This one will cause some controversy! However, this is causing hypocritical responses from certain people. I think we’re going to return to the long GraveTalk with this one. Before we start, I am not pro-Qatar or anti-Qatar, I am just stating the pro-Qatar case as so many people have been providing the negatives about Qatar and them hosting the World Cup, so this is kind of the balancing of their argument – remember you in my Arguments GraveTalk! When constructing a solid argument on any topic you have to look at the positives and negatives no matter what, otherwise it’s a biased statement. So, let’s begin!
Now, first off, I don’t really care whether the football (Sorry Americans, but we’re going with the majority and the majority say “football”!) World Cup is held in the Middle East, China, Russia, North Korea, Australia, Antarctica or the bloody moon! The competition is a global event for all countries represented in FIFA and therefore any of those countries are eligible to host the World Cup regardless of political issues or football reputation.
If a country doesn’t have a great football heritage but also ends up qualifying for the World Cup, as a shock entrant, should they be then declined to enter the main contest because they would just get torn apart by the opposing teams? Of course not. They way to grow football in countries, like Qatar, is to hold major contests there. The Club World Cup is now held in the Middle East being moved from Japan and that’s not a major issue so what is the problem with holding the “big” World Cup competition there? I will discuss the political issues further on, but let’s be honest and agree that the real problem is holding the World Cup in the winter!
Due to “England” (not Britain) not being given the World Cup there was always going to be a problem. England has to have all the major events (for some reason) and England doesn’t get them the English start kicking off! Look at the Olympics, the Euro’s, Champions League final, cricket and rugby World Cup – the English would want the Super Bowl because England deserve to host these events! The English have to be the one of the most obnoxious, hypocritical and aggressive nationalities on the planet. Wales, Scotland and Ireland (and other countries) have their own problematic people, but there seems to be more in England!
England in football terms may have originated the game, but they have been absolute rubbish playing it as it has evolved and exported around the world. How many times has England hosted big football competitions and finals? A lot more than others! When it comes to picking hosts, the countries that have never hosted the event should come way before any previous hosts.
Okay, that’s the footballing side done. Now, let’s move onto the political side. This is going to be some fun!
Er, let’s begin with the human rights aspect and then penetrate the gays! [Insert better joke in the comments] This is where most of the hypocrisy lies. So, let’s begin with human rights. Human rights are a man-made (or woman-made, to please the feminists out there!) that outline basic human necessities and conditions to live a decent standard of life (Forgetting animal rights, you know animals, the things that were here first!). Granted human rights acts do help but even in the UK there are people who abuse or just don’t comply with the human rights act thus rendering it pointless. These people are sometimes caught and prosecuted but there are times when they aren’t and even if they are their “victims” have to live with the suffering until that day.
Now, the majority of the countries in the Middle East, Asia (Yes, the Middle East is part of Asia smartarse!), Africa and South America are “developing countries” who only started developing after World War 2. The “developed world” of Europe, North America and Australia have been developed for at least one hundred years (possibly more) and yet these countries only introduced a human rights act towards the end of the 20th Century! If the “developed world” has only just introduced human rights acts relatively recently compared to their “completed development” [Let’s be honest countries like the UK and USA are still developing – if not in industry terms but in moral terms!] then it’s a tad hypocritical to rage against the “developing countries” who are quite young in their development stages.
So, let’s dive deeper into the human rights argument. What “human rights” have Qatar supposedly broken? I say broken but if they haven’t got the human rights laws, as say the UK, how can they possibly have broken them?
Freedom of speech. So, Qatar fine, arrest and imprison people for speaking or expressing their minds and feelings. Well, yes this is more dictatorship on the political spectrum and they may appear to be going too far (They could just warn people, they don’t have to arrest people, etc… over what they write on the internet or say/do in public because if I went there then I would most likely get THE chair!). However, we do need to look at both sides and we do need to look at what information is being told. Let’s take online posts and material for instance. Qatar have arrested a few people over their online content, claiming they are spreading “fake news” but if the information isn’t factual then why shouldn’t they crack down on it? Take the UK and USA. Both countries have had people like Farage and Trump corrupt and brainwash people through blatant lies. You can argue that if people are so gullible, they deserve it, but those people are the modern equivalent to Adolf Hitler! How much worse would the Nazi’s have been if social media and the internet were around? Unfortunately, sometimes it is better to crackdown on freedom of expression so that the facts and truth can prevail and avoid the manipulative minds and propaganda of the evil.
