Xenofobia, racismo y falta de memoria

Xenophobia, racism, and lack of memory

This or rather these issues should not exist and even less be a constant in 21st-century society, however, every day we witness their full validity.

It happens a lot in sports, too much I would say, and in many other branches of human activity, even in those where culture and academic excellence should make a difference that unfortunately does not exist, it is only hidden, although the truth is elusive and comes to light. light through any crack, no matter how small, in the armor of hypocrisy.

Here we are to talk about sports, not about these ugly and anachronistic attitudes, but we have no other alternative since motorsports is something that I am particularly passionate about and I cannot help but highlight when something goes wrong, in this case, the statements of Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko.

This man has been demonstrating a negative and critical attitude towards the excellent Mexican driver whom we all know as "Checo" although his real name is Sergio Michel Pérez Mendoza. Of course, his background allows him to disagree about the driving conditions of any pilot, even criticize him technically, It is his right, as we all have, to express an opinion even without being experts in certain matters; Criticism is a national sport, with and without foundations, in various countries it usually happens that their population is prone to these attitudes, "opinology" and allow me the license to use a word that does not exist in the dictionary, should be a race of degree, for example, here in Argentina where we are all experts in everything.

What this man nor anyone else can do is make xenophobic and even racist comments to criticize and denigrate, in this case, a driver from the team who pays him a salary for his advice.

He misses that a person with his characteristics would argue that Checo Pérez is not focused, in other words, he is inferior as a driver to Max Verstappen because he is South American.

A triple sin, it is a xenophobic comment because it shows hatred of the foreign immigrant, racism because it denotes that there is a manifest superiority of one race over another, and also an enormous mental confusion that made him lose his memory, perhaps it is necessary to remind Juan Manuel Fangio, to Emerson Fittipaldi to Ayrton Senna and Nelson Piquet, drivers who won the title of Formula 1 world champion repeatedly having been born, raised and trained in driving racing cars on this continent. To this list, we could add the Rodríguez brothers, José Froilán González, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Carlos Reutemann who, although they were not champions, managed to stand out greatly in the exclusive circle of great drivers. I do not hesitate to highlight that this list is no longer due exclusively to the fewer opportunities that our subcontinent has due to various factors, mainly economic and development.

Certainly, and it cannot be denied, at this moment the driver from the Netherlands appears to be a step above the rest, not only above Czech Pérez, it should be added just for Marko to reflect.

Without going into further detail, this comment and others perhaps a little less off-color but in the same sense issued previously, have put Helmut Marko but also the Red Bull team, and the entire Formula 1 leadership under the spotlight; We cannot forget that, due to comments like these, a short time ago this same team fired a talented driver such as Jüri Vips who later apologized and today has a new opportunity in IndyCar, with an auspicious debut, by the way. Many are requesting the same punishment given to Vips, for Marko.

For now, there is no news about it and meanwhile, these attitudes remind us that racial hatred continues to be valid and relatively covered, under the extensive and heavy mantle of hypocrisy.