I've
kept my mouth shut and my two cents to myself while the stormy blog
posts and essays go back and forth regarding the recent T-shirt
incident in Barcelona. The commentary, eloquent though it is, seems
to miss the point. Waging a war back and forth over whether or not
"politics" should be allowed in poker is wide of the mark
by miles. Politics, if that's what you want to call it, is everywhere
- tolerated in most places, encouraged in others, and repressed
vehemently in still others. Politics is part of life.
Politics,
when we separate the meaning of that word from its government
context, is little more than expressing an opinion. That expression
may come in many forms but is usually conveyed through speech or
language but can also be espoused through painting, music, and other
art forms. A slogan on a banner or even a T-shirt is a simple, often
effective way of expressing an opinion. A "Declaration of
Independence" or an "I Have a Dream" speech may be
more formal ways of stating someone's opinion, someone's politics,
but they serve the same purpose as a placard or a sign. Basically,
announcing one's politics without fear of repression or reprisal, is
a right that most people embrace. Unfortunately this freedom to speak
our mind or announce our opinion is not universally embraced.
Oliver
Busquet and Daniel Coleman, the two poker players in question who lit
this fire in the first place, have been demonized for wearing
T-shirts expressing a view on the Israeli/Palestinian problem at the
final table of an event at a PokerStars sponsored tournament. The
criticism ran the gamut from why display the slogans only at the
final table to why wear them at all. The old saw that "there is
no politics in poker" has been quoted over and over again as
well as the repeated insistence that the sponsors of the tournament
have the right to ban such displays. Rhetoric, pure unadulterated
rhetoric!
Those
two players and anyone else who cares to, has the right to express
their opinion whenever or wherever they want. Period!
Keep
in mind that we are talking here of opinions, not slander, not
obscenities, not lies, not offensive language. These are opinions,
perhaps held strongly, perhaps not. Regardless, no one has the right
or authority to squelch anyone else's opinion in the free world. This
does happen, of course, in counties that I do not consider part of
the "free world." They shall remain nameless. If we start
to censor opinions, even at poker tournaments, where will these
"rules" take us next? Will we then ban expressions of
religion? Types of clothing? Points of view that may disagree with whoever
wields the power in a particular situation?
One
of the blogs that addressed this issue recently (Victoria Coren's to
be precise) intimated that maybe we should be more open about what
gets talked about at poker tables. Maybe we should even encourage
more intelligent, sincere expressions of feelings and opinions. Or
maybe we should all just play cards!
In
my opinion, and I'm OK with it being a minority opinion, maybe we
should all mind our own business and let others speak their minds and
express their views. No one has ever suffered from someone else's
opinion. Many have from someone else's rules.
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For a full airing of all points of view on this issue check out Wookies Poker Blog. It's all there including a post back to this article.
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