Videos have been circulating on social media in which a woman with a short haircut makes inspiring speeches in front of a crowd of female fans. This is Megan Rapino, the vice-captain of the US women's soccer team. The team gained national treasure status last week when they won the World Cup by defeating rivals from the Netherlands national team - the current European champion - and Rapino became the star of American women's football.
© fifa
Despite the fact that the football players have won the cup for the fourth time, this year's triumph has caused a huge public outcry in the United States. The winners are honored as if they were leading the space race of a new era and were the first to land on the moon, overtaking China and Russia.
The focus is on the openly lesbian and spectacular midfielder Rapino, the voice and spirit of the victorious women's movement. The press calls her a star, and Hollywood celebrities in social networks tirelessly spread photos and videos with her, confessing their love to the pink-haired athlete. In an inspiring eight-minute speech in New York ahead of the World Championship Parade, Rapino states: “Making the world a better place is our shared responsibility. We put it on our shoulders. " By "we" she means, first of all, herself and her team. And, continuing the thought, he calls on the public to cultivate a responsible attitude towards the world and the country through the close environment.
© facebook.com/mPinoe
Tribune lectures on morality and love for one's fellow public are very popular thanks to the fact that Rapino broadcasts them not boringly: he is not shy in expressions, speaks relaxedly, like a tomboy neighbor's girlfriend, exudes charm and demonstrates seductive freedom of judgment.
Taking advantage of her position, Megan, with a boldly raised chin, responds to Trump's invitation to visit the White House: "I would not go, and none of my team would go there." Rapino repeats her words on television, where she is invited almost every day, and notes that she is glad to accept the invitation from the Congress, politicians Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nancy Pelosi. That is, according to her, everyone who is ready for a substantive conversation and believes in the same things that Megan and her team believe in.
Rapino has protested before: for example, she listened to the singing of the national anthem before the match in 2016, kneeling, refusing to sing along with everyone in solidarity with football player Colin Kapernik, who did not listen to the US anthem while standing, protesting against discrimination. The general attention to Megan has revived in the memory of the haters this episode, which is now trying to shame the American women's football star. True, unsuccessfully. “Protests are always unpleasant,” she replies.
What does all of this mean? The athletes' sheer reverence for Democrats (the new star of American women's protest is not shy about publicly defying Trump) and speeches reminiscent of former President Barack Obama's best uplifting speeches suggest that the Hollywood establishment has acquired athletic allies in its opposition to the White House. More precisely, allies.
Remember: parades and marches of the #MeToo movement were full of faces of feminist first-line actresses: Natalie Portman, Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep, Eva Longoria, Jane Fonda and others, towering over posters with a cartoon Trump (a symbol of shocking injustice), made speeches about equal rights, equal pay and male misconduct in the industry. They also urged their fans to vote for Hillary Clinton, calling her America's last chance for a democratic future.
Fortunately, Meghan is not entirely engaged in politics, although recent events have had some impact on her status. For example, a recent poll by the pro-democracy organization Public Policy Polling found that 42% of voters would vote for Rapino and 41% for Trump. The difference is tiny, but the results confirm that American society (at least the Obama-missing part) is still unhappy with the White House. The football player, laughing, refuses to participate in the elections. She says that she has enough things to do without politics.
Her key concerns do not extend beyond the profession: Rapino and the team are fighting for equal pay for the women's and men's soccer teams. They are trying to remedy a situation in which the base salary of women footballers is less than that of their male counterparts by about $ 30 thousand. The dispute with the US Football Federation and its President Carlos Cordeiro moved into the judicial field, but after the victory of the national team at the 2019 World Cup, it moved from dead center.
To the jubilation of her fans, Rapino proclaims the beginning of productive negotiations and leaves the New York rostrum straight into the bright future of American civil society. At least, it is in such a fabulous plot that her performances in public are formed.>