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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   30419 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 21, 2022

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International Culture War: Seven European World Cup captains ditch One Love arm band under FIFA pressure

So basically: European countries decide on a face-saving, performative gesture while still going to the Qatar World Cup, despite it being a more repressive, anti-LGBT country.

Then, when they actually get to Qatar, FIFA - I guess to stay on the right side of Qatar and any future traditionalist cultures that want to bid for a World Cup- pulls the rug out from under them and starts threatening sporting sanctions if they do wear a "one love" arm band, turning it into an actually meaningful symbol of defiance if they do wear it.

They don't though, they fold.

"As national federations, we can’t put our players in a position where they could face sporting sanctions including bookings, so we have asked the captains not to attempt to wear the armbands in FIFA World Cup games."

I guess I shouldn't be shocked; they folded when they went so why not fold again? But I am a bit surprised that they weren't even allowed this irrelevant gesture, and by how far FIFA is apparently going to help its patrons.

Well, this is the sort of thing we should expect from an exchange in culture (which everyone keeps telling us will enrich us). What did they expect? That it would always go one way and globalization meant that everyone would inevitably fold to all Western moral presumptions? It's a highway, not a one-way street. Moneyed Third-Worlders will push back to maintain their ways.

I wouldn't read too much CW into this. Most sports leagues have uniform rules that result in penalties if they're ignored. The NFL was notorious for a while for fining players for writing messages on their cleats or even wearing unauthorized hats at press conferences. And very little of this was political; Alex Smith got fined for wearing a San Francisco Giants hat. While the NFL probably went too far, it's understandable that sports leagues want to regulate how players dress. They're called uniforms for a reason, and it's easy to see how lax enforcement could lead to ridiculous outcomes where every player is wearing some kind of flair.

I didn’t realize it at first, but this went beyond fines to yellow cards. That makes it strictly more aggressive than anything the NFL has done for uniform violations. Allegedly, it’s not what the clubs expected, either:

Wales said the countries involved had been prepared to pay fines that would normally apply to breaches of kit regulations, but sporting sanctions had been a step too far.

Qatar probably insisted on it. If I were in their shoes I too would adopt a zero tolerance policy due to "Offer an inch, they take a mile" propensity of the left.

In football there is leeway on dress.

Yes, you can't paint anything you like or take off your shirt without sanction but many countries have had modified shirts and uniforms with special logos for certain events. In fact: another recent culture war dustup was a Muslim player refusing to wear a modified, LGBT-friendly shirt in France.

FIFA is almost certainly doing this to mollify Qatar, not some principled opposition to allowing the slippery slope via a "OneLove" armband that they could have simply said no one could wear months ago.

EDIT: Case in point: Belgium forced to change away kit for World Cup after Fifa demand one word ["Love"] is removed from their shirt. These kit designs are decided way in advance. If FIFA had a problem with it for violating strict messaging guidelines, why did it go this far? Why wait till now to do something?

I don't mind the NFL exerting control over player uniforms, but found it irksome they extended that control to player dress during post game press conferences. I always liked how far Chad 'OchoCinco' Johnson went to troll them about the uniform rules (he legally changed his name to be able to put his spanish numerals on his jersey after getting fined for a related joke). One of the better trolls in the NFL.

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