Jeanene

she/her • mental health advocate • MSc in Psychoanalysis

[Ellen Carmichael @ellencarmichael]

The most interesting part of the red card saga isn't the ruling. It's how differently Americans and Europeans process the idea that they might have been wronged.

Europeans are fundamentally different from Americans in one particular way: they expect life to be aggravating and at times unfair. It's just a fact of moving through the world. I joke that in Europe, the customer is always wrong. You didn't read the fine print. The only pharmacy in town is closed every other Tuesday for three hours, and even if the times weren't posted, that's still your problem. Too bad if you want the bill, because the waiter's on his union-mandated half-hour smoke break, and you're just going to have to wait.

To quote the great Mark Knopfler: sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug. There's something freeing in that. Things are less in your control, so there's less angst in managing your expectations.

In America, things couldn't be more different. We simply can't accept a wrong left unrighted.

The flight attendant sneezed handing you a drink on your one-hour flight? 15,000 frequent flyer miles. Didn't like your appetizer? A replacement is on the way, and the whole course comes off the bill. There's a reason our interstates are lined with trial lawyer billboards.

Europeans have turned complaining into a continental pastime with no expectation that the universe owes them a remedy for their grief. You gripe about the train being late, your friends nod solemnly and everyone goes back to their apéro. In America, we launch a full-blown investigation of the train system, sue the government (and its contractors) that allowed for the tardiness and hold a Congressional hearing on the state of national infrastructure.

So to an objective observer, the red card shouldn't have happened, and VAR was a travesty. To Americans, our star player shouldn't be unfairly banned from a match we couldn't afford to lose for a card he so obviously didn't deserve.

Who cares that FIFA used a little-used reversal to fix it. Who cares that other people are mad about it. We. Were. Wronged. It was unjust. It must be corrected. We would accept nothing less.

Europeans waxing poetic about the sanctity of the game are, of course, talking about a governing body whose last tournament host was decided via confirmed cash bribes — one that imposed dress codes on women, shrugged off widespread allegations of modern slavery and reconfigured the entire tournament calendar to suit the host country. Which is exactly the point. If you've made peace with all of that, at least enough to watch the tournament four years later, a probationary suspension isn't actually a scandal.

Maybe that's the real divide. Over millennia, Europeans have made peace with being the bug. Americans have never once considered it, and apparently, we're not about to start now.

[Earth @earthcurated]

NOT FLAT…

[Jeanene @JeaneneMack]

@20th_Centurygal

[Jeanene @JeaneneMack]

@heavensbvnny Literally every day

[BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ @mmpadellan]

This is HILARIOUS!

Republican Jesus is the funniest thing you will see on this site ALL DAY. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Mac @GoodPoliticGuy]

Reminder that Thomas Jefferson who helped write the Declaration of Independence also said we should rewrite the constitution every 20 years so that dead people wouldn’t rule over modern society.

[Peach PRC @peachprc]

my ex thought the eggs in my ovaries had shells on them. and i think about that every time a man makes a decision on womens bodies.

[Jeanene @JeaneneMack]

@chelseajenks_ @katharinearoon

[Yo-Yo Ma @YoYo_Ma]

Wishing you all a happy 2022.

[Ralph Anthony @RalphTheMouth81]

CDC in 2020: mask up

CDC in 2021: get vaccinated

CDC in 2022: it is what it is

[. @laurenthehough]

-Can I get an abortion?
America: Lol no you’re an incubator now. whore
-Okay can I have healthcare and maternity leave and childcare and housing?
America: absolutely not.
-How are we supposed to…
America: Here’s a gun.

[Jeanene @JeaneneMack]

@nitehawkcinema Thanks

[Jonathan  @JWeber988]

That felt so good 😂

[Jeanene @JeaneneMack]

@AndyOstroy Such a good one

[The Female Lead @the_female_lead]

"It actually doesn't take much to be considered a difficult woman. That's why there are so many of us." Jane Goodall

[LeGate @williamlegate]

How it started… how it's going…

Laura Loomer edition:

[Jeanene @JeaneneMack]

@sebascardonav @PHEAUXBIA That’s me! with a Virgo moon 🥸