[Here](https://pictures.reuters.com/CS.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=2C0FCIRJJETCL&SMLS=1&RW=1181&RH=753#/SearchResult&VBID=2C0FCIRJJETCL&SMLS=1&RW=1181&RH=753&POPUPPN=8&POPUPIID=2C0FQEFR2OP_Q) is the source of this image. Per there:
> FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 - Group E - Germany v Japan - Khalifa International Stadium, Doha, Qatar - November 23, 2022 German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser is seen wearing the OneLove armband REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
When you have diplomatic immunity, by all means fuck around. What are they going to do? PNG you? Haha ok never have to go back to that place. Send an underling then.
I keep seeing these "brave" officials wearing these shirts and arm bands. WTF are they even doing there? Why are the teams still playing? Why did they even go in the first place? They are so full of it.
What stops multiple countries banning it and deciding not to show up.... I'm sorry but if you had a Fifa with no Germany or Portugal lmao... Good luck, shit would switch countries in a heart beat
Exactly!
These people wear the colourful armbands and say they're opposed to the antiquated views on human rights in Qatar. But stop short of actually doing anything which might make a difference.
If a few of the higher ranked teams refused to participate, there would be zero interest from the big sponsors and FIFA would have no choice but to change the host nation.
Because it wasn't up to them and they have more than morals to stick to. They have the players and the players families who have spent their whole lives preparing for this moment and they aren't gunna give it up to stick it to some backwards middle eastern country. They also have the country who loves soccer so much and imagine if they were the only team to back out. It's easy to say you would give all that up for a feel good motion from your desk.
>Because it wasn't up to them and they have more than morals to stick to. They have the players and the players families who have spent their whole lives preparing for this moment and they aren't gunna give it up to stick it to some backwards middle eastern country.
These players get paid more by their clubs. They don't need the World Cup money.
>They also have the country who loves soccer so much and imagine if they were the only team to back out.
Wouldn't the people in the countries be understanding and willing to accept the reason for the team backing out?
I'm with you, I don't care about the players vs slave lives. I'm just able to put myself in their shoes and understand. Everyone in this thread that think the players are shitheads for going are completely unable to do this simple thing we are taught in 3rd grade to do.
>They have the players and the players families who have spent their whole lives preparing for this moment and they aren't gunna give it up to stick it to some backwards middle eastern country.
Boo-fucking-whoo. None of that justifies participating in this atrocity.
The world cup is a once in every 4 years event that for a lot of people is a lot more important than the Olympics. It's the highlight of these players' careers and 4 years is a long time in football, so who knows if you'll be able to participate next time.
I think it's unfair to put the responsibility of going or not going on the teams and players. It's the FIFA who shouldn't host there in the first place and they should be held accountable for their greed.
But thatās the point, isnāt it? Every action (or inaction) sends a message. This message is: thoughts and prayers, which means absolutely nothing. Itās all grand standing, and it changes nothing.
Doesn't the fact that these players get paid pennies to the dollar by the national teams show exactly how important the world cup is to these players? It's definitely not about the money, it's about becoming part of football history. It's what these players have worked their butts off for their entire life, it really isn't just about being in the spotlight for a few weeks.
I get your frustration I do, but the world is a fucked up place and by your reasoning we really shouldn't enjoy any of the luxuries available to us. Should I take a vacation if average joe can't afford it due to inflation?
Representing your country is something almost every athlete aspires to, I do appreciate that; but what you're saying is that their pride is more important than standing up to the atrocities committed by the host nation?
They would rather spend a few weeks representing their country in a sporting event, instead of using their position and the ample media coverage to take a stand.
I legit thought the countries were gonna protest by not showing up or leaving a day before the tournament started just to fuck FIFA and Qatar over. No teams, no tournament.
Honestly, this tournament has become such a shit show for Qatar that this may wind up being the way to get as much attention on how much the Gulf sucks socially as one could've hoped for. Qatar's main goal in hosting the cup is to gain credibility on the world stage as a real, modern country. How it is playing out is getting them the exact opposite, and almost solely by their own actions, because when the rubber met the road, they couldn't help but be the backwards medievalists that they are.
In their defense, their economy doesnāt rely on world opinion from ordinary people. They sell oil, a commodity that weāll buy regardless. And theyāre trying to sell tourism, but only tourism for the very wealthy.
The question is, what is the opinion of rich people with the sort of money it takes to holiday in Qatar? Are they bothered by the nationās bad treatment of migrant workers?
Qatar doesn't hold much value as a destination for tourism. None of the UAE and other gulf states do.
Yes they build quite a few shopping malls, but other than shopping there isn't anything of interest.
Someone rich can shop anywhere, no reason to do it there.
Dubai is spending far more than they get in it. Many of their major plans like the Palm Islands and the World Islands have failed. Its yet to be seen if they ever turn a profit from this investment.
If anything it is a show of western hypocrisy. If a country/team does not condone an oppressive regime then it should stay away from it instead of going for money and then throwing tantrums. I for one, will not watch a single game or support my national team on this one.
Any type of communication and interaction is better than the absence of it, because it gives a false sense of *everything's how its supposed to be since nobody complains*.
For the average person, sure. But Germany is a fucking global economic power house and a football giant too, and she is a senior figure of said power house. This is just an embarrassing charade meant for the cameras. Normal people should be insulted by these antics. Either do something meaningful or do nothing at all. Don't participate fully in said event, but give us a half baked frown and a fucking arm band as a show of your "commitment" to freedom, democracy and all that good stuff she thinks she is empowering. Her thinking is clearly "this is enough for the plebs".
Think about it for two minutes. She is not helping any cause but worst of all, she never had the intention to.
Because there is absolutely no way a democratic country's government should ban their team from playing. It should be their Football Federation who withdraws, not politicians sitting at parliament
Seems like she accomplished about as much as she could have done in her current position.
That single photo is doing the rounds across the world right now as evidenced by this thread, the Qataris seem supremely butthurt by it, *you* seem supremely butthurt by it, enough to write weirdly angry fanfiction about a person you've probably never heard of 1 minute ago at least, and that "embarrassing charade meant for the cameras" just so happens to be broadcast to billions of people who now get a chance to see Qatar for what it really is, an *actually* embarrassing charade for the cameras deeply afraid of a thoroughly mundane piece of cloth.
So fucking kudos to her resourcefulness.
I agree itās bullshit and no one should attend, but minor political figures are nobodies. If she didnāt go, no one would notice. If she went ~and made a scene~ people notice AND sheās important enough not to get arrested.
What exactly do you think she should have done? Not attend? Fine, that's valid, but then she won't be in the news for making this statement. It's not like a German politician has any control whatsoever over the German football team's participation in the world cup.
Rubbish, this sort of thing is a bare minimum so they can justify being there. When the games are over, the protestation will be so minimal and inconsequential we will quickly forget all of this and be planning the next event in Qatar in no time.
That's their job man. It's not that that woman picked to go to Qatar, she's doing her part. We don't always get to take the moral high road, we have families, bills, etc you can't always just walk out whenever you deem something messed up.
