The truth is supposed to set you free, yet so many will use your honesty against you the first chance they get.
The truth is supposed to set you free, yet so many will use your honesty against you the first chance they get.
Cooper Webb is one of those fiery racers who can polarize fans. He makes no bones about what it is he is feeling or wants to say and doesn’t care if you take issue with it or not. I’ll be the first to say I am in full support of honesty as the best rule, across the board. Sure it can hurt but the alternative- to posture, lie, deceive or pretend; will always end in a more complicated process which will leave your integrity tarnished and reputation sullied.
Does it really matter anymore though? In this day and age, honesty is just as likely to get you ridiculed and judged negatively as putting on the poker face and pretending your facade is impenetrable.
It drives me nuts the way people claim to always want the truth, they don’t want to hear the well thought out pre-game speech. Anything other than that monotonous dribble that may as well be the teacher from Charlie Brown. But then a racer steps up to the mic with some actual passion to verbalize their frustration, the fanbase is split down the middle between claims that it was awesome to see or they are a whining crybaby. My first thought is who are these people who look at this honesty as whining? Is it merely dependent upon their perspective of the rider in question or are they genuinely taking into consideration the specific situation at hand?
I would like to suggest that it is much more enjoyable as a fan of racing, not racers, to take the expression for what it is: a rider’s honest perspective on a situation from their point of view. Take your judgmental fan-club hat off and resist that urge inside you to spout of what you believe is the one correct opinion on the matter. Don’t take to Twitter or Vital seeking validation of your perspective. Just know that in that racer’s head, the way they see it, THAT is the reality for them.
After the first muddy moto in Washougal, Cooper Webb was obviously highly agitated and he made no bones about explaining what happened from his perspective and that he was already hoping for an opportunity at retribution in the second moto. People who don’t necessarily like Cooper would call him a whiny bitch, just like the people who don’t like Chad Reed say about him when he speaks his truth and also like people say about Jake Weimer when he speaks his truth. I’m not asking you to like these dudes, I’m suggesting you take your judgement and curb it. Take it for what it is.
I know it’s hard in this day and age of social media and “everybody has a voice and everybody’s input has inherent value”. I’m here to tell you it doesn’t. What you think is irrelevant. It doesn’t change the riders reality. You can’t talk them out of their feelings or beliefs. You may cause them to second guess their honesty the next time and by that you are beating their instincts into submission. Not proving to them they are wrong, just strengthening the walls around their honesty and reinforcing that robotic drone we all claim to despise.
The honesty is great. Enjoy it. It doesn’t make an appearance very often and judging it and criticizing it suppresses it.
