It’s funny how most of us
have all been through that horrific situation once or twice in our lifetimes.
Still it seems hard to picture someone who goes beyond borders to write a book
about the “thugs” in the Manchester United football club. Sure enough, I must
confess that my experiences of feeling crushed to the bone, feeling my shoes
crumbling under my feet, and feeling the hot humid air of everyone’s breaths embarrassingly
takes place in the high school theater.
This is the exact reason why I found this book so fascinating. The first thing I realized was that in situations, such as those Buford chose to be a part of, the “supporters were in the position to do anything they wanted” (14). It was such the organized chaos, and the petrifying numbers of people that even the local authorities were having trouble containing this destructive crowd. What’s more ironic is that this huge fan club is willing to do anything and chant as loud as possible in order to get everyone’s attention. They have their own Star Spangled Banner. All of this energy is focused on one match. Just one match can create an entire business that runs on selling illegal tickets and makes profit off bets and alcohol. Just one match can turn a working family man into a lunatic who pees on the crowd and throws bottles at innocent civilians. But now picture this. Imagine if all of this energy, if all of this patriotism, spirit, and obsession were focused on an actual global peace cause. Imagine if the followers of Kony or the marches here in Bogota against the FARC were composed of people as devoted in body and mind to what they stand for. Mind-blowing.
This is the exact reason why I found this book so fascinating. The first thing I realized was that in situations, such as those Buford chose to be a part of, the “supporters were in the position to do anything they wanted” (14). It was such the organized chaos, and the petrifying numbers of people that even the local authorities were having trouble containing this destructive crowd. What’s more ironic is that this huge fan club is willing to do anything and chant as loud as possible in order to get everyone’s attention. They have their own Star Spangled Banner. All of this energy is focused on one match. Just one match can create an entire business that runs on selling illegal tickets and makes profit off bets and alcohol. Just one match can turn a working family man into a lunatic who pees on the crowd and throws bottles at innocent civilians. But now picture this. Imagine if all of this energy, if all of this patriotism, spirit, and obsession were focused on an actual global peace cause. Imagine if the followers of Kony or the marches here in Bogota against the FARC were composed of people as devoted in body and mind to what they stand for. Mind-blowing.
Can’t wait to keep reading!! Meanwhile I’ll leave you with Taylor Swift’s recreation video called “Thug Story”. As soon as I saw the books title it reminded me of a song Taylor made with Hip-Hop artist T-Pain. Notice how the name Thug is expressed as a type of gangster/bad boy type of attitude and Taylor does a pretty good job considering her songs are always about a small town girl.
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