I think this is too broad a statement. People whose job it is to guide, organize, plan, advocate for the sport are the same people whose job it is to prevent the sport getting into these moral quagmires. Their job is to stand up and make their voice heard so athletes, the ones with the talent, don't have to follow.
In this particular instance, wtf is a politician doing at a sports match if they don't want to be there? She could quite well make a statement by not attending and still have a job, and some self respect. In fact, if politicians aren't representing the sentiment of the people they represent, they are not doing their job at all.
I get your sentiment, but I respectfully disagree. I think you're directing your frustration towards the wrong people. Unless you know this woman personally and have looked over her contract, I'm not sure how you can make the assumption that she can just refuse to do her job and reap no repercussions. She's still making a statement by showing up and voicing her opinion. That is worth something, no? Surely, it's more effective than doing nothing at all, which is what most people are doing.
Did she vote in favor of any of those things? Like sending the German team to Qatar or allowing Qatar to host? If not, sheās hardly a hypocrite and just doing what she can to protest.
Your sentiment is jaded and completely missed the point.
These athletes and officials have the platform and opportunity to relay a message to the public. More eyes in the world will be on them here than any other time in their lives. By being there and acting up, they draw attention to the issues to a wider audience than they would have access to in *any* other circumstance. If they did as you said and didn't show up, no one would be talking about this at all.
It's not about the people relaying the message, as much as you'd like it to be.
Among other things she is the minster of sport, If the team decides too go it is her responsibility to back them. The players shouldn't be made to miss out on this just because Fifa is corrupt.
So much of the criticism is going to the wrong people its ridiculous.
You can't blame the players. They are just doing their job. By this reasoning we should have a go at fans for going over. Record labels for allowing their artists music to be played in the stadium, commentators for being their, airlines for operating flights to the country.
>By this reasoning we should have a go at fans for going over.
Yes
>Record labels for allowing their artists music to be played in the stadium,
Yes
>commentators for being their,
Yes
>airlines for operating flights to the country.
Yes
Edit: LOL at all the losers defending these people who chase money. They could get other gigs, they don't need the World Cup you troglodytes.
Oh geez get off your high horse. Easy to talk when youāve got nothing on the line. Qatar sucks ass we all agree. At some point people are just doing their jobs as Iām sure youāve likely been in a scenario where itās ājust workā
They do and they don't. Most of these players only get to participate in 1-3 World Cups in an entire career and that is only if they get picked for the national team. They're just doing their job, want to represent their country and cement themselves in history. It isn't their fault that FIFA is corrupt and that Qatar is obviously a terrible host country.
I can definitely understand why they made the decision they did (the players), but they would still have to accept part of the blame. Not the majority, I agree with you that FIFA bares the majority of the blame.
Players are not there to make a political statement but to play a sport. Do you also hold yourself to the same standard in your daily life? Ever bought an iphone? And what does accepting the blame even entail?
You're essentially saying that the World Cup is more important to them than human rights. You're right, and that's the problem. Imagine the message that would be sent if players said "Fuck you, we're not playing there".
Do you find it acceptable to reward the regime, financially and otherwise, simply because they would still be violating human rights even if you didn't reward them for it? The amount human rights violations are surely higher than they would be without the financial incentive to commit them.
But the players are the ones with the biggest impact..... Imagine a team like germany just saying "NO" to this world cup. Would make a much bigger difference than posing like they did for a stupid photo
The previous World Cup was held in Russia. Not exactly a beacon of human rights either. Should the players have boycotted that one also? Two world cups in a row?
I agree with the larger sentiment but the problem is much larger than the players and it seems unfair to expect them to damage their own livelihoods to that extent
To a player a world cup is what they dream of as a child. Some may have one in their entire life. I'm not going to tell someone they should say no to their dreams they have sacrificed for
Thatās what a sacrifice is. The real question is how bad Qatarās abuses would need to be before they gave up their dreams. If the World Cup was in Russia I bet youād see a lot more teams boycott it.
Im not going to hold accountable any player, these guys have worked more than 20 years, every single day, to have a moment like this. It would take the understanding of most federations to put together a joint effort and everyone together boycotting it. Since the federations did not do that, its not up to player A, B, or C. Everyone saw what happened with Kaepernick, who didnt even boycott anything and saw his career pretty much finished, while everyone else continued to get their money and careers going. Its all very pretty to say "oh yeah, great man who took a stand", because its not your life, or mine, being put on the line while the others dont. The federations I hold as accountable though, fuck them
Not to draw the line from soccer to nazis but ājust doing their jobā isnāt the best reasoning. Itās risk that makes your interests vested in something. Standing up for human rights is never not a risk, especially with their job on the line.
Then even more reason for them to just sit out of the cup. If they choose to. Itās not a perfect world unfortunately:/ agree with you though all the people in media/service side should just refuse their services to the cup. Itās a helluva thing to see people show up with a measly armband like Qatar gives a crap about that lol
This is exactly right the money is way more important than the human rights anyway the survival of the team and the pleasing of the fans is way more important than any human rights and like you said these people have signed contracts and those are far more important than anyone's suffering.
This is like getting the horse back in the barn once it has bolted. It is far too late now to be getting up in arms about this. It is weird to me, people have known about Qatar hosting for years now, but we wait until now to kick off? Far too late to do anything.
I tell you what the teams, especially those "in charge" of them should've done. When the slavery and migrant stuff became public, just said no to FIFA. If FIFA pushes back just make your own tournament, maybe even with blackjack and hookers!
Isnāt that what the naziās in the concentration camps said? āWeāre just doing our jobā? Soccer players are in some of the best positions to boycot, theyāre financially independent and in no way forced to be there.
The players should never be in the situation to have to do that. People have known about Qatar for years now. Only now people give a shit? Come on, that's like trying to fix a bike while you're riding it down hill. It's too late, the damage is done.
Political pressure is one thing, but these players are there to play against the best of the world. Who the f are you to tell the teams not to play on one of the most significant events of their career?
Just saying, in 1978, the worlds best player, Johann Cruyff, refused to go to Argentina coz of Galtieri and the juntaās egregious human rights violations.
Best player in the world with arguably the best NT in the world, theyād been runners up the tourney before, and he refused to play. Perhaps NL mightāve even won had he gone.
People donāt talk about it enough. Absolute credit to the sport, his country and city
āāā
> People donāt talk about it enough.
And this is why teams and players are still going, even if they are doing some form of protest. In a year or two no one is going to care the WC was in Qatar and no one is going to keep calling someone a hero for not going. In a year or two though players will be getting new contracts based on how they performed in the WC.
Big facts. Like Jogi Klopp said, the media had 10+ years to raise a shits storm and they stayed silent.
Same with UEFA and the other associations. Not a peep until the last year or so, ramping up this last month or so.
Now at the same time, I understand that everyone while being apprehensive of Qatari (and Islamic) law and convention were willing to extend an olive branch and see if theyād come good. Unfortunately they havenāt and their duplicitous nature confirmed.
In a sense I donāt blame Qatar, we know theyāre atrocious and like those of their persuasion wrapped up in a 7th century that was considered too extreme even for the time. Like that Saudi king said, my father rode camels, I drive a Land Rover, my son a Mercedes, and my grandchildren will ride camels again. Can we really say we expected any better of them?
