Jonathan: Let’s talk about WWE with knives on our feet, also known as hockey.
Thomas: A few years ago, pride night in hockey triggered major drama. Some players opted out of wearing pride-themed jerseys or tape, and the outrage cycle was intense. The NHL even backed off pride nights for a season because it became a distraction from the game.
Fast forward to today. The Washington Capitals’ captain, Alex Ovechkin, and 12 European teammates chose not to wear rainbow tape on their sticks on pride night. Eight American players did wear it. And no one cared.
Sometimes the story is that there is no story. You have to watch the negative space. You expect conflict, and it does not happen.
Jonathan: When you expect action and see none, that absence matters.
Thomas: People want to be left alone. Let the players who want the rainbow tape use it. Let the players who do not want it skip it. If you don’t punish anyone, the drama goes away.
For some people, the drama was the goal. They wanted to force a stance. If you do not participate, “How dare you.” That cancel strategy is not working the same way anymore.
Jonathan: In my world, extremist movements enforced conformity. If you did not follow the rules, the clothing, the rituals, the posture, you were punished. Watching 2020 through 2023 felt uncomfortably familiar.
Thomas: We saw the same pattern socially. If you did not change your avatar to the current thing, you got attacked for not displaying Black squares, Ukraine flags, slogans, or whatever the cycle demanded.
It is fine if you want to support the current thing, but bullying people who do not is a strategy that is losing cultural traction. Now, the person being pressured often gets defended, and the bully gets backlash.
Thomas: If you’re still on social media, you do not have to do the current thing. The consequences are not what they used to be, and that is good because it is exhausting to keep up.
People will demand that you take a position on every conflict and controversy. You can say, “I do not know, I write military sci-fi. Let me tell you about wars in space.”
The irony is that hockey, one of the most violent sports, is modeling a kind of peace by letting people differ without forcing compliance.
