We heard this crap about Korea and South Africa. Not that they're equivalent to the death and crimes in Qatar. But if you've never been at a World Cup, you're not going to get it. Groups of Japanese and Uruguayans meeting in Qatar and hanging with locals and experiencing mutual cultures in place. That's not something that's restricted to Conde Nast's Top 10 lists, nor should it be.
1) Contrarianism: Questioning that a World Cup should only ever be hosted in a place where the respective sport is popular.
This line of thought defies any common sense. There is no cricket WC in Sweden, there is no ice hockey WC in Australia. No basketball WC in India, no skiing WC in Scotland.
The World Cup has infact been at my doorstep and what made it good was that every bum on the street and every granny in a wheelchair had passion for it and any stray dog could name more transfer rumours than Agresti.
2) Cultural relativism: 'yeaaaa Qatar did many shitty things but putting a spotlight on them is equally bad because uuhmm it's their way of life'. Some cultures are objectively inhumane and should be ostracized, not rewarded, until they adhere to the very basic standards (no need for speedo rubbing but like don't have a slave cast in 2022). Being preachy doesn't equal being wrong.
3) Projection: That anti-Qatar Westerners are just against a 'brown people WC'. Truth is South Africa was widely accepted because Africa is known to be a continent that's crazy for football, and South Africa was the most civilized spot on that continent. It was perceived as exotic and exciting. People are against Qatar because of the two bullet points above.
4) Whataboutism: That human rights violations are scrutinized selectively and swept under the rug in the West rather than bad actors getting instantly mauled by the press and public and then tried. In reality that tiny ass corruption case for WC 2006 has been in our media for the last 10 years and the people responsible are complete pariahs now while the Sheikhs in charge of Qatar will celebrate by shitting in the mouths of russian hookers and laughing at dumb gullible Westerners.
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