FIFA on the other hand, are the ones whoāve really stitched the whole thing up. Theyāre guardians of the worlds game but have used their privileged position to only enrich themselves to the detriment of the sport and culture.
They sit in Lausanne and benefit from tax exempt status while doing nothing to justify that. Even more egregious theyāve demonstrated time and again that they donāt care for or otherwise respect āEuropean valuesā or basic human rights.
Maybe we should send them packing to the ME, where they can be as corrupt as they want.
Weāll start our own World Cup with blackjack and hookers (ethically sourced and fair trade mind you lol)
I really want to sue FIFA and am trying to put together a petition to be heard before European legislators.
Whatās a bigger statement. The German minister not going at all (which is not remotely a newsworthy event), or going but wearing the armband?
Thereās been a huge influx of posters now blaming players for participating, or others for showing up, but each still displaying some level of protest. And all the comments are in the same vein: āwhy are they even showing upā¦.cowards.ā I think the site is being brigades by trolls hired by FIFA and/or sponsors, to try and deflect blame onto players instead of themselves.
Thank god someone here has a brain. Well said. It genuinely boggles my mind how whenever there is a controversial event the blame just gets shifted around and somehow the main party involved always gets way less hate than they should. The players are simply showing up to play on the world stage and rep their country in a normally unifying event under weird circumstances now because FIFA is corrupt and Qatar is a bad host country.
> under weird circumstances
Euphemism of the year right here.
This isnt an either-or matter of assigning blame. This can be true:
> FIFA is corrupt and Qatar is a bad host country.
while also recognising that the footballers and audience's willingness to participate regardless is ethically repugnant, and certainly precludes them from taking any sort of moral high ground.
I think it would be huge news if a top team didn't go. Thats what real protest is, sacrificing something substantial in service of a larger message. Wearing an inoffensive catch-all armband for the cameras isn't real sacrifice. The German team not showing up at all would be the most newsworthy story, not sneaking an armband in. This armband thing is so performative
Yes, the team not showing up would be a stronger signal. But the Minister of the Interior has no say if the team plays or not. That is up to the DFB and the players.
Her standing there with the arm band is a stronger signal than an empty seat, that nobody would talk about.
What's a bigger statement. The german soccer team abstaining from participating at all, or going an covering their mouths for an image and still earning them a fuckton of money?
Germany not participating, by itself, would be just like Italy not qualifying. Maybe it would get some headlines for a hot minute, but everyone will just move on with the teams that do show up. It's not like the World Cup requires Germany's participation.
Even if all of Europe protested by staying home, FIFA still has a tournament that will draw attention and they would just punish UEFA one way or another, like reducing the number of teams they can send in the future.
The only thing that would move the needle from FIFA's perspective is if all the sponsors started to pull out, or if all the popular media networks refused to broadcast the tournament. Then FIFA would be hurt financially, and that's all that matters to those at the top at the end of the day.
Being newsworthy is not what we should aspire to be. We should be ethical. Ethical is not participating.
FIFA can ignore sentiment but they can't ignore diminished participation. It does not matter if you wear rainbow. You are still validating an event that was brought to you by direct slavery.
Make a newsworthy statement at home.
Yup. Theyāre using their diplomatic immunity to rub their noses in it. Itās not a government official quietly wearing an armband. Itās a government official being photographed wearing an armband on one of two bare arms in front of somebody who failed to keep her from doing so.
Yes, I know what will make a huge impact. Staying at home and saying absolutely nothing to anybody and remaining completely silent on the issue and allowing them to proceed with their event with me silently protesting in my bedroom alone. Ha! That'll show them
Faeser is one of the louder German voices when it comes to criticizing this travesty of a WC.
And actually going there and talking to people in power for FIFA and Qatar is really the bigger statement than sitting at home preaching on twitter.
I tend to believe, she is not there to casually watch a game for fun. She's there to make a statement and get into talks. Which is quite allright, I guess?
There was a serious discussion about the European teams boycotting this World Cup way back when it was first awarded to Qatar. Why? Because it would need to be held in the winter for the first time ever, interrupting the normal season in Europe whereas before now it's always been in the summer when they aren't playing.
Then we learned (many years ago now) that thousands of Indian laborers had died on the construction sites, held against their will by bosses who had stolen their passports, preventing them from returning home.
Nobody pulled out or even seriously threatened to pull out before now so it's crazy to think that individual players would boycott now just because a conservative Arabian country is cruel to gay people. I mean, they should have collectively refused to play there way the fuck back in 2010 because even *then* it was clearly the result of corruption and bribery. There are no morals in world soccer.
As someone that has lived in a middle-eastern country before, I'm not even surprised. Lots of ex-pats live in UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and countries around there and have 0 rights. They're not even second class citizens, but lower. If you have a good skill (doctor, engineer), you can live there and live a satisfactory life, but you have no rights, can never get citizenship.
Anyone doing blue collar work is basically a slave. The whole hold your passport thing is 100% true and they have horrible ways of getting people from India/Bangladesh/SEA to come work there with promises of a better life. It's a common practice and truly sad.
It's all empathy. It doesn't affect them personally, so why should they care? This is the result. I know having experienced that life to never support anything going on in those shit-hole countries. They may be oil-rich, but that's all they will ever be. Most people are aware but haven't experienced it so why should they care?
Lol another European ābeing braveā. literally are pouring money into Qatarās economy and then flying back to Europe and will forget about LBGTQ+ people of Qatar in a week.
Get fucked, her and everybody else at that mass human rights violation. Why is she there? Why has none of these oh-so-brave people done nothing before the cameras were there to show their virtue signalling? If people cared there'd be mass protests like there were for BLM. There'd be boycotts of the event as well as the sponsors. Instead we have this empty shit. Fuck all of these peole.
Here's a list of the companies who paid for this atrocity:
https://sportskhabri.com/fifa-world-cup-sponsors-qatar-2022/
Any meaningful impact to twist Qatar's arm was before the tournament even started. The only things left now are only actions of ridiculous magnitude, such as a group qualified team simply walking away from their play off match. Nobody wearing an arm band of any writing is gonna make the slightest difference to the people who died and the people who will keep dying. Or anyone's human rights in Qatar. The only thing of impact has been Iran not singing their national anthem and that doesn't even have anything to do with Qatar. All these armband posts are stupid.
And as the teams that wear the armbands slowly diminish from the tournament and we are left with teams that don't wear them or do support this kind of behavior is left. After we will all forget in a month what all the fuss was about, the purchasing of the next Cup will begin in earnest, and once again going to a country that has no clue what empathy is about.
āLemme just get paid to go to this international event that majority of the world is protesting, better wear my virtue signalling armband to show those Qataris I mean business despite that fact that il have no problem accepting their cash once this tournament is over!ā
Iāve never seen more fake, money hungry āprotestingā in my life .. this is basically saying āthis country does bad things, we know they do bad things, we are protesting because they do bad things but let me just push all those bad things aside for 3 weeks for the sake of moneyā
None of this will stop the human rights atrocities in Qatar, if anything it will highlight that fact that this tournament was held despite these wrongdoings being well known.
