Naomi Osaka | Page 3 | Vital Football

Naomi Osaka

I'm too old not to find the endless mental health references weird but I tell myself to ignore, or take time to understand depending on mood. I think it's utterly unfair, illogical and frankly odd to suggest Naomi Osaka has called this on herself through support for a cause and that she is becoming like Harry & Meghan. That's the sort of general hinting and labelling that helps no one's mental health.

Has anyone been to one of gthose book signing events? I remember Ted Heath being one of the first to embark on such a venture, on BR's 125 service I believe. Never did a man look more awkward and unhappy and it put me off the idea from the start. Much later I did go to a couple and they were quite dull and disappointing. Do after dinner speaking if you have the need, attributes and personality for it but otherwise I prefer writers who write and atheletes who compete. Unusual charcters will always out. Kris Akabusi was an interviewer's dream but I bet he was difficult to live with.
 
The problem with the mental health thing is that if you define it in its widest description we all have mental health issues.

Just being sad affects the mind. Any small setback that could make us frown would momentarily affect our thought processes. Just having a bad day gets all of us down. To the other extreme I would hazard a guess that soldiers that went to war or people that have terminal illnesses would not see multi millionaires with glamorous lifestyles like Harry/Meghan/Osaka as having a great deal to whinge about.

As for not having a holiday abroad, you only have to go back a generation or two to find that was not a common practice and only a small percentage of the population were lucky enough to afford one.

Nowadays. so many in their late teens and early twenties see it as their right to bum around the world for a year or two (the "rite of passage?), before coming back to the UK and moaning that they can not afford a deposit on a house before sponging off the Bank of Mum and Dad.

Perspectives have changed and different terminology is in vogue. IMHO each generation (mine included) has become softer than the one before, hence why Harry didn't believe that he should put up with any of the downsides of Royalty that his father had endured.
 
jogills said:
I'm too old not to find the endless mental health references weird but I tell myself to ignore, or take time to understand depending on mood. I think it's utterly unfair, illogical and frankly odd to suggest Naomi Osaka has called this on herself through support for a cause and that she is becoming like Harry & Meghan. That's the sort of general hinting and labelling that helps no one's mental health.
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That's not the point I was making. The point I was making is that about 8 months of so ago, Osaka was wearing BLM masks before matches, drawing attention to herself and then using and abusing the media, including press conferences to bang on about it, and then months later, all of a sudden she isn't up to/won't do/refuse to (who knows what's true - probably a mixture of all three) press conferences. That's why a I compare it to Megan and Harry (and to be fair the same was true for Harry's mum) - the using and abusing of the media is fine when it suits their purpose, but they still feel the need to cry foul about the media in the next breath.
 
Real mental health of youngsters in this country is a major problem.

Lets have some whataboutery lol - same media and people complaining about this Osaka issue are silent as usual on the bigger picture. Mental and physical health should be resourced to the same level and the people in both should be rewarded or recognised the same.

Its a shambles, when do you hear the media or politicians addressing it?
Credit to Sky News who have recently been highlighting the eating disorder problem in the country.
 
As a 'young person' as I can see why there are things to make us anxious. For those that care about it I don't think social media is good for young people.

I do often believe a lot of people who say they have anxiety do genuinely feel that way. Whether or not the reasons behind it should cause it or not. Most of us have led such protected lives with "the world is your oyster" mentalities and fake social media realities that I can see why some people struggle mentally when the real world kicks in and the realities of life don't match expectations.

Thankfully I'm quite stoical. Covid had been a real shit show with my life genuinely impacted by it socially, financially and with my living situation. But I just see it as a tough point of my life and just being part of the real world. I'll work to improve my situation rather than wait for someone to solve it for me. Others only see it as being worse than they're used to and can't process or cope with the feeling.

A while back I read an interesting article along the lines of "Don't use your anxiety as an excuse", written by someone who copes with anxiety. The general premise was that you should speak about anxiety/MH but don't use it as a constant excuse and expect the world around you to constantly bend over backwards to accommodate you. The theory was the world is gonna keep on churning, bad stuff is gonna keep on happening, and you won't have learnt how to cope with your MH condition if you expect everything to work around you. It was very much a coping strategy rather than a "stop whining, toughen up" mentality.
 
SteveTreacle said:
That's not the point I was making. The point I was making is that about 8 months of so ago, Osaka was wearing BLM masks before matches, drawing attention to herself and then using and abusing the media, including press conferences to bang on about it, and then months later, all of a sudden she isn't up to/won't do/refuse to (who knows what's true - probably a mixture of all three) press conferences. That's why a I compare it to Megan and Harry (and to be fair the same was true for Harry's mum) - the using and abusing of the media is fine when it suits their purpose, but they still feel the need to cry foul about the media in the next breath.
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Inconvenient truths.
 
SteveTreacle said:
Seing "novaramedia" is basically saying, "don't waste your time clicking on this metropolitan woke leftie crap".
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Do you only read right wing crap?

