im coming out of my relative (studious) silence to say this but i cannot fucking watch the world cup content that's coming out of the US right now anymore, esp on tiktok. from the "hahaha, what is this game? why are they hosting in the US, it's not a popular sport here!💀" to the "oh europeans discovering walmart, hahaha, this is so wholesome!"
i will say this again, on the first point, there is a four-part documentary on netflix called FIFA: Uncovered (from the time when netflix actually made brilliant documentaries) that will not only answer your questions about the world cup and football in general, but will also highlight the giant level of absolute corruption around the Qatar and US attribution of the world cup during the pre-2015 era. most importantly however, it will show you the very long history of FIFA attributing the hosting of the world cup to authoritarian regimes in exchange of money and power, dating back to the 1978 world cup, organised in (!!) argentina (!!), under one of the most brutal and murderous dictatorships the world has ever seen.
when you choose to relay "wholesome" images of supporters enjoying american food and having "fun" in walmart, you are feeding into a very well-oiled cynical organised system the entire existence of which has revolved around sportswashing authoritarian regimes, and allowing them to profit off of the death of american democracy before our very eyes. you will notice that FIFA has not said a word about the senegalese journalists that have been prevented to do their jobs, the somalian referee who was denied entry, and that this coverage has successfully taken the spotlight off iran, lebanon, or the deportations still happening all over the US. this is not "wholesome" and "fun" content. it's a fucking propaganda machine.
i love football. i am - of course - following the world cup. but it is shocking to me that if you go online these days and say you love harry potter, you have a really high chance of getting bullied off whatever platform for "supporting a transphobe". yet no one seems to be applying the same standard to an organisation that is not only financially corrupt, but has been literally allowing dictatorial regimes to clean their public image in front of billions of fans for half a century, and has even led to thousands of deaths in the building of stadiums in Qatar.
i will actually never be one to tell people off for engaging with "problematic" media. i think 1) we are all free to make our own choices and 2) the existence of problematic media, and entities, and people is, imo, the proof that we are human and imperfect and i have no interest in living in a sanitised, unproblematic world. but when we engage, we need to do it reasonably and with critical thinking. this isn't just a wholesome video of european supporters enjoying walmart, or walking on the I95 and "hahaha, they're crazy, they're so funny!" this is genuine content from excited supporters who are generally working class and have saved for this event for years, that is then profited upon by a criminal organisation and pushed by tech companies to make you forget women are dying in hospitals in texas and alabama because they cannot get access to basic healthcare. i am begging you to use your brains, here.
blakekathryn
germansingergirl
origamiaround
titsay
prguitarman
janainaart
vaporwave