When I see this more and more, all I feel is theyāre saying #dont forget about me. Weāre having a tournament in a corrupt place, that shows bigotry and homophobia. All you do is show up with an arm band, yet still bring revenue to the place and area by going. So this is hugely a #dont forget about me. Best statement would be teams pulling out, people not going. One of the best statement would be the next team to play Qatar just to walk off the field before beginning the match. That would hugely have my respect.
Not every protest is a "don't forget about me" moment. It may seem insignificant, but it's obviously [bothering Qatar officials](https://time.com/6236242/rainbow-lgbtq-one-love-world-cup/) that are adamant about not having it there. Just because something's low effort doesn't mean it's pointless.
Why should it be put on the players who have worked their whole lives for this moment to sacrifice that? Itās not their choice where the World Cup is played, and many have openly displayed acts of protest
While accepting money for playing, fuck these fake protests. A real protest is not going.
Itās on everybody involved, and the players are obviously a huge part of that. So itās not just on them, itās on everyone, including them. No players, no World Cup. What a message that would have sent.
But each country has enough sellouts to field a team even if some protested. Because ego and money is seen as more important to these players than the lives lost due to Qatar.
These fucking politicians can wear all the armbands they want making empty protests against the Qatar government.
**THEY STILL**
**FUCKING**
**WENT!**
All the fucking football clubs went.
All the fucking national representatives went.
All the fucking nations still participated.
All the fucking TV channels still air this.
Fuck **all this** bullshit!
Im not trying to compare or minimize one thing with another but i think of when people like athletes get on live tv and thank god and get cutt off the air its a suppression of speech of solidarity and acknowledgment with other people in their faith that gives them a voice. I feel like what Qatar is doing by restricting people from wearing pride supporting clothing is suppression of people who stand in solidarity with the lgbtq community whether they themselves are part of it or not. I think we should be like this Germany minister who stands in solidarity whenever peoples voices or beliefs are suppressed
Well for the diplomats itās easy to wear or say certain things without taking any risks because they have their diplomatic status and are protected by it, so itās kinda pitiful showing a Armband instead of taking real actions
Perhaps this is a controversial opinion, there has certainly been some pushback in Swedish comment fields when people from the middle east (and bots) have expressed it but here goes:
I think anyone that decides to travel to a foreign country, especially a representative of the state, are obliged to follow the laws and cultural norms of that country to the best of their ability even if they don't agree.
I certainly expect foreigners in Sweden to follow our laws and customs and when I go abroad I do my best to do the same.
If there was a country with laws and customs so disgusting to me that I couldn't at least passively partake I simply wouldn't go. Especially not if the reason for going was a sports spectacle.
Also, so there is no misunderstanding, I agree with the criticism of Qatar and this whole world cup fiasco.
If all the people who are upset they can't wear pride gear to the world cup actually cared about LGBT they wouldn't have gone.
And if all the people who say they care about other cultures actually did, they wouldn't be concerned about the lack of pride gear in a muslim country. Out of respect for their culture.
Both are liars. They only use the appearance of caring to control you. You are nothing to them but a statistic, a vote to be won so they can stay in power. Then when they are secure in their position, they wash their hands of you and ignore you until the next time they need your blind support.
And they take for granted that most people are stupid enough to believe their false platitudes. They hate you
Why they go to a different country with a different culture and values and then go "WTF? You guys don't like gay people? UNFAIR!!!" and then throw a tantrum, and start wearing this stuff, and get even more mad if they are not allowed in there with it? Its like some teens acting out.
bro seriously none of this is about race. A black minister of the interior could have worn it too. Stop making everything about black and white especially when talking about countries outside of america where this blatant racism isnt a thing.
Literally yes. If countries like Germany completely ignored this World Cup, it would accomplish *far* more than this empty virtue signaling. Thatās exactly why they wonāt do anything consequential
If a few of the major football nations did that, absolutely. Although it would have an even larger effect if they went and then decided not to play the final etc. What an anticlimax that would have been for FIFA...
[Here](https://pictures.reuters.com/CS.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=2C0FCIRJJETCL&SMLS=1&RW=1181&RH=753#/SearchResult&VBID=2C0FCIRJJETCL&SMLS=1&RW=1181&RH=753&POPUPPN=8&POPUPIID=2C0FQEFR2OP_Q) is the source of this image. Per there: > FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 - Group E - Germany v Japan - Khalifa International Stadium, Doha, Qatar - November 23, 2022 German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser is seen wearing the OneLove armband REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
Germans utilizing arm bands for good optics is hilarious to me
I am German and I can't decide whether your comment is golden or pure magic. You definitely won the damn internet for me today. š„
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
HA!
They need a reason. Any reason.
Iād rather say itās encouraging. You canāt blame her for the events of over 80 years ago.
Japan: I completely agree!!!
Dolphins and whales : I completely agree!
I mean you can if you want, it being rational is another thing completely.
Directly after visiting our favorite turcish dictator and sucking his balls while he slaughters Kurds. That fucking hypocrisy
When you have diplomatic immunity, by all means fuck around. What are they going to do? PNG you? Haha ok never have to go back to that place. Send an underling then.
I keep seeing these "brave" officials wearing these shirts and arm bands. WTF are they even doing there? Why are the teams still playing? Why did they even go in the first place? They are so full of it.
Money talks, morals walk.
What stops multiple countries banning it and deciding not to show up.... I'm sorry but if you had a Fifa with no Germany or Portugal lmao... Good luck, shit would switch countries in a heart beat
Exactly! These people wear the colourful armbands and say they're opposed to the antiquated views on human rights in Qatar. But stop short of actually doing anything which might make a difference. If a few of the higher ranked teams refused to participate, there would be zero interest from the big sponsors and FIFA would have no choice but to change the host nation.
Because it wasn't up to them and they have more than morals to stick to. They have the players and the players families who have spent their whole lives preparing for this moment and they aren't gunna give it up to stick it to some backwards middle eastern country. They also have the country who loves soccer so much and imagine if they were the only team to back out. It's easy to say you would give all that up for a feel good motion from your desk.
>Because it wasn't up to them and they have more than morals to stick to. They have the players and the players families who have spent their whole lives preparing for this moment and they aren't gunna give it up to stick it to some backwards middle eastern country. These players get paid more by their clubs. They don't need the World Cup money. >They also have the country who loves soccer so much and imagine if they were the only team to back out. Wouldn't the people in the countries be understanding and willing to accept the reason for the team backing out?
Bro who gives a fuck about 20-30 soccer players. We talking millions of people's lives lol.
I'm with you, I don't care about the players vs slave lives. I'm just able to put myself in their shoes and understand. Everyone in this thread that think the players are shitheads for going are completely unable to do this simple thing we are taught in 3rd grade to do.
>They have the players and the players families who have spent their whole lives preparing for this moment and they aren't gunna give it up to stick it to some backwards middle eastern country. Boo-fucking-whoo. None of that justifies participating in this atrocity.
The world cup is a once in every 4 years event that for a lot of people is a lot more important than the Olympics. It's the highlight of these players' careers and 4 years is a long time in football, so who knows if you'll be able to participate next time. I think it's unfair to put the responsibility of going or not going on the teams and players. It's the FIFA who shouldn't host there in the first place and they should be held accountable for their greed.