You know how I feel about the political right. But that doesn't mean I don't read their 'crap'.

It's essential to read a broad range of opinions and perspectives. Otherwise you'll always have only a narrow perspective.

Instead of just ignoring it and refusing to read, why don't you engage and criticise?
 
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I see Ash Sarkar also referred to that "Me you cant see" programme.

Even that title suggests something of a self obsession. In other words, in addition to "look at me", we have "look at me even deeper".

She also suggests that Naomi Osaka may not have heard of Piers Morgan, but Meghan Markle definitely has, as she made a complaint to OFCOM about Morgan doubting her unsubstantiated claims. I think I heard that Morgan also has almost 7.5 million Twitter followers so, like him or loathe him, it's hard to claim that he fears his irrelevance.
 
GillsBluenose said:
I see Ash Sarkar also referred to that "Me you cant see" programme.

Even that title suggests something of a self obsession. In other words, in addition to "look at me", we have "look at me even deeper".

She also suggests that Naomi Osaka may not have heard of Piers Morgan, but Meghan Markle definitely has, as she made a complaint to OFCOM about Morgan doubting her unsubstantiated claims. I think I heard that Morgan also has almost 7.5 million Twitter followers so, like him or loathe him, it's hard to claim that he fears his irrelevance.
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I'm not sure that you're being very fair there, GBN.

Whilst it is true that some celebrities seek publicity and the limelight, others most certainly do not.

And the thing about celebrities is that although we might feel that we know them, we really don't.

I've not seen the programme and I don't really know about it, so maybe you are right. Perhaps it is just more ego-tripping?

But on the other hand, if the programme is giving celebrities the opportunity to, "speak candidly about their own struggles", it might be s good thing. A good thing for their own mental health, and a good thing for the public as it may offer some insight....
 
I think the thing is the youth (well, anyone under 40 really) have now grown up in the digital age where creating your own Vlogs/interviews and basically just filming yourself and planting on social media for all to see is now the norm. The interview is then directed exactly the way you want it, with no awkward questions, because they are all your own.

This is what the article is referring to, imo, the fact that journalists such as Morgan are now becoming irrelevant. The people that will want to see MM, Gaga or Osaka’s views on a subject will likely already follow them on various SM outlets so don’t need Peirs Morgan’s help, whether he has 7 million viewers or not.

I found this quote interesting too;

But it is not this which has so enraged the likes of Piers Morgan. It’s that a new generation of celebrities, who grew up watching the worst that the press has to offer in the ‘90s and ‘00s, have rejected the idea that being famous means making a pact with the media that they’re allowed to destroy your mental health if they so choose. As Jonathan Liew writes in The Guardian: “One of the world’s best athletes would literally rather quit a grand slam tournament than have to talk to the press. Rather than scrutinising what that says about her, it might be worth asking what that says about us.”

lest not forget that PM was one of the worst in the 90s, one of the most involved in the phone hacking, fabrication of photos, and just general nastiness that went on back then. Albeit he wasn’t the only one, and he may not of actually done the deeds, but they were performed on his watch. Makes him complicit in my eyes.
 
Buddha said:
Do you only read right wing crap?

You know how I feel about the political right. But that doesn't mean I don't read their 'crap'.

It's essential to read a broad range of opinions and perspectives. Otherwise you you'll always have only a narrow perspective.

Instead of just ignoring it and refusing to read, why don't you engage and criticise?
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Fully agree with this. You gotta read both sides of the story to then create your own opinion - which may be right or wrong in some people’s eyes, but at least it is your own opinion!
 
Valid points but I would still say that the term the "oxygen of publicity" will always apply. How ever much Harry wishes to claim that his mother was persecuted by the press, she certainly knew how to use them. I remember she went out of her way to share a joke with the Sun photographer (Arthur Edwards) whenever she saw him. Can you imagine Harry doing that? In fact, these days can you imagine him joking with anyone?

Credit has been given to Osaka for withdrawing from one Grand Slam but if she is disqualified from others due to her stance, how much longer will she have any relevance?

As Oscar Wilde said "There is only one thing worse than being talked out, and that is NOT being talked about"
 
SteveTreacle said:
That's not the point I was making. The point I was making is that about 8 months of so ago, Osaka was wearing BLM masks before matches, drawing attention to herself and then using and abusing the media, including press conferences to bang on about it, and then months later, all of a sudden she isn't up to/won't do/refuse to (who knows what's true - probably a mixture of all three) press conferences. That's why a I compare it to Megan and Harry (and to be fair the same was true for Harry's mum) - the using and abusing of the media is fine when it suits their purpose, but they still feel the need to cry foul about the media in the next breath.
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I understood your point quite well Steve and also the general nudge and wink stuff too. You compare quite a lot to Harry & Meghan and infer even more from the positions others take on their situation. I feel an almost royal indifference but I find the over judgemental position on Naomi Osaka unfair and unkind.
 
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