Big news for Melbourne Marathon after Kenyan superstar, the marathon ‘GOAT’, Eliud Kipchoge announced he would join this year’s race. Melbourne becomes stop three of “Eliud’s Running World”, a global tour to support Eliud Kipchoge Foundation and spread his message of inclusion.
Never mind that tickets to Melbourne’s marathon sold out last year. It’s a boon for the running community and the expanding media of local podcasters, ex-runners basking in the reflected glow of team Kipchoge. The Inside Running podcast has already cast its critical eye over the news in its self-appointed role to keep road running elite. Host, “Moose” gave a benevolent but begrudging approval despite the chance to float his right wing run club idea to the Kenyan.
For some, this idea of a right wing run club is as appealing as, say, a jog around Albert Park with Pauline Hanson wearing a burka, or a tempo run with Corey “Beastiality” Bernardi dribbling on about gay marriage.
That I had the temerity to call out “Moose” on the bastion of free speech, the home of critical thinking and measured social discourse, a haven of empathy and emotional intelligence populated by only the most progressive of minds and with philosophy at its core – Instagram – was my bad. Instagram, for non-users, is built for folks whose pedagogical tool of choice is flashcards. So, like a Saturday morning parkrun, I was surrounded by white people, giving me no benefit of the doubt that a guy called Moose was above reproach.
Before you could say triggered, the comments from this tightly coiled group of defenders increased as its collective intellect plummeted1. The vehemence of the opposition, the likes I haven’t seen since Australia voted No or the gay marriage plebiscite, circled around their spiritual leader. And yes – I get it – it’s not like Moose said that he profiles customers who walk into his shop based on the socks they wear. Ok, so he had admitted that in an earlier podcast, but white male privilege I would only take from their cold dead hands. They would defend his right as a tall white male to say whatever a tall white male will say, as god given a right is for being white, tall and male. Amen.
Most vocal was England’s own @runreplaychat (replay the operative word as ‘new content’ and ‘podcast’ is an oxymoron) conceived that I had, “never listened to the show before”, which begs the question of how I listened to this one. The trio (you guess it, white people), insisted that I come back with an apology, adding that if Saucony sponsored the Jerusalem marathon, Moose should be allowed to…. carpet bomb Gaza tent cities? Never mind that Saucony had pulled its sponsorship.
Seems I’d struck a chord with the English. @neil_thehulk_runner (male, white), armed with his fascist insult picture book and finger painting kit, excused his spiritual leader and took personal credit for my listenership. I escaped a brain injury when @sammy_dearnaley1989 (male, white, comment deleted) accused me of paranoia before insisting he wasn’t gaslighting in a comment so forceful and bewildering that I was thrown clear. Special effort goes to @nicktotherec (male, white, account deleted) who I reminded the run club idea wasn’t a message of support for the politics of Ben Shapiro.
Triggered, as an adjective or a verb, founds its home in the online vernacular, and I bet @mattsullvian17 (white, male) thought he’d end me with it. Like slapping a puppy, I felt some guilt in explaining that ‘triggered’ is a device to manipulate and censor opposing views. I quoted from the podcast transcript, Moose withering on about run club as, god forbid, “very environmental and everyone’s inclusive, all this sort of stuff.”
Moose, the comic/podcaster/shoe fitter added that his dream is a run club: “Where like, just everyone who identifies as a right-winger or has views that are like anti-win farm and like anti-trans in sport and all this sort of stuff. Like, what about if they all get together and have a run club?”
Straining my ears for the sound of a tongue in a cheek, Moose sucked the air out of the segment like a phosphorous bomb into a Gaza tent city, something the @replayrunpodcast may support. Dipping next into the research part of the podcast, Moose added that 80% of the world is “right leaning” and that brands should market more to this segment. Silence descends before one host mercifully wraps up the segment, adding it’s a “good question”. Moose lands the punchline with aplomb, “Anyway, that was just an interesting discussion on the run.” Wet seats aside, the podcast continues, unaware or cognisant of what it just talked about – the white male podcaster way.
Perhaps it’s a reminder to podcasters that theirs is not a visual medium, and their vehement defenders may not share the same values as those tuning in. When Kipchoge arrives later this year with his message, “no human is limited”, leave your prejudices and self-imposed restrictions at the starting line. For the hours you’re out there running, enjoy being human.
- Carl Jung wrote about mob mentality in his book on the Collective Unconscious. What he explained was that an individual will have some consciousness of their actions, whereas in a group, or mob, they follow like members of a pack under its alpha. ↩︎