in a clearly aggressive, deranged, entitled way. Who knows what she was thinking, or saying here. Technically, she put her hands on the guy, aggressively, and if he wanted to be a weenie about it, he could get her charged with assault. There’s video proof everywhere.

    In his place, I would do exactly the same thing, give her the ball, and shoo her away. We’re done. Go away. Not because she should have it, but because she is clearly a crazy person who should not be inflicted on the public, and God knows if she might get a bug up her arse to stalk you and threaten your kids later– she looks like the right sort for it. That guy was there with his kid: the thing you have to do is protect your kid: identify the threat, make the threat go away as quickly as possible, and do whatever you have to do to avoid further contact with the threat. I’d have gone one further, and simply left the game at that juncture, to make sure the crazy lady couldn’t follow us.

    In my somewhat limited experience, any customer behaving like that woman, in any place where I worked, would get an immediate escort out of the building by management, with a firm admonition to never come back or the cops would be called. She’s probably on the stadium’s no-ticket list now.

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    1. I would have given her the ball, too. Anything to get her away from my child.

      I still don’t understand why she would lose face like that. There are cameras everywhere. There’s got to be some inner voice telling her that this isn’t a good idea.

      And for what? As an adult, one should have other priorities in life. Ideally, of the non-material kind.

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  2. It’s just people being shitty. At this year’s US Open, a piece of shit (this time Polish) snatched a hat clearly meant for a kid.

    He then posted this:

    “Yes, I took it. Yes, I did it quickly. But as I’ve always said, life is first come, first served… If you were faster, you would have it… I remind you that insulting a public figure is subject to legal liability. All offensive comments, slander, and insinuations will be analyzed for the possibility of taking the matter to court.”

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