There’s been a lot of talk about knife crime in the U.K. due to there being a recent uptick in stabbings and most of the victims being teenagers and young adults. Watford forward Troy Deeney was brought into the conversation during an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live’s Sportsweek given his role as a veteran leader in the club and community, and because he’s been open about his experiences with these kinds of crimes.
The interview started off sensible enough with Deeney emphasizing that celebrities and footballers shouldn’t be role models just because they’re famous and constantly in the spotlight.
Deeney, a father of two children, added: “If my kids look up to a man bigger and better than me, then that’s me not doing my job.
“My dad was not a footballer. He wasn’t anything remotely what the average person would say was a role model - but in my eyes he was Superman.”
Nice, a smart comment about the importance of some parental figure shaping the behavior and morals of children.
But then things start to get a little off when he talks about why the uptick in knife crime is happening. Deeney, who isn’t exactly an expert in crime prevention, suggests that because fights are often put on social media, kids nowadays would rather be captured on video stabbing someone than face the embarrassment of having lost a fight.
“Back in the day you used to have a fight,” Deeney said. “You win, you lose, you get up and go home, dust yourself down.
“Social media made it so that if you lose a fight it is on camera, you are embarrassed and you are forced to react.
“It takes a very strong person to not react and the only other way they know how to do that is with a weapon, unfortunately.
Bit of a wild take there, mate. It’s not an unfathomable idea, sure, but the idea that social media made kids realize that there’s a feeling of embarrassment that comes with losing a fight is a little ridiculous. What, so kids in the ‘90s and ‘80s just took their losses on the chin and moved on with their lives afterwards? I’m going to guess probably not. Losing anything, let alone a fight, has been something that has sucked for all of human existence. The internet and social media didn’t suddenly create that.
The good news is that he returned to more coherent arguments about how these kinds of problems can be solved in the family home before saying something truly batshit like “the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a knife is a good guy with a knife.”