Mexican and Dutch dames duke it out with ukuleles
After the Dutch national football team beat Mexico in an exciting last ten minutes of an elimination match at the World Cup last week, in which the Oranje came back from behind with two goals, a fifteen-year-old Mexican girl called Dizzy Miss DC uploaded a song to YouTube in which she blew off steam by hurling a stream of invectives at the Dutch players and the Dutch nation and even at Europeans.
Last Thursday a 20-year-old woman from Drenthe called Karlijn Rietkerk responded. She addressed the Mexican girl (both women accompanied themselves on a ukulele) and berated her for her use of strong language (“didn’t your parents tell you that it is inappropriate?”). In her short song Rietkerk asked, isn’t football supposed to be about fun?
“F is for football
And we kicked your ass
[…]
U is for you suck balls
N is for never winning the cup…
Played a good game but it wasn’t enough.”
At 24 Oranges we like a good bit of trash talking and this world cup has certainly not disappointed us, but we need to give the victory to Karlijn Rietkerk on this one. Dizzy Miss DC’s frequent use of homophobic language disqualifies her entry from these ukulele wars. The Mexican tried to defend herself in a written coda, saying: “In my case, those words had no power at all, because I didn’t mean them. Why did I say them then? Mexican humour. It’s complicated.” Even back in 1979 Lester Banks had something smart to say about using words that have no meaning at all: “No matter how you intend them, you can’t say them without risking misinterpretation by some [bigot]; your irony just might be his cup of hate.”
(Illustration: cropped screenshot if Rietkerk’s video at YouTube)
I’m pretty sure whoever wrote this article doesn’t speak spanish and has no clue about Mexican culture. Translating the Mexican girl song or taking the words too literal is taking it out of context. If you can’t understand Mexican satire you shouldn’t accuse others of homophobia or using Invectives at Europe and the Dutch. It may sound way too crude and offensive, but it is not. Your quote of Lester Banks is also out of place. She is just a girl, not a politician. And people are taking her words to seriously.
I’m sure you’re right about how the song might have been interpreted, but once you put something out on the Internet, it’s open to interpretation and you cannot control what people are going to think.
Her ‘use of homophobic language’, especially considering the anti-hate speech that is read by players before the match, including her beloved Mexican team, makes her a fair target.
Just because she’s a young girl and not a politician doesn’t mean she can expect to say hateful things to minority groups and get away with it.
poor old Karlijn Rietkerk – ” isn’t football supposed to be about fun?”. Good grief, what planet does she live on..?
Aye, but there’s a twist! Have you listened to the song?
[…] and the Netherlands have had a tumultuous relationship on this blog, including young girls duelling in out in videos and King Willem-Alexander using rude words in a […]