Once upon a time, many years ago…

there were serious journalists and people who really know what the words they use means. Now a lot of people don’t know the meanings of the words, ant a lot of journalists aren’t interested anymore in the truth. Two examples.

On march, 2, the ISU published a tweet promoting the World Championship with the photos of four skaters. Ok, normally this is a part of his job, to promove the competitions. Unfortunately, this isn’t a normal year and I, as several other people, expressed my concern for the health of all the skaters. All the skaters, not only my favourites (yes, I write mostly about only one, but I like a lot of skaters in all the four disciplines). Someone didn’t like my words.

I hadn’t written any name, my words didn’t refer to any skater, but it’s easy, watching on my TL, find at least the skater most important to me. So the troll – he is a troll, after those tweet I’ve noticed he in several other places – put on me a label, fanyu, using the label to dismiss my words. Besides the fact that I’m proud to be a fanyu, he completely miss the point. The first priority is the health of all the skaters, Nathan Chen among them. Ok, sometimes I have bad thoughts on politicians, on parasites and people who I believe are dangerous to society, but on an athlete? The troll had said to me to deal with the fact with Chen will become World Champion for the third times.

Ok, and even so? I know that this possibility exist, I have a brain and I can count. I’ve came to accept many years ago that the athlete I like don’t always win. As some of you know, I’m a Kurt Browning’s fan. How many Olympic medal won Browning? I would like that my favourite athlete win, but I can deal with a defeat. I’m much less able to deal with other things. Jana Novotna died three and half years ago, and I’m still crying for her. I don’t cry every day, but if I think to her, I cry. And she died for a cancer, not because she has gone to a risky competition (by the way, with her I’ve learned a lot about painful defeats). And if not all the people that get the virus die, even the risk of a permanent invalidity don’t seem to me a nice thing.

So the possibility (very real, I know it) that Chen win the World Championship has nothing to do with worrying for the competition. I’m worried for the healths of all the people involved (skaters, coaches, journalists, even if sometimes for brevity, especially on Twitter, where every letter counts, I write only skaters). Who has read my post, that I’ve linked, can better understand my worries. I’ve put to one side entertainment, to another health, for me it’s clear. With better health measure, I’would be happy to see the World Championship, but all the ISU’s decisions are worrying, ant the waiver to me say clearly one thing: for them the most important thing is to don’t have any legal problem, if a skater get the COVID… it’s a problem for the skater, not for them.

I’ve ended saying that the results of this competition can’t change what I think of any skater. Perhaps someone can surprend us – it’s improbable, with all the difficulty in the training this year I don’t thing that someone can improve so much to do a really unexpected result – but my opinion on Chen, the concern of the troll, and Hanyu, can’t be changed with this competition. And I’m sure that the opinion of Chen’s fans is the same. Both the fandom will be happy if their favourite win, but none of them, I think, will change their opinion on the skaters. I don’t need a third world title to cheer for Hanyu, Chen’s fan don’t need a third world title to cheer for him. But we all need a healty skater. And… I prefer a retired skater, if the retirement came from his choice and is not imposed to him by problem of healt of by something that he can’t control, that a skater that win some more important competition (to which he has gone not by choice but because he was obliged to do it) and in doing so ruin his health.

The troll responded that for him count only Chen’s desires. It’s amusing, because I don’t follow Chen, I didn’t knew, then, what Chen thinked, but I know it now, and if the troll is really interested in Chen should read his words, not confuse his desires with Chen’s will. He ended his tweet writing that he isn’t interested in my opinion. I accept easily that a lot of people isn’t interested in my opinion, but there’s a little logic problem: it was the troll who write to me, not I that write to him. But evidently to use the logic sometimes is really difficult.

So for the troll it’s normal that the ISU don’t respond to me, not that I wanted one, I wanted only to express my concern. On the other hand, it’s normal that the can respond to me even if I wasn’t writing to him. But I can’t respond to him because he isn’t interested in my words.

Eh?

If even a simple explanation as this is difficult, I’ve some dubt about his logic ability, but it’s a problem for him, not for me, so I ended the conversation. It’s amusing that was the troll that continued to write to me. What he didn’t understand of “your opinion isn’t interesting” or “Don’t worry to respond, I’m not interested in what you think“? Evidently he, despite my words, decided to show me the width of his brain and the consideration that he has toward others, explaining that I need re-education.

I do a lot of mistakes, I know it, but I try to learn by them, something that this troll can’t, and won’t, to do. His arrogance is disgusting. But this is a problem for him, not for me. I quit the conversation, I really wasn’t interested in what he writed.

Where’s the problem? The problem is that also a lot of journalist see only what they want to see, and that they sometime twist the words of other people for their purposes. So if a magazine want to publicize the World Championship, can use the words of the skaters to do it.

I’m again on Chen. But this time who has written is not a troll, is a journalist. Ok, is a tweet, but if it’s a tweet of a magazine I suppose that the editor has approved it. Chen is happy the World Championship are taking place? If it’s true, the troll has reason that Chen want to compete, even if he lack a lot on the logic side (and I don’t talk about arrogance). And, for the magazine, Chen is sure that everyone will be safe.

Where came from these affermation? From here: Figure skating: Chen more anxious about travel than world championships.

Half of the article is about Chen’s worries, not about the competition. Chen is worried for the travel, and is worried for what can happen in Stockholm. The princess Victoria was tested positive with mild simptoms. She is scheduled to partecipate in the inaugural ceremony. What if she infect someone of the staff, someone who has direct contact with the skaters? I whish her to heal rapidly and without consequences, but we can’t know nothing for sure. We’ve seen the photos of the (forbidden) party after the last Rostelecom Cup. We’re sure that all the Russian, skaters and coaches, are healthy? The skaters come from 40 different countries. We’re sure that all the countries has taken serious measure against the virus? The questions are a lot.

So no, Chen is a skater and obviously he would like to skate, but he is worried. He hope that all will be safe, but he isn’t sure. He has a brain, he know that can’t be sure. The rivalry with Hanyu, present because as an athlete he love to compete, isn’t the main thing, and writing otherwise is a lie. And if a journalist don’t know what is ethic, don’t know that he can’t twist the words of someone to make him say what he wants, we have a serious problem.