The best part of the week was the best part because of all its potential, not because of anything that actually happened. Unfortunately, part of that potential is that we might not find any hard evidence to suggest the universe is more diverse than our ancestors posed. Also, an entertainment company that engages in wage theft promotes other people paying women, and speaking of money, another NWSL club gets in on that sweet, sweet crypto cash.
Perhaps the greatest “yeah, but” about the search for life as we know it outside our planet is the massively disappointing premise that we homo sapiens might find out we are indeed alone in the universe or even further harrowing, that we might be the most intelligent life. The past two years give me a reason to stress I use that intelligent term here in the loosest context.
If you’re unaware, the subject of discussion here is the James Webb Space Telescope. To reference Spaceballs, it makes the Hubble look like a Cuisinart. It is a huge upgrade not only because of the technology on-board but because of the ambitious operational range.
Everything you could possibly want to know about the telescope is here. The most exciting thing is the unprecedented glimpses we could get at M-Class stars other than our own and the exoplanets revolving around them. If any of them have conditions conducive to harbor life in the way we currently understand it, like liquid water, we will know. Provided everything goes well, we should start getting the first images beamed back over more than a million miles in June.
We should learn more about not only the universe beyond our solar system but the origins of our own solar system, sun, and planet as well. I’m stoked for all the potential discoveries but will honestly be disappointed if the probe turns up zero evidence to suggest life as we understand it can exist anywhere else within the scope of the telescope’s introspection. The hope that we could eventually evolve into a better version of ourselves would take a hit. Right now, all the hope for the near future is vibrant.
Do as UNC women’s basketball says, not as it does
The Twitter account dedicated to the University of North Carolina’s women’s basketball team recently shared a great message we can all get behind.
The problem is that company, engaged in the business of providing entertainment, doesn’t really ascribe to those sentiments wholeheartedly. Part of the message on the shirt is “pay women.” That’s quite a statement by a company that refuses to pay women like Malu Tshitenge (pictured) for her labor producing entertainment for the athletic department’s customers.
Showing off a message of “invest in women” is further ludicrous here because athletic departments like the Tar Heels are actively engaged in a form of wage theft in their relationships with women like Tshitenge. If the educational experience is the “compensation” that women like Tshitenge get for their labor and publicity rights, then scheduling games and practices to distract them from that education devalues that commodity.
The response to any collegiate athletic program touting a message of “invest in women, pay women” is short and simple; ok, you first.
The NWSL continues its metamorphosis
The NWSL and its member organizations are actively engaged in taking their enterprise to the next level in their pursuit of private capital. With US Soccer no longer subsidizing the salaries of allocated players, it’s a make-or-break period for the league.
As many long-time supporters of the clubs and league are discovering, the chase of corporate sponsors and private investments means nearly anyone who can momentarily feed the endless craving for profit will become part of the machine moving forward, regardless of whether their interests align with the values of the league’s supporters or not. Sadly, the NWSL is following the path laid out by countless men’s sports entertainment corporations in putting the welfare of workers and its own soul up for sale.
One of the latest examples of this pursuit of profit at any cost is the sale of sponsorships to cryptocurrency touters. The league has named Voyager Digital its official crypto exchange partner. Angel City FC followed suit with a similar sponsorship of its own.
Even if you disregard the toll that the processing of cryptocurrency takes on the environment, which you shouldn’t, there’s the risk to workers. While the negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement is ongoing, clubs’ workforces remain severely underpaid. Last season, the maximum salary for a non-allocated player was just $52,000. The league is now rolling out the red carpet to firms pushing investments with high volatility promising potentially huge returns to a workforce that has been underpaid and often had to work multiple jobs to make ends meet. I’m sure nothing will go wrong.
As the league and its clubs appear to be deadset on following the path of unabashed capitalism in which people serve profits when they had every opportunity to create a new paradigm for professional sport in North America, the burden for placing some limits on the harm that consumers and workers will suffer falls to governmental regulators. We’ve seen similar activity in other countries.
For example, Arsenal recently saw a couple of its promotions banned by the United Kingdom’s government for what regulators there determined were misleading statements. The marketing ploys were connected to a custom cryptocurrency sold by the club.
The body responsible for monitoring similar activity in the United States of America is the Federal Trade Commission. That body’s approach, like most other regulatory federal agencies, is more reactive than proactive. Essentially, they normally don’t take action on a possible infraction until after people are harmed by malpractice and then at a level that justifies the devotion of their limited resources.
For instance, the FTC halted the activities of the crypto firms Bitcoin Funding Team and My7Network in 2018, alleging they were running a classic multi-level marketing scam with a sales pitch built around cryptocurrency. In November of 2020, the FTC started sending checks to those who lost money in the scheme.
There’s little safety net for players who might get involved in similar programs. Making less than $52,000 a year, workers like NWSL players can hardly afford to wait years to hopefully get a part of the money they could lose in similar schemes back. That’s assuming the FTC would get involved, too. Their employers and the governing body for the clubs aren’t going to the mat for them because they’re in bed with the crypto industry now.
Hopefully, the NWSLPA will produce its own financial training for its membership independent of the clubs, the league, and their corporate sponsors. That could be the best way to mitigate potential harm from the league’s embrace of capitalism.
Guiseppe Stromboli and the Briefcase of Meatballs
JK Rowling recently put her abilities on display to assert her throne as the queen of TERFs again. Considering the veracity of her hatred and ignorance, maybe we could label her an astroTERF? Regardless, in the process of dealing with the consequences of her general shittiness, she seems to have gotten into a Twitter DM spat.
I’m now imagining the Super Mario Bros./Harry Potter crossover we, unfortunately, have not yet been treated to. Bowser’s Horcruxes. Fire flower potions. Mario and Luigi getting sorted into different houses. Chasing a flying Goomba in Quidditch. Like with the James Webb Space Telescope, there are so many possibilities.