Ignorance is Strength

Anelka and M'bala M'bala performing the 'quenelle'

For those of you who have read 1984 by George Orwell, the following refrain should echo soundly:

War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.

This idea, put forward by the Ministry of Truth in Orwell's book, comes to represent the Ministry's ability to change historical facts and rely on the populaces' ignorance to make them true. Ignorance of the past is central to the Ministry's program. Whether Orwell meant it or not, this profound ignorance of the population of Oceania can be seen as an interesting social commentary on the general population. This includes just accepting certain facts that one hears through mass media outlets, the ignorance of blindly supporting a public figure and many other applications for ignorance in society. This leads us to one Nicolas Anelka and his defense for his 'quenelle gesture' after scoring against West Ham.

The gesture itself is anti-Semitic. Developed by French comedian Dieudonne M'bala M'bala as a, in his opinion, "anti-establishment gesture,' it has been used as an inverted Nazi salute and been seen at sites such as Auschwitz and the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. What's interesting here, as both M'bala M'bala and Anelka claim, as previously stated, that it is just an 'anti-establishment gesture,' the French government is currently trying to ban M'bala M'bala's shows over the gesture, according to the BBC. There is a profound amount of ignorance on Anelka's part about the significance of the gesture and how it is seen as anti-Semitic. However, this ignorance should not preclude him from punishment.

Yesterday, the FA agreed, banning Anelka for five matches and fined him £80,000 for it's use and stating "that the gesture was abusive and/or indecent and/or insulting and/or improper, and that it included a reference to ethnic origin and/or race and/or religion or belief." Furthermore, the commission stated that "we did not find that Nicolas Anelka is an anti-Semite or that he intended to express or promote anti-Semitism by his use of the quenelle."

How are these two views even reconciled? The fact that ignorance of a fact cannot be used as an excuse. While Anekla very well could be telling the truth in what he sees as purely an 'anti-establishment gesture,' it is much more than that. It is a anti-Semitic gesture that is abusive and insulting.

Racism has no place in football, sport or in society. The FA did the right thing in banning Anelka. However, the FA should have sent a stronger message by banning him for longer, showing that the consequences of racism outweigh those of say, biting another player. However, had the FA not banned him at all, it would have sent a dangerous precedent in that any perceived ignorance to the laws of the game could be used as a defense against a ban.

In the end, what Anekla thought was his greatest strength, turned out to be his biggest weakness.