JOE BROLLY: Planting the flag

THE NFL debuts in Croke Park next week, Steelers versus Vikings. Legendary American football broadcaster Dave Zirin, in Ireland to promote his documentary ‘Behind the Shield’ says that this is “no mere game of football”.

Zirin, whose son plays quarterback for one of the top college football teams, says, “This is an act of soft empire, of spreading US influence. The NFL set it itself up culturally in the late 60s and early 70s as the sport that was going to stand with America’s war in Vietnam (an estimated two million Vietnamese civilians died). In the US, the NFL is used as a recruitment tool for the military. They are lured in by the fantasy.”

Zirin’s point is that the NFL whitewashes the blood-stained hands of the American empire and promotes its ugliest virtues.

Like Superman or Captain America, it presents the US as the good guy. Yet as Professor Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University has written, the US has been the most violent country in the world since 1950.

In that time, US military actions and aided insurgencies have caused an estimated 13 to 23 million deaths across at least 28 nations. Yet, the propaganda is so effective, we still tend to see them as Superman protecting the world.

Zirin says, “You cannot overstate the level of toxicity in in America now. When it comes to the dystopic Trumpist US, the NFL is no bystander. It is a facilitator. This is an incredibly dangerous time in the US. Troops in American cities. A loss of due process. A concerted attack on democracy.”

I have worried about the Americanisation of Ireland, the way we are expected to be unquestioningly on Team USA. I was very friendly with the Biden family and in particular Joe’s brother Jimmy and his family. When I was critical of Joe’s absolute support of Israel’s annihilation of Gaza and its people, I got a phone call from Jimmy. “Lose my number you f**king asshole.”

I did not know who Charlie Kirk was until he was assassinated, another shocking murder to add to the roughly 18,000 US gun murders a year.

His obituaries describe him as a right-wing influencer, Trumpist, homophobe, racist, sexist, Islamaphobe and supporter of Israel’s depravities in Gaza.

He lauded the hammer attack on Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul, which left the 82 year old seriously ill in hospital with skull fractures, calling for “an amazing patriot” to bail the attacker out of jail. His LA Times obituary records how Kirk publicly described the Bible verse Leviticus 20:13, which calls for the execution of homosexuals, as “God’s perfect law when it comes to sexual matters.”

One of his constant themes was that black women are stupid. He said on ‘The Charlie Kirk show’ that prominent black women, including Michelle Obama and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson “lacked the brain processing power to be taken seriously.”

He argued that the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which gave equal rights to black people, outlawing segregation and discrimination, was “a terrible mistake that created a beast that has turned into an anti-white movement.” He said that if his ten-year old daughter was raped, he would force her to give birth to the baby.

When Kirk died, Donald Trump ordered the flag to be flown at half-mast on government buildings. Extraordinarily, both the Taoiseach and Tanaiste tweeted messages of condolence. The far right movement in Ireland is mobilised.

Aontu leader Peadar Tóibín tweeted that Kirk “embodied liberal democracy” and it was “a heartbreaking day” for Ireland. Politican Gavin Pepper (who doesn’t even have a Wikipedia entry) tweeted he was “e mailing Croke Park and the GAA to request a one minute’s silence for Charlie Kirk.”

It is no coincidence that Conor McGregor is Ireland’s poster boy in the White House and one of MAGAs key Irish operatives. The destabilisation and Americanisation of Irish democracy is underway.

Professor David Hickey, the most altruistic person I have ever met, said this week, “The GAA doesn’t share a single value with the NFL. It is racist, sexist, ultra-capitalistic and the propaganda arm for American violence across the globe. It is against the community ethos of the GAA and everything we stand for. What the GAA hierarchy is doing bringing them to Croke Park makes me sick.”

As Zirin puts it, “What Ireland needs to ask itself is, do you want America right now? Not American football, but America. Because America is what you are getting.”

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