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Originally Posted by Mathgod
My view of Ovechkin is based on the entirety of his friendly interactions with Putin since becoming an NHL player.
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And yet:
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Originally Posted by Mathgod
And the other thing is, I have yet to see any evidence that he's no longer pro-Putin. Removing that instagram photo and replacing it with something more recent would be that evidence that I'm looking for. Not some kind of big activism thing, just a simple basic gesture that shows he's no longer supporting that madman.
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This entire part of the conversation and Groot’s main point was directed towards people who wanted him to change his profile photo. So the most logical retort would not have been to go on and defend why his profile photo is important.
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Originally Posted by Mathgod
The invasion of Iraq was one of the most egregious foreign policy blunders that any country has ever committed, and has had disastrous consequences. I am not dismissing it for a second. But it still doesn't rise to the level of what Putin has done in Ukraine. There are important differences between the two situations.
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None that you’ve spent any time naming. There are countless differences between the two, but when you boil it down to a moral objection? No, the differences aren’t really that important. Unless it’s better to kill innocent Iraqis than innocent Ukrainians or better to believe Americans when they’re lying about why they’re undertaking an illegal invasion than it is to believe Russians. You really don’t think an American who supports his President believing in lies is similar to a Russian who supports his President believing in lies? I think they’re very similar.
[QUOTE=Mathgod;8551631]Correcting a significant mischaracterization of something is not the same as being pedantic. He called something virtue signalling that in fact wasn't.
Correct, but focusing on the wording of his definition was being pedantic. I think you well knew he meant the same thing you defined. You spent more time arguing why his definition of virtue signalling was wrong because he missed a word than actually identifying why the label itself was wrong. That’s being pedantic.
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Originally Posted by Mathgod
There's been a misunderstanding then. This is not about pushing a "correct opinion" or anything like that. I'm simply sharing my view on the matter. Ultimately there's nothing morally wrong with cheering for Ovechkin to break the record. It's just not something I'm going to do.
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Fair enough, but you can at least see the reason for the reaction, I hope. Nobody needs to like or dislike Ovechkin. Nobody needs to cheer for him to break the record or condemn him. People are free to do whichever, but I think there’s just some people growing tired of people coming into a thread where the entire purpose is following him on his way to the record just to virtue signal about his profile photo or how awful he is for previously supporting Putin. Meanwhile the last thing Ovechkin said was that he doesn’t want war and hasn’t said a positive word about Putin or word against Ukraine since.
Almost all Russian players have kept their mouth shut and focused on hockey. They’re losing sponsorships, commercials and other promotional deals just for being Russian, and not saying a word. I think we can assume it’s not because none of them (including Ovechkin) have an opinion. So maybe we can just accept it’s probably more complex than we understand and people could stop asking for or demanding the absurd, from the pointless (profile photos) to the extreme (banning Ovechkin and only Ovechkin from Canada).
There just doesn’t seem to be a reason to rehash how terrible Ovechkin is when nothing has changed in nearing a year.