Migrant workers. Foreign workers in all countries are subjected to abuse. In the UK migrant workers are often taken advantaged and placed in dreadful accommodation – treated like slaves. However, the issue is more down to the deaths of migrant workers. Construction workers involved in mega-structures often die whilst working. Take buildings in the UK and USA, such as the skyscrapers, St Paul’s, the Mersey Tunnels, etc… Even workers in the UK today die whilst working. It is unfortunate, that workers die, but no one mentions the workers who died building up the rest of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Dubai (and the UAM). People shouldn’t die from going to work but let’s not make this a major issue considering construction workers die throughout world so singling out Qatar and the Middle East is wrong. As for the workers being foreign, all companies like to use foreign workers as they are cheap labour. Cheap labour was, is and always will be the most sought-after option, sorry but that’s the way it is – especially in the construction industry. None of the greatest structures on Earth were built without a cheap, dispensable labour force.
Now, what we’re all here for. Gay Rights [This is going to be fun, isn’t it!]. This is where the hypocrisy really comes into play!
So, people are annoyed because of in a traditional, religious country – region even – you aren’t allowed to carry out homosexuality activities. Now, this may come as a surprise to certain people (mostly activists) but there are 195 independent countries in the world (excluding Taiwan, but we’ll gloss over that in another GraveTalk) and every single one of those countries has their OWN laws and regulations and when you visit them you must abide by their laws, regardless of how wrong you feel they are.
You may be a foreigner yet that doesn’t mean you are exempt from the country’s laws. Around the world, like the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Canada and the USA – even Japan, to some extent operate under similar laws as each other – yet most countries majority in Asia (and the Middle East), Africa and South America operate under different laws.
Before, you all start to whinge and moan just remember places like Europe and the UK had laws in place like these countries relatively recently so it’s not like anyone can really judge Qatar. Who is to say that the “Western world” laws are correct?
Religion is like monarchies. In the “olden days” the Church and the Monarchy divided the UK until Henry VIII decided to be his own “Pope”. We can say monarchies and religion are outdated but we still need to respect those that feel differently and if countries still have strict religious or traditional laws then instead of judging those countries, we should respect them for standing up to the “western peer pressure” and maintaining them. Allow these countries natural progression and evolution – like the UK, Europe and the USA [Bringing us nicely to the LGBT part].
People say that gays are mistreated in the Middle East (please refer to the previous point, as your counterargument). Of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being gay or engaging activities with your gay partner – or in other words being in a gay relationship, or just a relationship with someone who just happens to be the same sex (It’s like saying I don’t see skin colour) – but we have to respect countries like Qatar.
What makes us so high and mighty? Let’s take a little history lesson. We like to think of ourselves (UK and “Western world” speaking, anyway) as a standard of life, the example that the rest of the world should follow, yet we only nationally legalised homosexuality in 1982, Northern Ireland (1967 in England & Wales and 1980 in Scotland), Canada was in 1969, New Zealand was 1986, Australia was 1994 and the USA – get this – two thousand and bloody three! Yes, 2003 was when homosexuality was legal nationwide in the country that is supposed to be “the free world” – that’s 19 years ago! The Middle East is a religious region and thus their laws represent religious values.
Basically, if our countries have only recently accepted homosexuality, and still have some people who have problems accepting it, go around preaching what’s right and wrong. Being tolerant and acceptance is one thing, however, forcing your beliefs onto another is just a dictatorship. You can say it’s for the right reasons but dictating things is just a high form of controlling and bullying.
“Western” society are seemingly trying to force their ways on the rest of the world, effectively raping them. It doesn’t matter if it’s for the right reasons but it’s still forcing and controlling. Let’s start being respectful and tolerant to other countries regardless of their own views on certain issues.
Quickly, regarding Qatar banning alcohol for regular supporters is an example of themselves being hypocritical as they are saying it’s okay for “corporate fans” to drink alcohol, but the rest of the fans have to go without? This is after they said they would accept fans drinking alcohol. Yes, alcohol is forbidden but if they were going to relax their laws on alcohol consumption then why withdraw that relaxation? You could say if they can relax alcohol laws then why can’t they relax other laws and I agree but they obviously aren’t quite ready to abandon their traditions just yet.
And that’s it for this GraveTalk. It had to be said because there are a lot of things being said against Qatar but nothing is being said for them. I like to think that I have looked at sides of the argument and yes just because their laws don’t match up with our own views doesn’t mean we can go around being intolerant to their laws. Being hypocrites doesn’t get us anywhere so we need to allow time to take it’s toll and allow for natural progression, like it has done within the likes of the UK, Australia, Europe, etc…
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this GraveTalk. See you all next time!
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