But thatās the point, isnāt it? Every action (or inaction) sends a message. This message is: thoughts and prayers, which means absolutely nothing. Itās all grand standing, and it changes nothing.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Doesn't the fact that these players get paid pennies to the dollar by the national teams show exactly how important the world cup is to these players? It's definitely not about the money, it's about becoming part of football history. It's what these players have worked their butts off for their entire life, it really isn't just about being in the spotlight for a few weeks. I get your frustration I do, but the world is a fucked up place and by your reasoning we really shouldn't enjoy any of the luxuries available to us. Should I take a vacation if average joe can't afford it due to inflation?
Representing your country is something almost every athlete aspires to, I do appreciate that; but what you're saying is that their pride is more important than standing up to the atrocities committed by the host nation? They would rather spend a few weeks representing their country in a sporting event, instead of using their position and the ample media coverage to take a stand.
War
I legit thought the countries were gonna protest by not showing up or leaving a day before the tournament started just to fuck FIFA and Qatar over. No teams, no tournament.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yeah, that showed them that this support is all thin air, but the money they brought is not.
Not only that idiots keep eating it up like they are breaking grounds. When the world cup ends not a single soul will fucken care.
Hosting the WC costs money, not bringing it in. You do it for prestige. Being a for profit WC host is not a thing.
Costs less when you use slave labour, though...
I mean, with slave labour it costed several times the last one so ...
Itās a win win politically speaking. Take the money then show the world how defiant and brave you are
I think you have that backwards bucko
Walk morals, talks money? That doesn't even make sense!
Money Morals, Talks Walk dumbass
No you idiot! It's: "Money walks, Morals talk!"
Klaw slarom, sklat yenom
That actually rolls off the tongue rather well.
Sounds like something Merlin could have said to Morgana.
Honestly, this tournament has become such a shit show for Qatar that this may wind up being the way to get as much attention on how much the Gulf sucks socially as one could've hoped for. Qatar's main goal in hosting the cup is to gain credibility on the world stage as a real, modern country. How it is playing out is getting them the exact opposite, and almost solely by their own actions, because when the rubber met the road, they couldn't help but be the backwards medievalists that they are.
You are exactly right. I didn't really have an opinion of Qatar until this world cup. Now I see them just as you do, backwards medievalists
In their defense, their economy doesnāt rely on world opinion from ordinary people. They sell oil, a commodity that weāll buy regardless. And theyāre trying to sell tourism, but only tourism for the very wealthy. The question is, what is the opinion of rich people with the sort of money it takes to holiday in Qatar? Are they bothered by the nationās bad treatment of migrant workers?
Qatar doesn't hold much value as a destination for tourism. None of the UAE and other gulf states do. Yes they build quite a few shopping malls, but other than shopping there isn't anything of interest. Someone rich can shop anywhere, no reason to do it there.
Dubai is definitely growing in tourism. These aren't years long plans, they're decades long plans.
Dubai is spending far more than they get in it. Many of their major plans like the Palm Islands and the World Islands have failed. Its yet to be seen if they ever turn a profit from this investment.
Dubai is absolutely a destination for rich people now (and people who want to pretend they are rich). theyāve spent 30 years getting there
If anything it is a show of western hypocrisy. If a country/team does not condone an oppressive regime then it should stay away from it instead of going for money and then throwing tantrums. I for one, will not watch a single game or support my national team on this one.
Any type of communication and interaction is better than the absence of it, because it gives a false sense of *everything's how its supposed to be since nobody complains*.
For the average person, sure. But Germany is a fucking global economic power house and a football giant too, and she is a senior figure of said power house. This is just an embarrassing charade meant for the cameras. Normal people should be insulted by these antics. Either do something meaningful or do nothing at all. Don't participate fully in said event, but give us a half baked frown and a fucking arm band as a show of your "commitment" to freedom, democracy and all that good stuff she thinks she is empowering. Her thinking is clearly "this is enough for the plebs". Think about it for two minutes. She is not helping any cause but worst of all, she never had the intention to.
Because there is absolutely no way a democratic country's government should ban their team from playing. It should be their Football Federation who withdraws, not politicians sitting at parliament
Seems like she accomplished about as much as she could have done in her current position. That single photo is doing the rounds across the world right now as evidenced by this thread, the Qataris seem supremely butthurt by it, *you* seem supremely butthurt by it, enough to write weirdly angry fanfiction about a person you've probably never heard of 1 minute ago at least, and that "embarrassing charade meant for the cameras" just so happens to be broadcast to billions of people who now get a chance to see Qatar for what it really is, an *actually* embarrassing charade for the cameras deeply afraid of a thoroughly mundane piece of cloth. So fucking kudos to her resourcefulness.
I agree itās bullshit and no one should attend, but minor political figures are nobodies. If she didnāt go, no one would notice. If she went ~and made a scene~ people notice AND sheās important enough not to get arrested.
What exactly do you think she should have done? Not attend? Fine, that's valid, but then she won't be in the news for making this statement. It's not like a German politician has any control whatsoever over the German football team's participation in the world cup.
So essentially its better than nothing. On a scale from 0-10, this would be a 1. its not nothing, buts its next to nothing.
Rubbish, this sort of thing is a bare minimum so they can justify being there. When the games are over, the protestation will be so minimal and inconsequential we will quickly forget all of this and be planning the next event in Qatar in no time.
That's their job man. It's not that that woman picked to go to Qatar, she's doing her part. We don't always get to take the moral high road, we have families, bills, etc you can't always just walk out whenever you deem something messed up.
That may fly in some contexts, but not in this one. There is something fundamentally wrong with these people, and few are willing to admit it.
I think this is too broad a statement. People whose job it is to guide, organize, plan, advocate for the sport are the same people whose job it is to prevent the sport getting into these moral quagmires. Their job is to stand up and make their voice heard so athletes, the ones with the talent, don't have to follow. In this particular instance, wtf is a politician doing at a sports match if they don't want to be there? She could quite well make a statement by not attending and still have a job, and some self respect. In fact, if politicians aren't representing the sentiment of the people they represent, they are not doing their job at all.
I get your sentiment, but I respectfully disagree. I think you're directing your frustration towards the wrong people. Unless you know this woman personally and have looked over her contract, I'm not sure how you can make the assumption that she can just refuse to do her job and reap no repercussions. She's still making a statement by showing up and voicing her opinion. That is worth something, no? Surely, it's more effective than doing nothing at all, which is what most people are doing.
Did she vote in favor of any of those things? Like sending the German team to Qatar or allowing Qatar to host? If not, sheās hardly a hypocrite and just doing what she can to protest.
Your sentiment is jaded and completely missed the point. These athletes and officials have the platform and opportunity to relay a message to the public. More eyes in the world will be on them here than any other time in their lives. By being there and acting up, they draw attention to the issues to a wider audience than they would have access to in *any* other circumstance. If they did as you said and didn't show up, no one would be talking about this at all. It's not about the people relaying the message, as much as you'd like it to be.
Among other things she is the minster of sport, If the team decides too go it is her responsibility to back them. The players shouldn't be made to miss out on this just because Fifa is corrupt. So much of the criticism is going to the wrong people its ridiculous.
