Comradery or Equally Distracted?

All over the world, people are throwing watch parties and getting excited about the World Cup, even bringing it to work and school. Meanwhile, ICE agents are harassing players and teams are being forced to commute from Mexico just to manage participation. I neither watch nor do I care for televised team sports because they tend to distract people from atrocities happening, but people are so exhausted by war, socioeconomic and racial inequality, and climate change that I struggle to be annoyed with folks. Would it be considered international comradery or equal opportunity for distraction?

The only place that football is soccer is the United States, and it is unclear why, other than to be different from Great Britain. In the past, only the women’s team has been notable, which may have been one of the reasons for the lack of publicity. For most imperial residents, soccer is an after-school activity that buys parents a little time, and only recently have teams received genuine investment. Only seeming cool like everyone else would have inspired the United States to agree to host the World Cup.

However, nothing about the abhorrent corruption or racially-charged immigration tactics has changed, and even previously loyal media outlets have appeared to change their tunes. Some children had to fight their way out of detention centers (read: concentration camps) just to graduate, and private prison investment has shot through the roof. No one is getting paid any more, and the magical fairy butterfly SpaceX has declared itself amazing worth billions of dollars. Everyone around the world is still dealing with that, and the investment in “hosting” has not sufficiently turned anyone’s investment.

I think there is a sense of comradery because imperial residents are warning international residents not to come here, and people are only projecting distraction so that the elites believe that their methods are working. Throughout social media, nobody is commenting that corruption is nonexistent, nor has the reputation of any vile offender been cleansed. Basically, people are finally viewing football for what it is: fun for the eyes, irrelevant in the bigger picture–and geopolitics are in full discussion around the world. Who would have thought that FIFA made people more aware of international chaos?