Joey Barton is at it again. A man who epitomises the concept of someone’s reputation coming before them. His most recent outburst of tweets, draws attention to the ongoing violence in Gaza, in particular the death of children amidst the conflict. Many, it seems, have a predisposition to criticise Barton for anything he says, regardless of its sensibility or relevance. Do not get me wrong, he is far from perfect and has disgraced himself on and off the field all too often. Is, however, using Twitter as a platform to raise awareness about a volatile and continually worsening situation in the Middle East really such a bad thing?
Twitter and Social Media as a whole, are still to an extent, in an experimental stage to most players. As hard as it may be to believe for someone who tweets as frequently as Joey Barton, there was a time he was just a footballer. As opposed to the man now, who seems to have a separate life on Twitter with the company of over 2 million opinionated football fans scrutinising his every move.
In defence of those who are quick to berate him, recently claiming he was “renouncing” his International retirement, was a strange if not somewhat unnecessary move. It’s probably better he takes a leaf out of the book of fellow 30 something Steven Gerrard on this front. A player who amounted over 100 caps (admittedly with questionable consistency) and never succumbed to Twitter to announce his plans to the world. Regardless, Barton has shown he understands the power he has courtesy of Twitter and is at least willing to use it in a manner that allows him to make an influence and a positive impact.
Yossi Benayoun’s response to Joey Barton acted as the catalyst for others to jump on the bandwagon of mindless abuse being socially accepted and maybe even encouraged. Benayoun was fairly outspoken saying “You have been stupid and and you will stay stupid all your life.” Hardly an overwhelming argument, but with Yossi being from Israel the conflict will be close to his heart and perhaps frustration creeped into a spontaneous and partially unthought out response.
The next day the pair seemed to have made up as best as possible over such a sensitive issue. Barton tweeted saying: “We disagree on certain things but our friendship remains.” For me, some football fans, abusive Twitter users and any individual too passionately involved in an argument to see things rationally could learn a great deal from this. There is no requirement to agree with Barton (he’d argue his point but say as much) or anyone else’s opinion on the conflict in Gaza or any other matter. However, being entirely disrespectful and using abusive language to gain a reaction is unnecessary and even damaging to the good that is trying to be done. A better response, surely, would be to give an educated counter-argument and discuss the matter intelligently with the respect it thoroughly deserves. As rational, thoughtful and compassionate human beings should over such topics, unfortunately at the moment this seems to be an unattainable aspiration, hopefully this will change.
Footballers (not just Joey Barton) are often accused of being overpaid, selfish prima donnas, who it would be beyond the realms of social expectation and possibility to act selflessly for a cause more important than themselves. Joey Barton is acting selflessly and has good intentions. How can you possibly argue with a tweet as simple (yet effective in making its point) as “#StopKillingChildrenInGaza”. Has Joey Barton let himself down in the past? Yes, of course he has. Is this however relevant to the cause he is currently pleading for? No. Moreover he has expressed his Twitter simply gives him a platform to do some good rather than Tweet about trivial matters. For me, it’s actually a breath of fresh air to see a player actively do this. I’m not suggesting he is a saint, or you should agree with his stance on every issue, but on this front at least he, and more importantly the cause itself deserves respect from the football world and beyond.
To use a cliché, some things are more important than football, this matter, takes a far greater importance than football. It is of far greater importance than your opinion of a controversial footballer like Joey Barton too. If you don’t agree with him, research the topic and formulate your own opinions, rather than following the lead of those who are just giving out mindless abuse and are in no way helping such an important cause. For the time being, Joey Barton seems to be using his Twitter and voice as a high profile individual (rightly or wrongly) in the best manner possible. He might divide opinion, but his recent outburst has been wrongly discredited by many quick to take another dig at him. Joey Barton, for now at least, is acting maturely and thoughtfully, do not be too quick to criticise a such an important cause, just because someone you do not like is fore-fronting it.
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