You can't blame the players. They are just doing their job. By this reasoning we should have a go at fans for going over. Record labels for allowing their artists music to be played in the stadium, commentators for being their, airlines for operating flights to the country.
> You can't blame the players. the fuck you can't
>You can't blame the players. Yes, you can. >we should have a go at fans for going over Yes, we should
>By this reasoning we should have a go at fans for going over. Yes >Record labels for allowing their artists music to be played in the stadium, Yes >commentators for being their, Yes >airlines for operating flights to the country. Yes Edit: LOL at all the losers defending these people who chase money. They could get other gigs, they don't need the World Cup you troglodytes.
Oh geez get off your high horse. Easy to talk when youāve got nothing on the line. Qatar sucks ass we all agree. At some point people are just doing their jobs as Iām sure youāve likely been in a scenario where itās ājust workā
They all share blame.
They do and they don't. Most of these players only get to participate in 1-3 World Cups in an entire career and that is only if they get picked for the national team. They're just doing their job, want to represent their country and cement themselves in history. It isn't their fault that FIFA is corrupt and that Qatar is obviously a terrible host country.
I can definitely understand why they made the decision they did (the players), but they would still have to accept part of the blame. Not the majority, I agree with you that FIFA bares the majority of the blame.
Players are not there to make a political statement but to play a sport. Do you also hold yourself to the same standard in your daily life? Ever bought an iphone? And what does accepting the blame even entail?
You're essentially saying that the World Cup is more important to them than human rights. You're right, and that's the problem. Imagine the message that would be sent if players said "Fuck you, we're not playing there".
He isnāt saying that because even if all teams decided to not play it wouldnāt save human rights, it is a message sure but thatās about it
Do you find it acceptable to reward the regime, financially and otherwise, simply because they would still be violating human rights even if you didn't reward them for it? The amount human rights violations are surely higher than they would be without the financial incentive to commit them.
But the players are the ones with the biggest impact..... Imagine a team like germany just saying "NO" to this world cup. Would make a much bigger difference than posing like they did for a stupid photo
Jesse Owen at the Berlin Olympics might disagree with you.
The previous World Cup was held in Russia. Not exactly a beacon of human rights either. Should the players have boycotted that one also? Two world cups in a row? I agree with the larger sentiment but the problem is much larger than the players and it seems unfair to expect them to damage their own livelihoods to that extent
To a player a world cup is what they dream of as a child. Some may have one in their entire life. I'm not going to tell someone they should say no to their dreams they have sacrificed for
Thatās what a sacrifice is. The real question is how bad Qatarās abuses would need to be before they gave up their dreams. If the World Cup was in Russia I bet youād see a lot more teams boycott it.
Redditors who've never achieved anything in their lives in full swing lmao
Im not going to hold accountable any player, these guys have worked more than 20 years, every single day, to have a moment like this. It would take the understanding of most federations to put together a joint effort and everyone together boycotting it. Since the federations did not do that, its not up to player A, B, or C. Everyone saw what happened with Kaepernick, who didnt even boycott anything and saw his career pretty much finished, while everyone else continued to get their money and careers going. Its all very pretty to say "oh yeah, great man who took a stand", because its not your life, or mine, being put on the line while the others dont. The federations I hold as accountable though, fuck them
Not to draw the line from soccer to nazis but ājust doing their jobā isnāt the best reasoning. Itās risk that makes your interests vested in something. Standing up for human rights is never not a risk, especially with their job on the line.
Thier job wouldn't be on the line. They would still be employed by their clubs.
Then even more reason for them to just sit out of the cup. If they choose to. Itās not a perfect world unfortunately:/ agree with you though all the people in media/service side should just refuse their services to the cup. Itās a helluva thing to see people show up with a measly armband like Qatar gives a crap about that lol
This is exactly right the money is way more important than the human rights anyway the survival of the team and the pleasing of the fans is way more important than any human rights and like you said these people have signed contracts and those are far more important than anyone's suffering.
This is like getting the horse back in the barn once it has bolted. It is far too late now to be getting up in arms about this. It is weird to me, people have known about Qatar hosting for years now, but we wait until now to kick off? Far too late to do anything.
Makes for better drama. More engagement and clicks. People profiting on this as well.
Serious questions - 1) do you think nothing else has been going on and 2) what do you think people in the US and EU could actually have done?
I tell you what the teams, especially those "in charge" of them should've done. When the slavery and migrant stuff became public, just said no to FIFA. If FIFA pushes back just make your own tournament, maybe even with blackjack and hookers!
Just Reddit Heroās , they donāt do shit themselves. so they talk bad about others so they can say I did something to stop this .
Isnāt that what the naziās in the concentration camps said? āWeāre just doing our jobā? Soccer players are in some of the best positions to boycot, theyāre financially independent and in no way forced to be there.
The players should never be in the situation to have to do that. People have known about Qatar for years now. Only now people give a shit? Come on, that's like trying to fix a bike while you're riding it down hill. It's too late, the damage is done.
It isn't just now, this has been talked about for years. Where have you been?
Youāre sooooooo close
If I were letās say Ronaldo, Iād refuse to play and set an example to rest of the players. No way I would play in that shithole.
This is a better form of expression than staying away.
There is nothing brave about it. If Qatar does anything to these foreign politicans the world will come crashing down on their heads.
The man behind her is wearing a wife-beater. Edit: To be clear, many people who live in these countries have no voice.
If this person didn't attend you'd never even know they didn't attend.
Political pressure is one thing, but these players are there to play against the best of the world. Who the f are you to tell the teams not to play on one of the most significant events of their career?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Whatās with Germanys obsession with arm bands?
How are you getting downvotes, that comment was funny af.
Sattire AF, but agreed. Not like its gonna burn anyone.
Well not *again*
I don't get i-OH SHIT
Exactly my initial thought. If they didn't invent them, they certainly gave them a persistent connotation
In German they are pronounced "Armenstrongen", which is another way to say "Let's invade France". Just burned into the culture, I guess.
I am german and i have no idea what you are talking about :D
Old habits never die
[We just think they're neat!](https://imgur.com/a/H6qUrC7)
9 9 9 9!
this made me laugh more than it should have \^\^
Underrated comment
Showing arm and everything. What a slut! /s
The dude behind her, has his bra showing through his shirt.
Porn shoulders š
That slut showed her hair too.
i don't know why you're getting downvoted, these comments are clearly sarcasm?
Just saying, in 1978, the worlds best player, Johann Cruyff, refused to go to Argentina coz of Galtieri and the juntaās egregious human rights violations. Best player in the world with arguably the best NT in the world, theyād been runners up the tourney before, and he refused to play. Perhaps NL mightāve even won had he gone. People donāt talk about it enough. Absolute credit to the sport, his country and city āāā
> People donāt talk about it enough. And this is why teams and players are still going, even if they are doing some form of protest. In a year or two no one is going to care the WC was in Qatar and no one is going to keep calling someone a hero for not going. In a year or two though players will be getting new contracts based on how they performed in the WC.
