The sudden outrage regarding the ongoing FIFA World Cup has drawn a lot of attention, a sport that has been going on for ages before the Israel-Palestine conflict. The only reason to highlight this political tension is to highlight how people are trying real hard to stay relevant and would do anything to find narratives out of thin air. Football is not played for a month or just in the World Cup, so why are we seeing this sudden outrage recently? Why not before this World Cup or even last year or the last World Cup that was also won by the so called Zionist Argentina in a Muslim majority country? What was the sudden eye opener for the society that realized just now about the wrongdoings of FIFA? Looking into this controversial matter, without any doubt FIFA has double standards, and is debatable but the problem here is moral police holding an everyday spectator accountable that has nothing to do with their policies. Imagine a spectator who sits on their couch, turns on their television to support or watch their favorite team play. They are watching it for the players, the tactics, the community, and the sheer love of the game. They are not signing a contract with FIFA’s executives, nor do they have any involvement in their corrupt system or controversies. It’s more of a bad faith tactic to make the viewer feel bad when all he did was watch a game he loves on his own television. They don’t buy tickets to support FIFA, however if we talk about watching it on televisions they sell their media rights to channels who furthermore make it accessible for the consumers. You pay for the cable connection.Channels, they make money from advertisements, and when a spectator sits to watch a game, he is not paying FIFA or supporting their policies, clearly showing that the consumer gets the end product.
Now this is where things get debatable. Somehow you have an issue with someone watching a game because FIFA is holding that tournament, then you should also have an issue with your devices through which you are posting and on the apps you are posting, because all of them are linked to Israel. That’s where the moral police stay quiet. Everyone including me is using their technology, and some may say or call me out as a hypocrite for posting from the same technology. So by the definitions of the online moral police, we all are involved somehow if we look into our daily lives, but why this selective outrage on a fan who is just watching a game without any political views? If watching a simple football game with no more intentions than just enjoying a game makes a spectator a hypocrite because he is watching a pro Israeli (FIFA) product (World Cup), then typing your outrage on devices built in the Silicon Wadi infrastructure with big names such Apple entered Israel in 2012, today their largest semiconductor hubs are Herzliya and Haifa outside the US( which is also a sympathizer of Israel) and designs the silicon chips that power iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks I guess this makes you one of us hypocrites because you are using the end product provided by Israel or by its sympathizer.
The list doesn't stop here. Intel, operating in Israel since 1974, its facilities in Haifa and Kiryat Gat have designed and manufactured the microprocessors that run the majority of personal computers and servers, not to forget Microsoft and Google. Microsoft established its first ever international R&D center in Israel in 1989, while Google has run massive engineering hubs in Tel Aviv and Haifa since 2006. So knowing this all, we all are on the same page now, so why don’t we hear such things about these organizations that are literally based in Israel or in countries openly supporting Israel? So we can just ignore this by saying that we want to stay relevant and we need to survive and these are basic necessities and important for us, but suddenly we have a very big problem with someone peacefully enjoying a game sitting at their home.
If this is morally not correct and makes us hypocrites, then using the very same technology everyday, not to miss out on social media apps that we post on including TikTok, Instagram, Twitter/X that have shown clear bias by blocking pro Palestinian accounts, suspending their accounts, and what not to suppress them,
On the other side Israeli soldiers have access to these platforms without any issues and pro Israeli accounts are still out there we are using this very system daily without any issues, we all are using these very apps just so we all can survive, which makes everyone of us hypocrites. Welcome to the hypocrisy, "selective moral police."
In other words, it's incredibly easy to demand a boycott of a game you don’t watch or care about, literally using a phone you can't live without, on a platform that silences the genocide and oppressed. If you are not willing to throw away this stuff because it clearly belongs to the same lobby to whom FIFA belongs, do not moral police the simple television screen of a sports fan who just wants to enjoy his favorite team or player. If they are supporting the Israeli agenda because football is related to pro-Israeli (FIFA), then sorry to wake you up again, you just did worse than that. If we drag in morals, let a game remain a game.
Our whole lifestyle is full of Israeli and pro Israeli brands, choose a way, either boycott everything, not just one thing you don’t like, and stay neutral, because this selective moral policing is embarrassing you. If you have a problem with the system, boycott it as a whole, not just something you don’t care about.
There is a massive psychological double standard at play here, when it comes to their favorite artists, music, festivals, fashion, and movies, not to forget when over 2000 Hollywood leaders, stars, studios signed open letters showing support for Israeli military narratives through advocacy groups like the creative community for peace, they are asleep and they apply their "separate the art from the artist." They just want to comfortably enjoy their own luxuries and entertainment to their liking, but the moment a sports fan does the same thing by saying "separate the sport from the governing body," they are labeled as hypocrites ,partners with the Organisation and contributing to the genocide.
There is nothing but double standards everywhere. Start from your home if you are that vigilant about it and we must follow you. Funny how you are surviving but football fans are contributing. Saying this again, I am part of this very system, but if I speak, I would at least look up to everything rather than jumping on the bandwagon. I am not accepting that I am happy to be a part of this system, but it’s the sad reality of our modern world, but at least I am not a part of the performative moral police that don’t want to see someone happy if they don’t like that very thing.
It's easy to target someone who has nothing to do with the policies, military borders, or political tensions. It costs nothing to bully a football fan who posts on Instagram, but it would require actual effort and sacrifice to boycott the tech, platforms, and corporations that actively influence this conflict. If I had to sum up all this in one sentence, I would say whole world will eat meat everyday and enjoy devouring their favorite meals, but will suddenly have a problem and get reminded about animal rights and their sufferings on a sacrificial event, where the world will not have any problem with billions of animals sacrificed yearly, but one big event which won't be equal to 0.8 percent of what happens monthly, the internet will be flooded with outrage regarding the mass cruelty of animal sacrifice because of their personal likings and preferences.
The moral police are afraid of putting their personal conveniences at stake. This is not to defend football fans or to support any agenda, but to expose the hollow nature of the "moral police" POV and their selective criticism according to their likings.