Fabrice Muamba collapsed live on TV at The Lane yesterday evening in what has been reported as a ‘cardiac incident’.
After an excruciating period of physios and medical staff attending him he was stretchered off and it was announced he was rushed to hospital. The scenes were chilling.
Not because he had some class of heart attack – in the UK alone there are about 275,000 heart attacks annually. So they are not uncommon by any stretch – but to witness one in the middle of a game of football is as about as disconcerting as it would be if it were the lady in front of you in the Post Office queue, or the man next to you in the cinema. Naturally there can’t be a ‘right’ place to have a heart attack but the cold reality is we all prefer a mental image of the unfortunate soul having it being in hospital, surrounded by medics and bleeping machines.
Twitter is a brilliant device as it has not only replaced in many ways the traditional news wires but it’s completely inclusive. You don’t need to be a colleague, friend or relation of either a journalist or an eyewitness in order to immediately share in news or opinion.
A good number of people have been gushing at the reaction of the supporters The Lane. A few understandably hesitant rounds of, ‘Fabrice Mauamba’. Since when has doing the right thing, the only thing been something worthy of praise? The crowd at The Lane have to my mind never been a nasty lot, but to celebrate not behaving badly actually made me feel uncomfortable. ‘A big well done for no one shouting out, ‘get up you girl.’
Last year at the time of a tsunami in South East Asia we had the laughable business of ‘#prayforJapan trending simultaneously with the latest Apple tablet. I suggested by Tweet that instead of a prayer, sending an appropriate charity the £400 or whatever the iPad cost would do more good. Maybe those who replied prayed at me and hence I failed to register their disgust.
I do not believe in the power of prayer. That said, I very much believe it’s mean spirited to mock or challenge something harmless that provides anyone with comfort. If a victim’s friends or family need to pray, good luck to them. but it’s fundamentally disingenuous of strangers to Tweet ‘#pray’ for anything. It’s a device to make them feel better about themselves. The effect on the poor sod surrounded by ambulance men or whatever is zero. Zip. Nada.
Hashtagging #pray is actually taking the p*ss. You walk past a homeless guy with a MacDonald’s cup in his hand. Let me break it to you a hashtag isn’t going to do it for him. In the first instance he needs some cash and the second he needs one or more government agencies to do their jobs properly.
What Fabrice and indeed the other 275,000 odd others who suddenly find themselves in the same horrible and terrifying boat is the attention of those genuinely remarkable individuals who have devoted themselves to medicine and the daily, infinite struggle of furthering human life.
Organised religion has an unquestionably abysmal history with medicine. It is still virtually impossible in 2012 to put an accurate figure upon how many human beings die annually because they refuse medical attention on religious grounds. But do be depressingly assured that you would run out of seats at White Hart Lane simply by attempting to accommodate the Jehovah’s Witnesses alone.
One cannot imagine Muamba’s his relatives must feel right now. If you genuinely want to contribute to the well being of your species then pay a bit more attention to what the politicians are up to when it comes to the tired old issue of healthcare.
Fabrice Muamba is in our thoughts. Let’s ensure our brains, our votes and our loose change when we have it to give are all contributing on a continuous basis to maintain and improve the quality of medical care we can offer each other.
My dog is my God, but then I’m bone idol.
I understand that Ken Dodd’s dad’s dog’s dead. Which is sadness in it’s own right.
Is it too late to pray – Edward Woodward would wouldn’t he?
Clearly not everyone thinks prayer is worthwhile but HH I want you to know from the moment I wake up, before I put on my makeup I’ll say a little prayer for you. And when I’m at work now, and all thru my coffee break time I’ll say a little prayer for you. :daumen: :daumen:
Oh fuck it. You got me. Where do I sign and can I bring my own tambourine? If it’s like a Tropicana ad I promise not to swear and will undertake to work on my wind issues.
Hes not the messiah, hes a very naughty boy!
Oh, mate, :heart: I love it
Do you remember when Frank Lampard’s mum died, and he had a printed T shirt under his top, with: ‘This is for you mum,’ then when he scored, displayed it to the camera, while pointing to the heavens; joined by his erstwhile colleagues. Encouraging the world & his wife, to celebrate his mourning (is that an oxymoron). It’s that kind of thing that give me the creeps, would I put my hands together a pray for him, for a God I doubt; well yes if they thought it would help, but the #somethingsomethingpray, which is more about the person #taging than the suffer, makes me cringe a la Frank.
When Frank did that for his mum, she lifted her jumper up to reveal a tshirt that said- Its an empty gesture son. I cant see it. I’m dead.
Marvellous :lol:
Bloody brilliant. 11/10…
Did you not see Cahill’s “Pray 4 Muamba” T-Shirt today?
Of course displaying a T-Shirt with a message nowadays is supposed to be a bookable offence. The ref “showed compassion in not sticking to the letter of the law”, but imagine the outcry… :blink:
But Cahill wasn`t a Spurs player.
Disn’t Cahill do a handcuff celebration for his brother who was given 4 years in prison for attacking a man and blinding him?
Just realised you were talking about Gary rather than Tim.
Well isn’t that just the pits? Consciously pre-planning to celebrate your goal (if you should score one) with a pre-prepared call to prayer for Muamba. What on earth has scoring the goal got to do with it except that Cahill saw the opportunity to vainly associate himself with a groundswell of mass public grieving as he celebrated? Pretty despicable if you ask me, and kind of gets to the crux of the whole matter.
Same thing with Suarez captured with a massive shit-eating grin on his face while declaring that he too dedicates his goal to Muamba. What noble, modern day heroes these footballers are!
Must say i agree with every word you posted here.
Spot on the spot!
Breaking news.
#Pray For Muamba Tweeters now doing battle with #RIP Fabrice Muamba Tweeters.
The moral high ground of the #prayfor mob only being eroded by the fact that every time they use the words RIP Fabrice Muamba they perpetuate the awfulness.
ps HH – I signed up for the Google Talk thing – what do I do, now? (He says, feeling rather foolish and computer illiterate…)
;)
Not an uncommon question I’d imagine, mate. Never seen anything as complicated :blush:
H..got an email about the same thang only you put the wrong email address..Hotmail not Yahoo..otherwise I’m more than happy to oblige
Is divine intervention needed! Ooops ;-)
So did I but then it kept telling me that the password I had submitted twice only minutes earlier was wrong when I tried to log on……..and as I am not one to give up very easily, I gave up….
Your the obvious candidate for our CB dilemma.
There was a very good cartoon in The Humanist depicting Clint Eastwood sat at a PC resplendent in Man With No Name poncho, hat and cheroot. Speech bubble from monitor: “Incorrect username or password”.
Do you feel lucky PC.
Thank God, I thought it was just me.