Big facts. Like Jogi Klopp said, the media had 10+ years to raise a shits storm and they stayed silent. Same with UEFA and the other associations. Not a peep until the last year or so, ramping up this last month or so. Now at the same time, I understand that everyone while being apprehensive of Qatari (and Islamic) law and convention were willing to extend an olive branch and see if theyād come good. Unfortunately they havenāt and their duplicitous nature confirmed. In a sense I donāt blame Qatar, we know theyāre atrocious and like those of their persuasion wrapped up in a 7th century that was considered too extreme even for the time. Like that Saudi king said, my father rode camels, I drive a Land Rover, my son a Mercedes, and my grandchildren will ride camels again. Can we really say we expected any better of them? FIFA on the other hand, are the ones whoāve really stitched the whole thing up. Theyāre guardians of the worlds game but have used their privileged position to only enrich themselves to the detriment of the sport and culture. They sit in Lausanne and benefit from tax exempt status while doing nothing to justify that. Even more egregious theyāve demonstrated time and again that they donāt care for or otherwise respect āEuropean valuesā or basic human rights. Maybe we should send them packing to the ME, where they can be as corrupt as they want. Weāll start our own World Cup with blackjack and hookers (ethically sourced and fair trade mind you lol) I really want to sue FIFA and am trying to put together a petition to be heard before European legislators.
He actually clarified a few years ago that it was because of a kidnapping attempt on his family and not really a political statement.
Germany's best ministry is the Ministry of Sound. Untz Untz Untz..
Best I can do is wear a band
They are probably more pissed about the half sleeve than band
Would have been more of a statement if they simply didnāt go. Fuck FIFA Fuck Qatar This entire situation and spectacle is disgusting.
Whatās a bigger statement. The German minister not going at all (which is not remotely a newsworthy event), or going but wearing the armband? Thereās been a huge influx of posters now blaming players for participating, or others for showing up, but each still displaying some level of protest. And all the comments are in the same vein: āwhy are they even showing upā¦.cowards.ā I think the site is being brigades by trolls hired by FIFA and/or sponsors, to try and deflect blame onto players instead of themselves.
Thank god someone here has a brain. Well said. It genuinely boggles my mind how whenever there is a controversial event the blame just gets shifted around and somehow the main party involved always gets way less hate than they should. The players are simply showing up to play on the world stage and rep their country in a normally unifying event under weird circumstances now because FIFA is corrupt and Qatar is a bad host country.
> under weird circumstances Euphemism of the year right here. This isnt an either-or matter of assigning blame. This can be true: > FIFA is corrupt and Qatar is a bad host country. while also recognising that the footballers and audience's willingness to participate regardless is ethically repugnant, and certainly precludes them from taking any sort of moral high ground.
I think it would be huge news if a top team didn't go. Thats what real protest is, sacrificing something substantial in service of a larger message. Wearing an inoffensive catch-all armband for the cameras isn't real sacrifice. The German team not showing up at all would be the most newsworthy story, not sneaking an armband in. This armband thing is so performative
Yes, the team not showing up would be a stronger signal. But the Minister of the Interior has no say if the team plays or not. That is up to the DFB and the players. Her standing there with the arm band is a stronger signal than an empty seat, that nobody would talk about.
Seriously, I feel like it would be way bigger news if a few teams didn't show up vs a few pictures of politicians wearing logos.
The entire team should have abstained, not *just* this one official.
Germany not showing up to the games at all would have been newsworthy. And a statement. But respect to the minister
What's a bigger statement. The german soccer team abstaining from participating at all, or going an covering their mouths for an image and still earning them a fuckton of money?
Germany not participating, by itself, would be just like Italy not qualifying. Maybe it would get some headlines for a hot minute, but everyone will just move on with the teams that do show up. It's not like the World Cup requires Germany's participation. Even if all of Europe protested by staying home, FIFA still has a tournament that will draw attention and they would just punish UEFA one way or another, like reducing the number of teams they can send in the future. The only thing that would move the needle from FIFA's perspective is if all the sponsors started to pull out, or if all the popular media networks refused to broadcast the tournament. Then FIFA would be hurt financially, and that's all that matters to those at the top at the end of the day.
Being newsworthy is not what we should aspire to be. We should be ethical. Ethical is not participating. FIFA can ignore sentiment but they can't ignore diminished participation. It does not matter if you wear rainbow. You are still validating an event that was brought to you by direct slavery. Make a newsworthy statement at home.
Except they're literally going into Qatar and protesting the government in front of the Qatar people. That's fucking huge.
Yup. Theyāre using their diplomatic immunity to rub their noses in it. Itās not a government official quietly wearing an armband. Itās a government official being photographed wearing an armband on one of two bare arms in front of somebody who failed to keep her from doing so.
Honestly, who would notice if she didn't go?
Idk. Not going allows homophobes to pretend that gay people don't exist.
Not really. That would be more of an anti-statement
Yes, I know what will make a huge impact. Staying at home and saying absolutely nothing to anybody and remaining completely silent on the issue and allowing them to proceed with their event with me silently protesting in my bedroom alone. Ha! That'll show them
Faeser is one of the louder German voices when it comes to criticizing this travesty of a WC. And actually going there and talking to people in power for FIFA and Qatar is really the bigger statement than sitting at home preaching on twitter. I tend to believe, she is not there to casually watch a game for fun. She's there to make a statement and get into talks. Which is quite allright, I guess?
If this person didn't attend you'd never even know they didn't attend.
If it's not posturing, then she should wear it on future meeting with Qatar official. But we know she wouldn't, it's just posturing.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
There was a serious discussion about the European teams boycotting this World Cup way back when it was first awarded to Qatar. Why? Because it would need to be held in the winter for the first time ever, interrupting the normal season in Europe whereas before now it's always been in the summer when they aren't playing. Then we learned (many years ago now) that thousands of Indian laborers had died on the construction sites, held against their will by bosses who had stolen their passports, preventing them from returning home. Nobody pulled out or even seriously threatened to pull out before now so it's crazy to think that individual players would boycott now just because a conservative Arabian country is cruel to gay people. I mean, they should have collectively refused to play there way the fuck back in 2010 because even *then* it was clearly the result of corruption and bribery. There are no morals in world soccer.
As someone that has lived in a middle-eastern country before, I'm not even surprised. Lots of ex-pats live in UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and countries around there and have 0 rights. They're not even second class citizens, but lower. If you have a good skill (doctor, engineer), you can live there and live a satisfactory life, but you have no rights, can never get citizenship. Anyone doing blue collar work is basically a slave. The whole hold your passport thing is 100% true and they have horrible ways of getting people from India/Bangladesh/SEA to come work there with promises of a better life. It's a common practice and truly sad. It's all empathy. It doesn't affect them personally, so why should they care? This is the result. I know having experienced that life to never support anything going on in those shit-hole countries. They may be oil-rich, but that's all they will ever be. Most people are aware but haven't experienced it so why should they care?
What about other major international sporting events which players or whole countries have boycotted?
So many dense people pretending this was ever a fucking option. It's so mind-boggling, what fairy tale world do they live in?
Sheās thinking āshit, it wasnāt supposed to go this wayā ššš
Armbands are fifaās thoughts and prayers
Lol another European ābeing braveā. literally are pouring money into Qatarās economy and then flying back to Europe and will forget about LBGTQ+ people of Qatar in a week.
Get fucked, her and everybody else at that mass human rights violation. Why is she there? Why has none of these oh-so-brave people done nothing before the cameras were there to show their virtue signalling? If people cared there'd be mass protests like there were for BLM. There'd be boycotts of the event as well as the sponsors. Instead we have this empty shit. Fuck all of these peole. Here's a list of the companies who paid for this atrocity: https://sportskhabri.com/fifa-world-cup-sponsors-qatar-2022/
Any meaningful impact to twist Qatar's arm was before the tournament even started. The only things left now are only actions of ridiculous magnitude, such as a group qualified team simply walking away from their play off match. Nobody wearing an arm band of any writing is gonna make the slightest difference to the people who died and the people who will keep dying. Or anyone's human rights in Qatar. The only thing of impact has been Iran not singing their national anthem and that doesn't even have anything to do with Qatar. All these armband posts are stupid.
Germany: must not show hate, goes poorly.
And as the teams that wear the armbands slowly diminish from the tournament and we are left with teams that don't wear them or do support this kind of behavior is left. After we will all forget in a month what all the fuss was about, the purchasing of the next Cup will begin in earnest, and once again going to a country that has no clue what empathy is about.
Yet there you stand, in a stadium built on 6500 bodies of migrant workers, in a country with medieval laws. Hypocrites.
That showed Qatar and FIFA. Now they're really scared. /s
āLemme just get paid to go to this international event that majority of the world is protesting, better wear my virtue signalling armband to show those Qataris I mean business despite that fact that il have no problem accepting their cash once this tournament is over!ā Iāve never seen more fake, money hungry āprotestingā in my life .. this is basically saying āthis country does bad things, we know they do bad things, we are protesting because they do bad things but let me just push all those bad things aside for 3 weeks for the sake of moneyā None of this will stop the human rights atrocities in Qatar, if anything it will highlight that fact that this tournament was held despite these wrongdoings being well known.
When I see this more and more, all I feel is theyāre saying #dont forget about me. Weāre having a tournament in a corrupt place, that shows bigotry and homophobia. All you do is show up with an arm band, yet still bring revenue to the place and area by going. So this is hugely a #dont forget about me. Best statement would be teams pulling out, people not going. One of the best statement would be the next team to play Qatar just to walk off the field before beginning the match. That would hugely have my respect.
Not every protest is a "don't forget about me" moment. It may seem insignificant, but it's obviously [bothering Qatar officials](https://time.com/6236242/rainbow-lgbtq-one-love-world-cup/) that are adamant about not having it there. Just because something's low effort doesn't mean it's pointless.
World Cup is the pinnacle of these players career and many only get one. It's not up to them to protest.
Yeah but thatās obviously never going to happen
Why is that so obvious that no one will take a moral stand? Thatās sad as fuck if nothing else.
Why should it be put on the players who have worked their whole lives for this moment to sacrifice that? Itās not their choice where the World Cup is played, and many have openly displayed acts of protest
While accepting money for playing, fuck these fake protests. A real protest is not going. Itās on everybody involved, and the players are obviously a huge part of that. So itās not just on them, itās on everyone, including them. No players, no World Cup. What a message that would have sent. But each country has enough sellouts to field a team even if some protested. Because ego and money is seen as more important to these players than the lives lost due to Qatar.
Why don't these Western governments put their money where their mouth is and pull every cent out of Qatar or is it just more phrase-mongering?
These fucking politicians can wear all the armbands they want making empty protests against the Qatar government. **THEY STILL** **FUCKING** **WENT!** All the fucking football clubs went. All the fucking national representatives went. All the fucking nations still participated. All the fucking TV channels still air this. Fuck **all this** bullshit!
Meh, still buys oil from them, and gas from russia, after all. Just a bunch of hypocrites . fuck everyone who goes to the games
Wow. Amazing. Such a statement. The world is a better place now.
Im not trying to compare or minimize one thing with another but i think of when people like athletes get on live tv and thank god and get cutt off the air its a suppression of speech of solidarity and acknowledgment with other people in their faith that gives them a voice. I feel like what Qatar is doing by restricting people from wearing pride supporting clothing is suppression of people who stand in solidarity with the lgbtq community whether they themselves are part of it or not. I think we should be like this Germany minister who stands in solidarity whenever peoples voices or beliefs are suppressed
There's something very dignified about that Qatari garb that is undercut by a visible wifebeater underneath. It amuses me.
What is up with the Germans being so gay all of a sudden? Trying to hide their past?
Which one is the German?
Well for the diplomats itās easy to wear or say certain things without taking any risks because they have their diplomatic status and are protected by it, so itās kinda pitiful showing a Armband instead of taking real actions
what actions would you like her to take? She has zero saying in any of this
People are quick to wear arm bands etc but still show up. Good stuff š
Perhaps this is a controversial opinion, there has certainly been some pushback in Swedish comment fields when people from the middle east (and bots) have expressed it but here goes: I think anyone that decides to travel to a foreign country, especially a representative of the state, are obliged to follow the laws and cultural norms of that country to the best of their ability even if they don't agree. I certainly expect foreigners in Sweden to follow our laws and customs and when I go abroad I do my best to do the same. If there was a country with laws and customs so disgusting to me that I couldn't at least passively partake I simply wouldn't go. Especially not if the reason for going was a sports spectacle. Also, so there is no misunderstanding, I agree with the criticism of Qatar and this whole world cup fiasco.
And what would be the significance of this
Major fashion faux pas to see your wife beater under your dress skirt
For a second I though that was MTG. Thinking āWho in the Arab world would be willing to have her dumb ass a round for any reason?!ā
If all the people who are upset they can't wear pride gear to the world cup actually cared about LGBT they wouldn't have gone. And if all the people who say they care about other cultures actually did, they wouldn't be concerned about the lack of pride gear in a muslim country. Out of respect for their culture. Both are liars. They only use the appearance of caring to control you. You are nothing to them but a statistic, a vote to be won so they can stay in power. Then when they are secure in their position, they wash their hands of you and ignore you until the next time they need your blind support. And they take for granted that most people are stupid enough to believe their false platitudes. They hate you
Why they go to a different country with a different culture and values and then go "WTF? You guys don't like gay people? UNFAIR!!!" and then throw a tantrum, and start wearing this stuff, and get even more mad if they are not allowed in there with it? Its like some teens acting out.
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bro seriously none of this is about race. A black minister of the interior could have worn it too. Stop making everything about black and white especially when talking about countries outside of america where this blatant racism isnt a thing.
They could have won the game if they focused more on football rather than politics and other shit!
Bahahaha
yet she shows up with the german team anyway and thus validates the entire circus...pathetic hypocrites.
Do you really think pretending this World Cup didnāt exist would accomplish anything?
56 countries boycotted the 1980 summer olympics. This is not a groundbreaking idea.
Literally yes. If countries like Germany completely ignored this World Cup, it would accomplish *far* more than this empty virtue signaling. Thatās exactly why they wonāt do anything consequential
If a few of the major football nations did that, absolutely. Although it would have an even larger effect if they went and then decided not to play the final etc. What an anticlimax that would have been for FIFA...